WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.440 A reading from Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 to 34. 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:14.339 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and ross destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:22.359 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor ross destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:25.859 For where your treasure is, there your heart is, it will be also. 00:00:27.060 --> 00:00:28.460 Your eye is the lamp of your body. 00:00:29.060 --> 00:00:32.420 So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:36.179 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:41.640 If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:47.280 No one can serve two masters, free that he will hate the one and love the other. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.939 For who will be devoted to the one and despise the other, cannot serve God and money. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.799 Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.299 What you will eat and what you will drink. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:02.679 Nor about your body, what you will put on. 00:01:03.599 --> 00:01:06.500 Is not life more than food and body more than clothing? 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:09.039 Look at the birds of the air. 00:01:09.179 --> 00:01:12.259 They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:14.340 Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:17.240 Are you not of more value than they? 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.659 Which of you being anxious can add a single hour to this span of life? 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:25.700 And why are you anxious about clothing? 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.840 Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:31.800 They neither spoil nor spin. 00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:36.719 Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:42.659 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:45.120 will he not more clothe you? 00:01:45.819 --> 00:01:46.980 Are you of little faith? 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.260 Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat or what shall we drink? 00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:55.620 Well, what shall we wear? 00:01:56.320 --> 00:01:58.359 The Gentiles seek after all these things. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:01.460 Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 00:02:02.240 --> 00:02:04.520 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 00:02:05.380 --> 00:02:06.980 And all these things will be added to you. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.860 Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:12.379 But tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:15.159 Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:22.419 Over the years, I've used these verses lots for wedding sermon talks. 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.840 Because I think getting married is like setting off on a treasure hunt. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:34.099 Young couples deciding which principles to prioritize as they chase the good life of security, 00:02:34.519 --> 00:02:36.819 personal validation, happiness and satisfaction. 00:02:36.819 --> 00:02:48.000 But in reality, every stage of life is in a sense the same search for elusive treasure of security and validation. 00:02:48.579 --> 00:02:55.120 So we start even as children looking for these things in relationships with siblings and parents and friends. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:58.560 And a bit older in academic sporting career achievements. 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:01.699 Perhaps even as teenagers being rebellious and different. 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:05.639 A bit older again, we look for it in sex and getting married. 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:09.359 And even by collecting friends and likes on social media. 00:03:10.959 --> 00:03:15.739 And all the while we're doing these things, we're collecting and accumulating wealth and possessions. 00:03:16.959 --> 00:03:24.319 Because these are the things that people use to reassure themselves and to impress on others that we actually have achieved the good life. 00:03:24.779 --> 00:03:25.619 These are the markers. 00:03:25.979 --> 00:03:29.879 The more we have, the more we've arrived at that good life. 00:03:31.079 --> 00:03:35.239 And these sort of things together mark or the defining mark of our world. 00:03:36.239 --> 00:03:40.239 It's really sad in our world that people generally do not care for God's approval. 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:48.000 But they do want their wealth and possessions to be acknowledged by their friends around them, by people around them. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:49.239 As treasure. 00:03:49.399 --> 00:03:50.079 They've arrived. 00:03:50.239 --> 00:03:51.339 They've got the good life. 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:54.139 They've got the hunt they've been searching for. 00:03:54.139 --> 00:04:01.039 But all this accumulating and impressing is actually quite tiring as well. 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:04.099 We hope one day to have enough money. 00:04:05.239 --> 00:04:07.479 Things and relationships. 00:04:08.019 --> 00:04:10.339 And then we'll actually rest and enjoy the good life. 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:13.379 But of course, that day never really comes. 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:19.540 And it never really comes because experience tells us that wealth and possessions are fragile. 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:23.560 They're hard fought for, but then they're easily swept away. