Sermon: A Peaceful Portfolio

[0:00] If Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass All right, if you've got your Bible, Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6.

[0:41] We're continuing in the Sermon on the Mount. We've been in this series now for several months, and we come to Matthew 6 and verse 19. And so we're going to just continue as we typically do at Faith Family.

[0:54] If you're new, as oftentimes we'll study books of the Bible or sections of the Bible, and we go verse by verse by verse because it helps us understand the Bible better.

[1:04] It helps us know the context of what Jesus is saying and teaching here. And I have loved and continuing to love teaching the Sermon on the Mount. And so if you're able to stand, would you please do so?

[1:16] This is our way of just honoring the reading of God's Word, Matthew chapter 6. And we're going to look through the rest of the chapter because, again, I think these sections fit well together.

[1:27] But for our scripture reading, we'll just read verse 19 down through verse 24. Jesus says this. Talk about a relevant message for us. I mean, the greatest sermon ever preached 2,000 years ago couldn't be any more relevant for us today.

[1:44] And Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

[1:54] But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

[2:08] The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

[2:20] If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other.

[2:34] You cannot serve God and money. This is God's Word. Pray for me and with me. Let's ask God to teach us tonight. God, we're thankful for the opportunity together to study your Word.

[2:47] It is our desire here, God, to just teach the Word faithfully as Jesus meant this to the original readers. And it's so applicable and relevant for us in our lives as well.

[3:02] And so, Holy Spirit, please come. You're the Spirit of truth. So fill this place so that all we would hear, all that we would remember would be truth. And we pray that in Christ's name and God's people said.

[3:16] Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Leave your bags behind. Amen. That's what the flight attendant screamed at the passengers as she tried to quickly get them off the plane.

[3:31] It was August 13, 2016. Emirates Airline Flight 521 was headed to Dubai International Airport with about 300 people on the plane.

[3:45] And when the pilots landed, they discovered they landed too late. They were going to run out of runway before they would end up crashing.

[3:55] And so they initiated what's known as a go-around procedure. It's where you pull up and you circle the airport again and then try to land the right way this time.

[4:07] And so as they started to pull up, the problem was the plane immediately sank down and crashed into the ground. Fortunately, the crew was able to get all 300 passengers off the plane safely.

[4:24] But had you been in the airport that day watching all the commotion outside the window, watching all of these passengers evacuate the plane, you would have noticed something a little odd, particularly given the situation they were in.

[4:41] You see, as the passengers were sliding down the emergency chute, they were clinging to their luggage. In fact, on-board video footage shows that in that moment of chaos, the passengers were seen opening the overhead compartments to try to get their luggage while the flight attendant is screaming, leave your bags behind.

[5:07] Think about that, fate family. Even though their life was at stake, even though every moment mattered, even though the plane is on fire, these people couldn't let go of their luggage.

[5:23] In fact, a study conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board found that half of airline passengers in an emergency refused to leave the plane without their bags.

[5:41] That's insane, is it not? Amen? Or is it? Because the truth is, fate family, all of us know this reality.

[5:51] It is easy to be possessed by your possessions. Notice this on the screen. It's easy to be possessed by your possessions.

[6:02] It's hard to leave your luggage behind. For all of us. And life is full of examples like this. It's the person that runs back into the house fire to grab that picture or the keepsake.

[6:16] It's the kid that's brokenhearted because he lost his favorite toy. It's the feeling you get when your spouse forces you to have a yard sale and sells all your junk.

[6:29] Or maybe you've had to have an intervention for that hoarder in your life. Maybe you are the hoarder in your life. Or maybe you cried at the end of Toy Story 3.

[6:49] Thanks, guys. Look, Mommy, you're all clean together. Come on, let's get some lunch. So long, partner.

[7:14] So long, partner. It gets me every time. I mean, let's face it, Faith Family.

[7:27] Most of us, in one way or another, with one thing or another, struggle to leave our bags behind. Now listen, listen, listen.

[7:39] That's exactly the heart issue Jesus addresses in this section of the Sermon on the Mount. That's exactly the issue of the heart that Jesus is addressing here.

[7:54] In this passage that we just read, it's one that a lot of commentators don't really know what to do with because it seems a little bit out of place. Like, Jesus is just going along and all of a sudden he starts spitting out like random fortune cookie sayings.

[8:08] Like, you know, well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and don't eat yellow snow. And where your heart is, there's where your treasure is. Or just kind of some kind of random fortune cookie. But Jesus here is actually saying something he's been saying throughout the Sermon on the Mount.

