WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.540 So thank you. Thank you for your welcome. Thank you to Paul and to the elders who are just tremendous friends in Christ. 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:11.759 ! Let's pray as we come to this particular portion of the Lord's Word. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:24.760 Father, our prayer is with the psalmist, personally and corporately. 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:32.760 Open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of your Lord. 00:00:32.760 --> 00:00:38.760 Thank you Lord that the Holy Spirit who you have made your home with us, 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:45.760 Lord is the same one who brings things out of your Word to encourage us and to direct us, 00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:52.760 to comfort us, sometimes to rebuke us. Lord, but always to love us and to guide us into all truth. 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:58.759 So Father, we pray that you would use your Word in our hearts this morning. In Christ's name. Amen. 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:00.759 Amen. 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:08.759 I don't know about you, I've always appreciated the creativity of what people write on church signs. 00:01:08.759 --> 00:01:12.759 You know, the signs outside of churches. 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:22.760 From the rural church sign, again across this one, marauding sheep will be our fate if you do not close this gate. 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:28.760 To the disturbingly ambiguous church sign, we love hurting people. 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:40.760 And of course the well known and pleasantly threatening, don't allow worry to kill you, let the church help. 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:43.760 Which brings us to the topic of this morning sermon. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:48.760 We worry, don't we? As Paul was saying, it is a basic part of our fallen nature. 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:55.760 Why do we worry? We worry because in the face of something we cannot control, which is the future. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:59.760 We worry because it seems like we are doing something at least. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.760 We are like hamsters on the hamster wheel of life. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:10.759 It will do us no good and likely quite some harm to worry, to get up again into the hamster wheel of worry. 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:13.759 That is where we go. We worry. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:18.759 And as we come to this passage, we can notice something else, I think a tremendous encouragement. 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:27.759 The Lord Jesus, who presumably had all kinds of things to speak about, to human beings about, addresses this issue of worry. 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:33.759 If you think about that, worry which consumes none of God's time and attention. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:40.759 It isn't in his nature to worry. And yet it consumes so much of ours. 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:49.759 The answer to the question, does God care about what you are going through, when you read texts like this, is plainly yes, he does. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:55.759 So three times here, knowing us, he says to us, do not worry. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.759 And why should we not worry? 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:01.759 Well, this has been a repeated reassurance of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:05.759 Our church has been working through this in Virginia, but you will know it. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.759 This is the reassurance. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:17.759 You have a Father in Heaven who loves you, who knows you, who knows your situation, and he means for you to trust him. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:21.759 So that's the basic message here. Trust your Father in Heaven. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:26.759 It applies all the way through the Bible that we should remember this. 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.759 So what reasons do we have to trust him? 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:35.759 Well, three reasons and one thing that the Lord gives us to do instead of worrying. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:40.759 So if you would turn again please to our passage from Matthew 6, it would be helpful. 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:47.759 It will be open in front of you. Matthew 6, 25 through 34. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:54.759 Three reasons that we have to trust our Heavenly Father and something to do instead of worrying. 00:03:54.759 --> 00:04:00.759 First, trust your Father because you matter to him more than birds. 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:02.759 25 through 26. 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:09.759 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:14.759 It's not life more than food, and the body more than clothing. 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:24.759 Our Lord in the immediate context here has been talking about money and the way that people use reputation and even religious piety to give them their value. 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:29.759 And now he's telling them not to worry about their stuff. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:34.759 It's funny, it's not just a first century issue, isn't it? 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:46.759 Don't reduce your life, Jesus is saying to people in the 21st century also, to simply the business of getting food and acquiring clothing and other items. 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:55.759 After all, it would be a very strange person who, when you ask them to show you what they value most in life, takes you to their fridge and says, 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.759 these pork chops mean more to me than anything else I have. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:06.759 Or took you to their wardrobe and say, you know, my life wouldn't be living, worth living, without these trousers. 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:18.759 No, life, your life, the life that God has given you, full of worship and friends and family and nature and exercise and sport and art and good endeavours, 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:25.759 all God's abundant kindnesses to you cannot be maintained through a prism of worry. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:32.759 Our Lord is telling us, don't focus all your emotional attention on having to get and to keep those things. 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:37.759 Your Father knows what you need, hold on to him. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:40.759 So look at the birds, Jesus says. 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:48.759 They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:55.759 I was out at my mum's on Thursday. She's known in our family as the Francis of Assisi of West Watford. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:06.759 There isn't a creature that comes within the bounds of the Hertfordshire countryside that she hasn't had a desire to feed and to clothe and to rescue. 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:08.759 It's one of her gifts. 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:20.759 And I was going into the back garden with her and I was shocked to see all of these wood pigeons, maybe a dozen of them, perched menacingly on her roof, waiting and watching, ready to strike. 