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:32.620 Natural disasters, war, economic collapse, theft, fraud, and even pandemics. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:39.860 And the hard work of accumulating in the hope of one day having enough to rest and enjoy the good life is just so exhausting. 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:50.660 And the fear that comes with that exhaustion, the fear of losing everything they've worked so hard for, that causes stress and anxiety, depression. 00:04:50.660 --> 00:04:56.840 And we see, you know, that just sweeping across our nation in epidemic proportions at the moment. 00:04:57.340 --> 00:05:09.020 But against that, since people have no other option, they just keep chasing the elusive treasure in that never-ending, perhaps even pointless treasure hunt of life. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.740 They don't know any better. 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:21.040 But there is a treasure which is real, which is attainable, which comes with real security, joy, satisfaction, and peace. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.560 We've already looked at verse 33 several times. 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:30.960 Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:32.759 What's the treasure? 00:05:33.300 --> 00:05:35.759 Well, as Marie just said, it's the treasure of God himself. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:41.199 Seeking to be like him as the priority in life. 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:44.139 Well, I'm going to say a bit more about that. 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:50.319 But before I launch into the passage, I want to do some revision, starting back in Matthew 4, verse 17. 00:05:51.319 --> 00:06:00.139 The start of Jesus' ministry, his opening words were, repent, for the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, same thing, is at hand. 00:06:00.819 --> 00:06:05.199 So the question is, just by revision, what is the kingdom of God? 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:10.019 Well, we're very familiar with the idea of the United Kingdom. 00:06:10.659 --> 00:06:16.599 And that's the people of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, collectively ruled by Queen Elizabeth. 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:19.920 The United Kingdom is somewhere you can go and observe it physically. 00:06:20.659 --> 00:06:24.199 You can see how it's similar and different from other kingdoms around the world. 00:06:24.199 --> 00:06:29.000 Well, it's just the same way with the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.659 It's a description of God's rule over his people. 00:06:34.659 --> 00:06:42.659 Way back at the start of time, God's authority was challenged and discredited by Satan and the determined rebellion of God's image bearer. 00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:48.100 Jesus' mission was to reestablish God's rule. 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:52.880 He would be the king of a vast spiritual kingdom. 00:06:53.140 --> 00:07:03.960 He would renew the hearts and minds of his people so they would live gladly under his rule as his loyal people and actually then enjoy the good life he meant them to have that he provided for them. 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:07.020 Now, how is this spiritual kingdom seen? 00:07:07.820 --> 00:07:11.280 Well, it's not a geographical form like Australia. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.519 But it does have specific form and definition. 00:07:16.179 --> 00:07:19.239 And it's in sharp contrast to the kingdom of this world. 00:07:19.739 --> 00:07:25.979 The kingdom of this world, which continues in rebellion against God and continues to seek the good life apart from him. 00:07:27.359 --> 00:07:39.779 And that's where the Sermon on the Mount comes in, chapter 5 to 7 of Matthew, where Jesus is spelling out the thinking, the desires, the character, and the lifestyle of his kingdom people, 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:49.479 which will shape and define the kingdom, which will make the kingdom visible in this world, this dark world, but which will also honor and reflect him as king. 00:07:49.480 --> 00:08:01.960 And Jesus, in the rest of Matthew, leads on to say that this spiritual kingdom will be a truly global community of Christ's died for people. 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:04.400 We understand that now in reality. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:13.339 Each understanding, each understanding, each kingdom person, understanding that they cannot achieve God's standard of righteousness or obedience in their own resources. 00:08:14.719 --> 00:08:19.079 And so, thankfully, accepting his righteousness as a gift. 00:08:19.079 --> 00:08:25.599 Each will desire to serve King Jesus, to be like him in every way. 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:33.059 And as a result, be salt and light in this world, radically impact this world in darkness. 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:37.039 So that God's name is praised far and wide. 00:08:37.899 --> 00:08:41.019 That's how we'll see the kingdom of God. 00:08:42.079 --> 00:08:43.699 Person by person, in a sense. 00:08:43.700 --> 00:09:13.680 Person by person, in a sense. 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:15.640 Verses 19 through to 24. 00:09:18.660 --> 00:09:29.240 The command to seek God himself as the first priority is even more confronting when connected back into verses 1 to 18 that Dave took us through last week. 00:09:30.900 --> 00:09:34.280 So often Christians put the wrong things on show. 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:38.420 And this says heaps about what's really important to us. 00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:44.019 Last week, Dave took us through the ideas of giving, praying, and fasting. 