[8:22] And it's consistent with what he's been teaching. Look at it again, verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.

[8:33] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy nor thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

[8:44] Jesus here is dealing with the heart and what it treasures. So in other words, he's doing something he's been doing throughout the Sermon. Namely, he's going after your heart. Faith family, what is it that you really want in life?

[8:57] What are you ultimately after? What's going on inside of you? And this, of course, has been a consistent theme already. We've seen this week after week.

[9:09] The Sermon on the Mount starts with the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in... You should know that by now. Please pass that test, alright? Blessed are the poor in spirit.

[9:19] Blessed are the pure in heart. In other words, the blessed life is not the life with external prosperity, but has internal flourishing.

[9:30] The good life, the blessed life, is the one that comes from within. In chapter 5, verse 17 and following, Jesus says, The righteous requirement of the kingdom is not what you do with your hands.

[9:45] You have heard it said, Thou shalt not murder. But I say to you, it's about what you do in your heart. You can't even have anger in your heart towards your brother.

[9:57] And then in chapter 6, verse 1, Jesus addresses righteousness before others. Be careful that you do not do your righteousness before others. In other words, you do good to look good.

[10:09] What you need to have is a heart that loves God. So you pray in secret. And you give where your right hand doesn't know what your left hand is doing. Jesus has been going after your heart from the beginning of the sermon.

[10:22] Do you see this? In other words, this section isn't anything new. It's actually a climax of what Jesus has already been doing. Notice it on the screen.

[10:33] Jesus is now getting to the heart of the matter, which is what matters to your heart. It's what He's been going after all along.

[10:44] What do you treasure? What's in here? What do you truly desire? Because who you are is revealed in what you value.

[10:54] Let me say that again. Who you are is revealed in what you value. Now, I'm not going to take the time tonight to do this because when we did the blessed or the pure in heart, I did a whole section on what heart means in the ancient world.

[11:09] We think of heart as the place of affections or emotions. But in the ancient world, the heart was the whole person. So what Jesus is saying in context is when you peel back all the layers, what do you treasure the most?

[11:26] What is your heart, your whole person after? Theology, nice cars, gardening, exotic food, traveling, good views, children, grandchildren, retirement, work, accomplishment, the praise of others, making a good investment, Vikings football, good time with friends, music, art, recreation, fitness, collecting coins, cooking, being attractive, winning, knowledge, humor, God.

[11:50] What is it? It's something. There is something that you desire. There is something that you crave. There is something your heart wants most. Let me ask it this way, faith family. Listen to me.

[12:01] When the plane crashes, what's the luggage you cling to? What's the thing that you're getting back up in that compartment saying, I gotta have that.

[12:14] What's the luggage you can't leave behind? And that same idea, Jesus continues now in verse 22. Look at it. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

[12:27] But if your eye is bad, your whole body is gonna be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? What? What?

[12:38] What in the world does that mean? Right? I mean, do you ever read passages of Scripture and like, that sounds really good, but I don't have a clue what that means. What is all this?

[12:49] The body's got a lamp and it's either full of light or darkness. And it seems kind of odd, but it's actually not. It's actually the same point Jesus has just been making.

[13:00] And that's because in the ancient world, listen, faith family, the ancient world didn't view the eye as light coming in. They viewed your eye as the heart coming out.

[13:14] Okay? So it's not light comes in through the eye. The idea was what's in you comes out through the eyes. And so Jesus here is addressing this, like the eye is what you crave.

[13:27] It's what you look to. It's what you starve for. It's what you long for. And therefore it reveals what's inside of you, which is either good, light, or bad, darkness.

[13:39] Do you see? In fact, this verse is actually where the expression, the evil eye. How many of you have ever heard of the expression, the evil eye? Boy, he gave me the evil eye.

[13:50] You ever heard that? Well, that actually comes from this passage. Except in the ancient world, giving somebody the evil eye wasn't that they're mad at you. It was that they envied you.

[14:02] If you gave somebody the evil eye, it meant that they had something that you treasured and you wanted it. So in a real sense, in the context of this original sermon, notice this on the screen, your evil eye was your envy eye.

[14:17] It's what you crave. It's what you long for. And Jesus is saying, is that reflects who you are. That reflects what's inside of you. That reflects your heart.

[14:30] What you treasure, what you crave, what your envy eye is looking towards is revealing something about you. Does this make sense, Faith Family? So why is Jesus spending so much time on the heart?