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:23.759 It was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:32.759 And my mother produces from her pocket peanuts or seeds for the birds and they all of them compliantly fly down to her feet for lunch. 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:37.759 It was touching and illustrative considering our text this morning. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:47.759 But Jesus' point here is not that we should just sit back like the well-kept birds of my mother's and give up the necessary activity of bringing in what he has provided. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:57.759 After all, we do see birds, don't we? Busy at their work. Even at my mother's. They're busy collecting berries. They're finding food. They're drinking water and bathing. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:08.759 And God is caring for them indirectly. That's the picture here. He makes provision for them as he makes provision for us to work for what he will then provide. 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:19.759 And what birds don't do, Jesus says, is sow a crop or harvest it or store it in barns. They don't put away food for future use. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:27.759 They don't appear to spend much time worrying about storage and future consumption. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:33.759 Squirrels do that, but they're creatures of less faith and honour who don't get a mention in the Bible. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:44.759 So, the birds do this, the implication is because even in their activity, they're trusting their Creator implicitly. 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:53.759 So, the encouragement here from our Lord is as you buy food, as you cook meals, as you buy clothing, as you look for significant relationships, 00:07:53.759 --> 00:08:08.759 because that's every bit as important as food, as you pray, as you're tempted to worry. The Lord's encouragement is to stop making this disconnection between his care for the natural world and his care for you. 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:17.759 If your heavenly Father provides for birds, well then how much more will he care for you? And does he do so? Yes, he does. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:25.759 Secondly, trust your Father, because in Christ you are more beautiful to him than flowers. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:38.759 And here is our world's magnificent series of pictures. Verse 27, which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:45.759 It's image here is a little bit confusing. Commentators will tell you this, it's a bit of an odd phrase to translate. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:52.220 It's odd because in the original language it can mean either making yourself taller by about 18 inches 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:55.519 or making your life longer by about 60 minutes. 00:08:55.939 --> 00:09:00.100 Both are possible, so the likely translation here is metaphorical. 00:09:00.439 --> 00:09:05.620 Who thinks that by worrying he can add a single cubit to this span of life? 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:11.720 And we know now, of course, that worrying will actually shorten your life. 00:09:12.580 --> 00:09:16.960 People who are given to chronic worrying, apart from all the maladies it might bring, 00:09:17.560 --> 00:09:20.259 doctors think it may take at least a decade off your life. 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:26.860 So if it's a longer life or a healthier body you want, worrying is not the way to go. 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:34.060 And why are you anxious about clothing, Jesus asks, consider the lilies of the field. 00:09:34.920 --> 00:09:38.960 The flowers here are described to you, see here, as lilies of the field, 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.320 which recalls one of the sayings in Isaiah 35, 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:46.500 the desert will rejoice and blossom like a lily. 00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:50.759 I've never been to Israel, some of you I'm sure have, 00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:55.639 but I hear this is one of the wonders still in Israel, 00:09:55.820 --> 00:10:01.019 is to see the desert bloom suddenly and in a vast scale into radiant colour. 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:14.480 The desert is rejoicing with flowers, Isaiah says, 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.600 because it is preparing to see the glory of the Lord. 00:10:19.659 --> 00:10:22.399 The flowers, Jesus reminds the crowds. 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:24.399 Consider the flowers. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:31.059 After all, such glorious flowers don't put much work at putting on their finery. 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:37.240 They don't pick out in the mornings the right colours and then spend time dyeing them. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.860 They don't spend hours at the spinning wheel constructing their petals. 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:49.039 And yet, as simple as they are, not even Solomon, in all his glory, was arranged like one of these. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:50.620 Verse 30, 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:53.899 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, 00:10:55.059 --> 00:10:58.319 which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, 00:10:59.179 --> 00:11:01.799 will he not much more clothe you? 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:05.860 This is the splendour of the Lord. 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:11.000 Consider this, his beauty, which is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:11:11.079 --> 00:11:14.939 the majesty of our God, whose glory is shown at the cross. 00:11:14.940 --> 00:11:21.100 It's a picture of beauty and of value in Jesus that we can barely guess at. 00:11:21.620 --> 00:11:25.460 And yet we are told it is applied to his church, his bride, 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:28.200 which is one of the first hints here. 00:11:28.800 --> 00:11:31.980 So in Isaiah 53, in Psalm 103, 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:36.080 it's really a picture of his great grace and mercy to us. 00:11:36.160 --> 00:11:40.260 That garment that we wear, which is his beauty given to us. 00:11:40.259 --> 00:11:44.019 And of course, what is true of his provision for clothing, 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.899 is true of all of the other ways in which we look for shelter. 00:11:49.019 --> 00:11:51.779 For those of you who worry about your retirement, 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:56.559 for those of you who worry how you're going to make the bills this week, 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:00.419 for those of you who worry about protection from illness. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:03.600 And all of these things, we are told, 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.899 you are covered in the beauty of God's mercy. 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:09.919 You matter more to him than flowers, 00:12:10.699 --> 00:12:12.399 even such beautiful flowers. 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:15.620 So this is an eternal shelter and garment, 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:18.799 which even these temporary flowers point to, 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.079 something God provides for which we cannot work. 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:23.399 They are a gift. 00:12:24.579 --> 00:12:28.139 Thirdly, trust your Father because you are family to him, 00:12:28.860 --> 00:12:29.919 and others are not. 00:12:31.319 --> 00:12:33.059 Verses 31 to 32. 