00:09:44.699 --> 00:09:49.379 Each of them is an important pattern for worship or a whole-of-life response to God. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:54.799 And we saw last week that, as such, they should be done as privately as possible. 00:09:55.199 --> 00:09:57.219 It's something between the person and God. 00:09:57.220 --> 00:09:59.940 And it's driven by the desire to honor the Lord. 00:10:00.899 --> 00:10:02.340 That's why it's done in private. 00:10:02.899 --> 00:10:05.899 Rather than seeking to impress others around us. 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:10.720 So some things need to be done privately and quietly. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:29.259 In contrast to that, verses 19 to 34, and equally part of our worship, it should be obvious to all that as kingdom people, we believe the good life of security, happiness, and satisfaction is to be found in Jesus and not the things of this world. 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:31.779 Now, here's the point. 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.799 Too often, Christians get it wrong. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:52.240 We make a big show of religious things we do, while our basic attitudes to the things of the world, the things the world values, like possessions and money, are attitudes that is almost indistinguishable from unbelievers around us. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:11:01.120 So we're public in that we should be private so often, and so often we're very private in that we should be public. 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:09.720 Well, Jesus challenges our attitudes and values with three really searching pictures in these verses 19 through to 24. 00:11:11.299 --> 00:11:16.279 Do not lay up treasures on earth. 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:24.139 There's to be total investment in the priorities and promises of Christ and heaven. 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:26.240 Now, Jesus is really blunt here. 00:11:26.259 --> 00:11:27.360 There's no other way around it. 00:11:27.939 --> 00:11:30.699 He says, stop hoarding. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.899 And there's a word we recognize from our pandemic days. 00:11:33.439 --> 00:11:36.539 Stop hoarding the things of this world. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:40.139 Instead, stockpile the things of heaven. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:42.620 That's pretty blunt, isn't it? 00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:52.840 Now, he's not condemning having money or saving money or budgeting carefully or having things that provide comfort or entertainment. 00:11:54.700 --> 00:12:03.159 What he is condemning is the thinking that these things can be relied upon to deliver the good life, the life of security and validation. 00:12:05.539 --> 00:12:11.279 And then verse 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:18.360 See, if righteousness or relationship and acceptance with God, that's what righteousness is in simple terms. 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:37.980 If righteousness, living as a loyal subject, displaying God's character to others, if that is the security and happiness we crave, if that's the treasure we're looking for, then all our dreams, plans, effort, physical resources will be invested to that end. 00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:43.980 Where your treasure is, that's where our hearts will be. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.539 Second picture then, verse 22 and 23, is a picture to do with eyes and lamp and light. 00:12:51.180 --> 00:12:52.200 And I think it goes like this. 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:57.800 Jesus is calling for single-minded spiritual perspective as to what is valuable. 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:13.740 Now, just as what we take in through our eyes determines how and where we walk, so our spiritual perspective or vision determines what pathway we'll follow in life. 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:21.919 We've seen lots and lots of movies of thirsty people in desert following a mirage. 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:26.860 They're convinced they can see water ahead, and so they go for it. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:33.759 But ultimately, their eyes weren't being true to them. 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:37.820 And ultimately, their perspective leads to their death. 00:13:37.820 --> 00:13:56.580 Jesus is saying kingdom people must have a single-minded focus on Jesus and the truth of God's word as the light by which we make choices, set our values, do our thinking, and navigate life. 00:13:56.580 --> 00:14:02.920 Now, third thing in verse 24, no one can serve two masters. 00:14:04.400 --> 00:14:10.379 There's a call here by Jesus for undivided practical loyalty to God. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:16.460 Now, in the NIV or the ASV, the word translated money is better mammon. 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:18.980 It's an old-fashioned word, but it's actually a better word. 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:24.320 And mammon describes the things our world offers as of first importance. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:29.840 A whole range of things could go into that word mammon, but mostly it will be to do with wealth and material possessions. 00:14:31.860 --> 00:14:35.020 So don't serve materialism. 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:37.120 No one can serve two masters. 00:14:37.820 --> 00:14:39.200 Don't serve materialism. 00:14:39.680 --> 00:14:40.240 Serve God. 00:14:41.920 --> 00:14:43.300 Now, again, here's the point. 