[14:43] Why is he spending so much time about what we treasure? Is he like an ancient Near Eastern pirate who's obsessed with treasure? No. Think. Why is Jesus so concerned about the heart?

[14:55] Well, what is Jesus doing in the Sermon on the Mount? We've talked about this. He's showing us what it means to belong to the kingdom of God. He's showing us the difference of, you don't belong to this world, you belong to God's kingdom.

[15:08] And this is what it means to belong to God's kingdom. And what Jesus, and he's already addressed it before, is doing here, is he's spending so much time on the heart because listen, everybody right here, if you've zoned out, zone back in, you can't be in God's kingdom and your heart be divided.

[15:26] You can't be in God's kingdom and your heart, that's why your heart and what you treasure matters so much because if you're going to be in God's kingdom, your heart has to be for God.

[15:37] Look at verse 24. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve God and money.

[15:49] In other words, the heart and its division, Jesus is concerned about your heart because he doesn't want your heart to be divided because that which is divided can't stand. And if you treasure the world or money or possessions or that which money provides, you can't do that and treasure God at the same time.

[16:11] Let me put it this way. Notice it on the screen. You can't cling to your luggage and your Lord. When Jesus says, come, you don't say, but I got to get something out of the overhead first.

[16:26] No. And of course, we're talking metaphorically in the heart. He's saying, no, you got to leave all those treasures of your heart behind and come and follow me.

[16:37] Treasure me. As we'll see later, seek the kingdom first. And this again is not a new emphasis from Jesus. Again, when we talked about blessed are the pure in heart, we talked about the fact that that doesn't mean perfect heart.

[16:52] It means a united heart. A heart that's loyal to God. A heart that loves God above all else. In chapter 6, 1 through 18, Jesus has been warning us about loving the luggage of the praise of others.

[17:05] Doing good to look good. And he's saying, if your treasure is to look good, then you're not of God's kingdom. But if your treasure is you love God, which means you pray and give and fast in a very different way than others do, then your heart is reflecting of one that treasures the kingdom.

[17:23] In other words, notice this. Jesus is shifting from immaterial examples like the praise of others to material examples the possessions of life.

[17:37] And he's saying both are bad in terms of the treasure of the heart. Whether it's loving the praise of others or loving money and possessions and what money can provide.

[17:50] You can't love your luggage and your Lord. That's why he's concerned about your heart. That's why verse after verse Jesus is dealing with a heart issue.

[18:01] Now, why is treasuring the carry-on luggage of this life a bad idea? He tells us, verse 19 again, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal.

[18:14] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. So why should you, listen faithfully, leave your bags behind.

[18:25] Why? Why must you leave the luggage of the heart, the things of this world? Two reasons. First, going back in the Sermon on the Mount, the praise of others is fleeting.

[18:37] If you, like, by the way, I'm so happy to be teaching this, alright? Are y'all with me tonight? It's like, if you go back in the Sermon and Jesus is talking about living for the praise of others and doing good to look good, well, if that's what you treasure, the problem is that doesn't last very long.

[18:54] Trust me, they will love you one minute and they'll have nothing to do with you the next. They will cheer you one minute and they will forget you the next. Faith family, you will be headline news one moment and in the obituary section the next.

[19:08] Vanity, vanity, says the preacher, the praise of other people is vanity. Can I get an amen? So why would you make that the treasure of your heart? Why would you do good to look good and treasure what other people think?

[19:25] It's only going to pass away. And secondly, so are the possessions of life. The possessions of life are fleeting. Proverbs says this, Do not weary yourself to gain wealth.

[19:36] Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it's gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle and flies towards the heavens.

[19:50] That's Proverbs 23, 4 and 5 if you want the reference. I mean, in the book that I wrote on the book of Ecclesiastes, I talk about the fact that physical, temporary things can't bring meaning because they're temporary.

[20:01] If you put all your hope in the things of this world, well, we have all learned, have we not, that everything in this world can be taken away. Just like that.

[20:13] I've told this story before. In fact, I know it must be memorable because my son remembered it. He's like, Dad, I remember that story. So I must have told this one. Tanner Broadwell and Nicky Walsh, this is a couple from Colorado, some of you will remember this.

[20:29] Their lifelong dream was that they wanted to sell everything that they had and set sail into the Caribbean. And so what they did is they finally saved up enough money, they bought a 28-foot sailboat and saved up another $5,000 and then they finally set sail.