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:53.260 True loyalty cannot practically be split or shared, even though we think it can and insist that it can. 00:14:53.259 --> 00:15:00.720 See, God and mammon promise and demand completely opposing things. 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:08.939 Materialism promises happiness and security through self-getting and self-centered living. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:21.500 God promises the good life through self-forgetting, serving him and others, and sitting loosely to money and stuff. 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:22.080 True. 00:15:23.259 --> 00:15:25.740 There can't be a split in that loyalty. 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:28.879 One will be favored more than the other. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:34.039 We'll skew towards one rather than the other if we try to do both. 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:44.439 Now, friends, there's three searching pictures that Jesus launches into the talk that he's been given to his people. 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:48.800 But they sort of come together in one searching question. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.520 And it's a question I'm asking you now, as I've asked myself this week in preparation. 00:15:54.540 --> 00:15:55.100 And here it is. 00:15:55.780 --> 00:16:05.060 Are you totally convinced that seeking God himself and seeking to be like him is your daily priority? 00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:09.199 Are you totally convinced? 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:11.699 Ask yourself that honestly. 00:16:12.439 --> 00:16:14.919 But here's a check and balance question to go with it. 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:27.659 Would your friends, your Christian brothers and sisters, those who are in church with you, your small group with you, your youth group with you, would your friends form the same conclusion as they observe you daily? 00:16:27.659 --> 00:16:32.899 They are searching questions, aren't they? 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:41.620 Because oftentimes, as Dave said last week, the image we want to project is quite different from the reality that people see. 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:53.240 J.C. Ryle, in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, says that materialism is the great sin of Christians. 00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:57.460 He says it's the one we're all compromised by. 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:00.620 And worse still, it's the one we all remain silent about. 00:17:01.560 --> 00:17:05.319 And even we're still the one we constantly allow one another to get away with. 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:14.859 And he goes on to say that Christians make a huge fuss about divorce, about sexual sin, about swearing and so many other things. 00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:21.359 And at the same time, they're pursuing worldliness in big time. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:27.639 And there's a sort of conspiracy of silence because we're all in it. 00:17:27.979 --> 00:17:28.779 We all love it. 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:34.559 Jesus here gives us blunt choices. 00:17:35.899 --> 00:17:38.539 But we believe we can have both in each of them. 00:17:39.159 --> 00:17:47.039 So we think we can serve God on Sundays and make him our treasure on Sundays, but put our confidence in other things for the rest of the week. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:52.039 We think we can serve God with our lips. 00:17:53.659 --> 00:17:59.420 While our eyes are captivated by the things of the world and delight in the things of the world and follow the things of the world. 00:17:59.420 --> 00:18:09.400 We think that we happily commit to using a percentage of our time, our money and our ability for serving Jesus. 00:18:09.800 --> 00:18:18.019 But then we're just as adamant that the balance is applied to building security and wealth and possessions for the rest of our time and ability and money. 00:18:18.019 --> 00:18:29.839 We always want to default back to both and when Jesus calls us to say it as either or. 00:18:31.420 --> 00:18:32.639 Huge challenge. 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:34.000 Huge challenge. 00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:38.660 But friends, here's one other thought. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:40.980 Just a very, very small thought in passing. 00:18:40.980 --> 00:18:47.680 We should be really thankful to Jesus for his absolutely blunt words here. 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:50.140 Why? 00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:55.940 Because we really need to hear them in those blunt terms. 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:07.519 Second thing then, second display of what it will be looked like to seek God himself and seek to be like him is an opposite of the first. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:13.039 And that is a practical confidence and delight in your father's provision care. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.879 So there'll be a break from the things of the world. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:23.720 But a moving towards and a developing of a practical confidence and delight in our father's provision care. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:25.319 Verses 25 through to 34. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:30.000 The tone of Jesus, I think, changes immensely here. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:39.900 So just as he is blunt in verses 19 to 24, so I think he becomes really empathetic and tender in verses 25 onwards. 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:47.180 Verse 25 begins, therefore, or that could actually be rendered for this reason, I say. 00:19:47.900 --> 00:19:49.240 In other words, he's following on. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.460 Jesus has demanded single-minded commitment in blunt terms. 00:19:53.460 --> 00:20:09.519 He knows it's a huge, huge cost for us, but at the same time, tenderly and empathetically, he recognizes how easily we are distracted and entangled by anxiety and worrying over the details of daily living and necessities of life. 00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:12.920 So he says, look, for this reason, I tell you, you don't need to be worried. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:18.660 You don't need to be anxious about clothes and food and the basics of life. 00:20:18.660 --> 00:20:26.580 Because Jesus knows that practically and daily, these worries eat into our loyalty. 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:33.220 And they actually choke out our priority to seek God and the righteousness he longs to see in us. 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.660 We can get up in the morning and that can be our intention, to seek God and his righteousness. 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:46.660 But then we get distracted because of the things we need to do, the necessities of life that need to be taken care of, children to be dressed and disciplined, food to be cooked, 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:50.620 houses to be cleaned, washing to be done and so on and so forth. 00:20:53.860 --> 00:21:00.779 But Jesus goes on here to say in a very gentle way, listen, my people, worry is actually unreasonable. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:04.320 It's unnecessary and ultimately it's unfaithful. 00:21:05.300 --> 00:21:06.680 But look at verse 27. 00:21:08.300 --> 00:21:10.140 Worry actually makes no sense. 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:14.180 It's unreasonable because no amount of worrying will change anything. 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:17.299 It won't add in positive into your day. 00:21:17.380 --> 00:21:21.000 It just clouds it with negativity and robs you of energy. 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:25.080 More importantly, verses 26 and 30. 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:31.120 The illustrations there suggest that worry is unnecessary. 00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:32.940 Why is worry unnecessary? 00:21:33.560 --> 00:21:35.120 Because of God's character. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:39.019 Because of God's commitment to care for his world. 00:21:40.099 --> 00:21:45.659 Because of who God is to you and who you are to God. 00:21:46.739 --> 00:21:48.059 You don't need to worry. 00:21:48.139 --> 00:21:49.019 You don't need to be anxious. 00:21:50.239 --> 00:21:56.399 Since God can be relied upon to provide for apparently insignificant parts of his creation. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:01.420 Then even more, he can be relied upon to care for his special people. 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:06.560 By providing everything they need to live well in his service. 00:22:09.900 --> 00:22:13.240 Ultimately then, worry is unfaithful. 00:22:13.780 --> 00:22:14.640 You look at verse 30. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.640 Why is it unfaithful? 00:22:19.100 --> 00:22:20.880 Well, there's several possible reasons. 00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:30.300 It's unfaithful either because it reflects a lack of understanding or a lack of trust in God's character and promise to care for his people. 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:41.660 Or it's unfaithful because it reveals a wrong commitment to finding security and happiness and satisfaction in earthly treasures. 00:22:41.660 --> 00:22:47.340 As I've said before, our experience tells us these things are unsatisfying, unreliable. 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:54.400 And so, if we put our trust in them, if we pin our hope to them, then anxiety and worry is inevitable. 00:22:55.320 --> 00:23:04.240 If that's where our hope for the future is, and we actually know at the start when we invest our hope in them that they're unreliable, then of course we have to worry and be anxious. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:16.259 Or thirdly, perhaps worry is unfaithful because it exposes a wrong belief that God has promised us a trouble-free existence. 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:18.400 That's a very common thing among Christians today. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:32.940 So, that would mean then if we believe that on any given day, and if then our circumstances are not what we expect and demand that God would deliver to us in terms of comfort and prosperity and relationships, 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:40.740 then, again, there's no option but to worry that God's unhappy with you or has totally abandoned you. 00:23:40.740 --> 00:23:57.720 At any point, in any one of those, roll them together, they will erode our ability and focus to seek God, to trust God, to enjoy God, to see God as our treasure. 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:02.900 And will inevitably make us start to look for other things. 00:24:02.900 --> 00:24:14.259 So, the final point then of verse 34, and it's a little bit hard to know how this fits in, but I think it does make a lot of sense very easily here. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:19.180 So, the final point is then, live joyfully and at rest in your daily struggles. 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:22.800 That's the opposite of being worried and anxious. 00:24:23.280 --> 00:24:26.480 Live joyfully and at rest in daily struggles. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:33.259 Now, I think Jesus, again, has been very realistic, very gentle and very empathetic. 