[20:47] Two days, two days into their journey, they hit something underneath and the boat began to sink underneath the water so they grabbed $90 in cash which was all the money they had, their social security cards and IDs and their dog and they jumped into the water and Tanner and Nicky survived but their boat did not.

[21:13] This dream, everything they banked their life on in two days was gone and when the Tampa Bay Times interviewed them this is what Tanner said, quote, everything I'd worked for in my life, everything I'd owned since I was a child was in that boat and I watched it all sink and there was nothing I could do.

[21:37] All other ground is sinking sand. This is the reality of the things of the world. Temporary things eventually sink. So if you put all your hopes into a relationship, what do you do when that relationship ends?

[21:51] If you put all your hope into the stock market, what do you do when it crashes? If you put all your hope into a career, what do you do when that career is taken away? And note this, family, possessions are not bad things.

[22:05] Notice this on the screen, possessions are bad gods. We're not saying don't have a boat. That's heresy as far as I'm concerned.

[22:16] You should have a boat, right? Boat's a good thing and all God's people said, amen, or don't come back, alright? Boat's a good thing, you can have a boat.

[22:27] But if you put all your hope in the boat, it sinks. The issue here is not that possessions, money, whatever, are bad things, it's they make bad gods.

[22:38] So if you go all in on anything in this world, eventually it will be gone. Where is your treasure?

[22:51] What does your heart truly long for? Now a couple of notes just quickly, is I do believe that we can enjoy God's gifts without envying them.

[23:01] And I do think that line is a tricky one. In other words, I believe that we can enjoy the things of this life. The heart issue is not to envy the things of this life.

[23:12] I have to have that. If I don't get that, life won't make sense. We can enjoy it, but not envy it. But again, be careful because that's not an easy line to walk when the heart's involved.

[23:24] And then secondly, it's obvious in this passage that this has nothing to do with what you have and everything to do about your heart. In other words, this is true of you whether you are rich or poor.

[23:35] A poor person can be just as obsessed with money, maybe even more so than a rich person. So it has nothing to do with the money itself or what you have. It's about the, say it, faith family, the heart.

[23:49] It's about the heart. What is it that you long for? And is you, if you're a Christian, is it divided where you love your luggage and your Lord? Jesus is ultimately giving here kingdom financial advice.

[24:04] And it's not the way the world gives it because the world would say diversify, right? Spread it out in as many things as you can. But Jesus is saying this, you need to be a single stock investor in the kingdom of God.

[24:17] You need to be a single stock. You need to go all in on one stock and that is the kingdom of God because only the kingdom of God is something that moth and rust cannot destroy.

[24:31] Jesus is essentially saying this and only he can do this for us is that you need to see the possessions of life in the same way that you do an email from the president of Nigeria.

[24:43] Have you received that email that wants your bank account info so they can send you this gift? Or imagine somebody said, I've got an incredible offer for you. I want you to take out a second mortgage because I have a timeshare property I'd love to sell you in Iraq.

[25:01] Most of you are going to be like, that's probably not an investment I want to make, right? Not going to answer the email from the Nigerian president, probably not going to buy a timeshare in Iraq, no offense to any people that live in Iraq, right?

[25:15] But you're probably going to see those things as not a wise investment. Then why are you letting your heart treasure the world so much? Because Jesus is saying that's just as foolish.

[25:27] It's just as unwise. So faith family, what's in your wallet? What's in your wallet?

[25:41] What's the treasure of your heart? And maybe you would say, but pastor, I don't really know what the treasure of my heart is. How would I know what I treasure the most?

[25:52] Well, aren't you glad that Jesus knew that question was coming? He's like, there's going to be a sermon in Burnsville, Minnesota on a Saturday night and people are going to say, but I don't know what my treasure is.

[26:04] And Jesus is like, I'm going to tell you. Here it is, verse 25. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you'll eat, what you'll drink, about your body, what you'll put on.

[26:16] Is not life more than food or the body more than clothing? I mean, 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 more value than they?

[26:30] And which of you 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, and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

[26:46] 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?

[26:58] Therefore, don't be anxious, saying, well, what are we going to eat? And what are we going to drink? And what are we going to wear? Because the Gentiles seek after those things. And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

[27:14] He's like, Jesus didn't tell me what my treasure is. Yes, he did. Notice this on the screen. I think this is so, so applicable.

[27:25] It's so, so profound. Notice this next point. Watch. Here it is. If you want to find your heart's affection, follow your heart's anxiety.

[27:38] That is brilliant. Of course it is. Jesus said it. All right? Do you want to know what your treasure is? Follow your anxiety.