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:38.799 He's not urging us to be carefree or irresponsible about the future. 00:24:40.120 --> 00:24:46.940 That would be in contrast and at odds with vast parts of the scripture. 00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:59.980 But he is telling us not to be distracted and consumed by what the future might bring, but just to be content, to live faithfully through today's challenges. 00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:07.039 When we're on holidays, we listened to a book that hadn't read for 20 or 30 years, or 30, 40 years now. 00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:12.480 Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place was an audio book we listened to while we're on holidays. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:24.460 And she says at best, at one place, she says, and remember, she had plenty of time to reflect on this in concentration camps and all sorts of terrible deprivation. 00:25:24.660 --> 00:25:33.779 She said, worry does nothing to empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. 00:25:35.339 --> 00:25:40.599 I pondered that a fair bit, actually, while I was not really connecting at that stage to any preaching I'd be doing. 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:42.659 And it's a brilliant statement. 00:25:42.899 --> 00:25:48.539 Worry does nothing to empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. 00:25:50.539 --> 00:26:00.879 So, as I awake each morning, I need to remind myself, and I need to say it's enough to remind myself, 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:05.219 that I've been saved by Christ through grace alone. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.779 That I am loved and secure and valuable. 00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:15.259 That Jesus is my treasure, the good life I crave. 00:26:16.639 --> 00:26:25.299 That his spirit within me both gives me the desire and the ability to say yes to righteousness and no to sin. 00:26:25.299 --> 00:26:38.500 And that each time I do so, I both express the mind of Christ and impact the world and bring glory to the Lord. 00:26:38.500 --> 00:27:00.759 Now, having made first things first, I can then launch into the day confident that the same Lord who has brought me into his kingdom by grace alone will provide me with everything I need to live well for him until I go home to heaven forever. 00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:05.140 Whether that be today or next week or next week or next year or 20 years time. 00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:15.720 In the words of Romans chapter 8, having given me Christ is not going to hold back anything else that I need to serve him well. 00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:20.000 So, there it is. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.720 Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:30.660 I'll leave you then with one other searching question. 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:34.019 This particular question was posed by Joel Kelty. 00:27:34.100 --> 00:27:34.440 It was interesting. 00:27:34.539 --> 00:27:35.380 He was reading this morning. 00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:44.240 I only heard this question via Dave, but apparently Joel posed it to a small group on Wednesday night after they'd been working through this passage. 00:27:45.760 --> 00:27:56.660 And Joel said to the small group, okay, what difference will seeking God and his righteousness as the first priority make to the shape of your day tomorrow? 00:27:58.040 --> 00:28:04.800 What difference will seeking God and his righteousness as the first priority make to the shape of your day tomorrow? 00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:08.260 Again, it's a searching question. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.320 This is practical stuff. 00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:26.200 And the time is now to say, wow, if Jesus is my treasure, then tomorrow I need to reshape in line with that priority, that truth. 00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:41.700 So, how will you demonstrate that Jesus is your king and your treasure as you roll out of bed tomorrow morning into another chaotic, difficult, frightening, uncertain day? 00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:46.920 Well, pray with me then as I conclude. 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:53.740 Lord, each of us is exposed by these words. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:55.759 They cut us really deep. 00:28:56.580 --> 00:29:05.740 And they show massive gaps between what we would like to think is true, the image we create, and the reality on a day-to-day basis. 00:29:05.740 --> 00:29:14.220 Lord, like your people, we're so often needing to hear the term, oh, you of little faith. 00:29:15.180 --> 00:29:15.880 Help us, Lord. 00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:19.380 Help us to refocus on that which we know would be true. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:28.740 Help us to use the power that is ours in the Holy Spirit within us to say yes to righteousness. 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:34.579 Lord, we have that desire given to us by the renewal of your Spirit. 00:29:35.059 --> 00:29:38.980 We have that ability given to us by the renewal of your Spirit. 00:29:39.079 --> 00:29:50.759 So, help us, Lord, to say yes to righteousness, to say no to sin, and thereby impact the world with the changing power of the gospel and bring glory to you. 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:52.579 Help us, I pray, Lord. 00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:54.859 Help us not to be divided. 00:29:54.859 --> 00:29:57.179 Help us to be single-minded. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:29:59.139 In Jesus' name, I pray. 00:29:59.699 --> 00:29:59.939 Amen.