[27:52] Follow what you worry. In other words, you know you value the world too much when you're constantly worried about everything in the world. You worry.

[28:03] Listen, Faith family, you worry because you're putting your hope in things that could be gone tomorrow. That's why your worry exists. It's why you're anxious. Think about this.

[28:13] Parents, if you knew, and I mean absolutely knew, with 100% certainty that there was nothing that could happen to your kids, absolutely nothing, would you worry about them?

[28:26] Some of you still might. But most of us would say, no. The reason why I worry is because I don't know what's going to happen to them. Meaning, the very nature of the fact that they're not guaranteed makes us worry.

[28:40] Makes us be anxious. Or whatever it is. If you knew your money was secure, and I mean really secure, if you knew whatever it is wouldn't be gone tomorrow, but was actually forever, you wouldn't worry about it.

[28:54] In other words, Jesus is exposing our heart here by saying the very reason you're anxious is because you're treasuring things that can be gone.

[29:06] And that is why you're never going to be at peace until you have a different God in your life. One who isn't shaken. One to whom moth and rust cannot destroy.

[29:21] Until then, you're going to continue to be like Scrat from the movie Ice Age. Do you remember this? What if I lose it? What if I scratch it? What if I need more of it? What if I run out of it? What if the kids break it? What if I wreck it?

[29:32] What if I can't pay it off? What if someone else takes it? What if they make a better one? You're constantly going to be worried. Now think about this, Faith family.

[29:42] I wish we had more time to unpack this here, and I mean that sincerely. I want you to imagine this illustration in your mind. Imagine that there is a string that goes from your heart to another object, and that object could be a relationship, it could be money, it could be security, it could be beauty, whatever it is.

[30:05] Listen, do you have that imagery? There's a string coming from your heart, and it's attached to something. What Jesus is saying in this text is this, follow that string of anxiety, and you'll find what your heart is attached to.

[30:20] And if it's attached to something moth and rust can destroy, thief can break in and steal, now you know why you're worried about it all the time. Now you know why you can't sleep at night.

[30:35] Now you know why you're anxious. And in that sense, you may find this weird, anxiety is actually a gift of God's grace because it helps you discover where your heart is off.

[30:50] Nobody's ever worried about God because He's always there. We may not understand God, but we don't have to wonder, is He still there?

[31:00] We may emotionally feel like He's not, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen? So I ain't worried about Him. But I'm worried about this because it might not be here tomorrow.

[31:14] And if you'll just follow that string of anxiety, you'll find what it's attached to, and therein lies the answer to what do you treasure.

[31:27] Isn't that beautiful? Jesus here is so, I mean, He's helping us discover whatever what we really treasure in a very real way. Now, a couple of notes here, and it's important that you hear these.

[31:40] This does not mean that this is the only reason for anxiety. Okay? I'm not suggesting that there aren't genetics involved. There are other things that can make one anxious.

[31:51] Okay? But Jesus here is talking spiritually, and there is a spiritual anxiety, a spiritual worriness that Jesus is talking about. Here's a second thing, is Jesus does not mean that there are no general concerns in life.

[32:08] You know, like it's time for open heart surgery, and you're like, whatever, man, bring it on. Woo-hoo! No. I mean, you may be that type of person, but most of us are not. And it's certainly not your kid is in an accident, and you're just kind of stoic and flippant, like, well, I don't worry about anything.

[32:25] There are general concerns in life that are normal and natural. But Jesus is talking about the obsession of the heart. Jesus is talking about that thing that you treasure the most.

[32:40] Let me say just a couple of things about worry, and I'm almost none, sincerely. Why is worry such a big deal to Jesus? There's a lot more in this text we could look at. But why does Jesus not want you to worry?

[32:53] Three things quickly. Number one is, worry is fatherless. That is, you're not relating to God as your father. Jesus here says, listen, if God provides for the birds and he clothes the flowers, is he not going to take care of you?

[33:07] This is talking about the order of creation. The pinnacle of creation was not bird. And then God created bird, and he said it was very good.

[33:18] No, that's not how the Genesis account goes. It's not like, and God created flower, and then he rested on the seventh day. No, the pinnacle of creation is you.

[33:32] He's your father. And if he takes care of them, that which is lesser in creation, is he not going to take care of you, that which is higher in creation?

[33:45] When you get all tied up in knots, and you're all worried about your luggage, you're not relating to God as your heavenly father. And the greatest offense to God isn't the atheist that doubts his existence, it's the Christian who doubts he cares.

[34:01] It's not the atheist that doubts his existence, it's the Christian who doubts he cares. And do you remember last week in the Lord's Prayer? He knows what you need before you even ask it.

[34:12] Our father, who is in heaven. Worry isn't relating to God as father. Second is worry is futile.

[34:23] Worry is futile. Jesus says here, it's in verse 27, which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to your life? Worry is an absolute waste.

[34:35] How many of you have ever gone through something and you looked back and you're like, why did I worry about that? Anybody? Or am I the only one? You're like, why did I get so caught up in that? Jesus is saying, you can't even add a single hour to your life.

[34:49] And it's also wishful sovereignty. Look at Psalm 139, verse 16. We're almost done. In your book, were written, every one of them, the days formed for me when as yet there was none of them.

[35:04] That's a great verse. You know why? The reason why you're worried about food is because without food, you're going to die. Right? But guess what? God has numbered your days.

[35:18] And you ain't going to die a day sooner or a day later than that. Now that is not an excuse to go play in traffic. Though you may encourage your spouse to do so.

[35:30] I don't know. Right? But that's not an excuse for irresponsible living. Right? But it is a basis of which we're able to trust God.

[35:41] and to say, listen, listen, God knows how long this life is going to exist. And so if I get all worried about it, right, I'm wasting precious energy and I'm trying to be God.

[35:59] Faith family, the reason why some of you are stressed out is because you're trying to be God instead of just letting God be God. Third and finally is that worry is faithless.

[36:10] Faithless. Jesus says at the end of this passage in verse 30, O you of little faith, you're acting like Gentiles. That is, you're acting like people who don't have a heavenly father. I mean, I can understand why unbelievers worry, but we are people of faith.

[36:25] We are people that trust God. How can you trust God with the salvation of your soul and doubt Him over a meal? You've trusted God for your eternity, but you can't trust Him with how you're going to get through tomorrow.

[36:42] If you want something to worry about, faith family, here's what you need to worry about. Put it on the screen. Worry about your worry. Worry that you're worried.

[36:53] You say, what do you mean by that? If you're extremely worried and anxious, and it's a spiritual reason, it's because you're treasuring the wrong thing, and that ought to concern you.

[37:06] Amen? Amen. Don't worry about life. Worry about your worry, because it's a sign that the heart is off. So how do we overcome worry? The answer is this.

[37:17] Stop worrying. Amen. How many of us wish it were that easy? Like, that didn't help me, pastor, at all. Well, Jesus gives a much, much better answer, and we close with this, verse 33.

[37:33] Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things that you were all tied up in knots about will be added to you.

[37:47] The heart and its priority. In closing, Jesus spends time going after the heart because a divided heart's not going to last. You can't serve God in money. And if your heart treasures the things that can be lost, you're never going to be at peace.

[38:01] And therefore, the only way, the only way you're going to defeat worry is to treasure God. Is to learn to shift in your life. And it's a difficult shift that can only be done by the power of God's Spirit in our life.

[38:15] Is that we begin to value eternal things. We begin to love God. We enjoy life, but we love God. Can I say that again? Because that was really important, and I didn't even plan to say it.

[38:25] We can enjoy life, but we love God. We don't love life. We love God. Romans 1, we don't love creation. We love Creator.

[38:37] And the more we make that shift in our hearts where we seek Him first, we love Him first, we want Him most, then we're able to be at peace.

[38:47] because we've gone all in with our investment on Jesus. So seek first the kingdom of God. Now, it should be noted finally here that this is such a gracious offer from our loving Father.

[39:02] This is a gift of grace. Notice this on the screen, okay? God doesn't simply condemn your worry. He offers you a kingdom so you don't have to. Jesus could have just said, you're just like the Gentiles, pathetic disciples.

[39:20] I knew this was a waste of time. Sermon over. No. He says, God loves you so much, He has provided a kingdom for you where you don't have to live an anxious life.

[39:38] You don't have to live a life that's all tied up in knots all the time. Seek first the kingdom of God. So faith family, what's the luggage you love most?

[39:52] What possessions are you possessed by? Or as Jesus says it, what does your heart treasure? And if you're like me and you find your heart trying to treasure your luggage and your Lord, remember the good news of the gospel that there is one who treasured God alone for you.

[40:11] There is one whose heart never wavered so that salvation would be given to those prone to wonder. There is one whose body was laid in the tomb and neither moth nor rust nor even hell could destroy it.

[40:31] Treasure Him and He will turn your worry into worship. And all God's people said, Amen.