00:12:33.059 --> 00:12:35.399 Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:37.799 what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, 00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:39.319 or what shall we wear. 00:12:40.119 --> 00:12:42.479 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, 00:12:42.539 --> 00:12:45.059 and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 00:12:46.819 --> 00:12:50.319 Jesus' command here, notice, is a firm prohibition, 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:51.299 because he knows us. 00:12:52.319 --> 00:12:53.739 Don't worry, he says. 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:54.919 He says it three times. 00:12:55.439 --> 00:12:56.359 Don't worry. 00:12:56.579 --> 00:12:57.419 Don't worry. 00:12:57.419 --> 00:13:01.299 But it's not the prohibition of someone telling you, 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:02.299 just stop it. 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:05.799 It's if someone telling you, just stop it, 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:08.799 will ever address the underlying cause of worrying. 00:13:09.339 --> 00:13:11.639 No, this is a prohibition made by someone 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:13.879 who is drawing you towards them, 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.719 embracing you, bringing you closer. 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:21.559 Like a father or a mother clutching a child to themselves, 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:24.459 or friends hugging in a time of crisis. 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:27.300 That's the way that Jesus is using these, 00:13:27.560 --> 00:13:29.540 how much more arguments, 00:13:29.940 --> 00:13:31.280 which are inherently saying, 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.800 it's better here with me than it is out there on your own. 00:13:37.180 --> 00:13:38.940 And so you notice he makes the contrast, 00:13:39.060 --> 00:13:40.600 he doesn't, with the Gentiles, 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:45.639 and with the world in which the church mixes and works. 00:13:46.660 --> 00:13:49.139 These, these Gentiles, these others, right, 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:51.200 the crowd that we used to run with, 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:53.759 they're the kind of people we know so well, right, 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.019 they're our society, our world, our neighbours, 00:13:56.139 --> 00:13:56.679 our friends, 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:00.500 who spend their lives seeking after all these things, 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:04.279 which is surely the temptation daily for the church too. 00:14:04.819 --> 00:14:07.620 And they seek after these things to make them happy. 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:11.000 And I suppose it doesn't have to be material things. 00:14:12.220 --> 00:14:15.259 It could be something that somebody has told himself or herself, 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:18.600 this is what I need for me to be happy. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:21.360 If my children are happy, 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:24.700 it could be something that you're worrying about even this morning. 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:29.620 Or if I reach that next rung on the ladder at work, 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:31.220 well, then I'll be happy. 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:34.700 Or if I get married, 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:36.379 or if I have children, 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:41.159 or if I live to a ripe old age with my grandchildren, 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:42.540 well, then I'll be happy. 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:45.399 Or just the common idea, 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.279 if I don't worry about this, 00:14:48.699 --> 00:14:50.639 I have no one else looking out for me. 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:52.620 But notice, 00:14:52.719 --> 00:14:55.519 for those for whom God has placed his love on us, 00:14:55.839 --> 00:14:56.980 in Jesus Christ, 00:14:57.579 --> 00:14:59.459 those things don't need to be true. 00:15:02.099 --> 00:15:03.779 Cast your cares upon him, 00:15:03.860 --> 00:15:04.419 says Peter, 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.259 because he cares for you. 00:15:06.319 --> 00:15:08.480 And I think one of the difficulties for us 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.259 in evangelicalism is we agree to that intellectually, 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:13.939 but we don't really believe it. 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:17.659 This doesn't come automatically. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.200 Martin Luther always saw this worry 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:22.759 as the opportunity to preach the gospel to himself. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:24.299 I love his letters. 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:26.819 He wrote this letter to his friend Jerome Weller 00:15:26.819 --> 00:15:28.700 in June of 1530. 00:15:29.259 --> 00:15:31.000 And he was talking to his friend in the letter 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:32.600 about how to counter the devil 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.759 during times of depression, fear, and anxiety. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:36.340 He writes, 00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:38.799 when the devil throws our sins up to us 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:40.740 and declares that we deserve death and hell, 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:42.720 we ought to speak thus to him. 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:45.399 I admit that I deserve death and hell. 00:15:45.779 --> 00:15:46.460 What of it? 00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:48.680 For I know one who suffered 00:15:48.680 --> 00:15:50.680 and made satisfaction in my behalf. 00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:53.299 His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:56.519 Where he is, there I shall be also. 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.620 That was his daily answer to worry. 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:03.419 Worry. 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.879 We don't need to do it. 00:16:07.459 --> 00:16:09.799 Because we have all of these provisions 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:13.259 in the Lord that we will but believe us. 00:16:13.479 --> 00:16:14.019 Believe it. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:14.879 Loves us. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.799 So finally, what should we do instead of worrying? 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.659 Well, these last verses, 33 to 34 here. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:24.479 Trust your Father, 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:26.719 because this is his plan for you. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:30.100 I think even in the context of the worry 00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:32.080 that Jesus knew would assail us daily, 00:16:32.740 --> 00:16:34.660 he wants us, despite that, 00:16:34.779 --> 00:16:37.759 to make the habit of trusting him 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.800 because of common sense 00:16:39.800 --> 00:16:43.259 and because a sense of the gospel should dominate. 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.519 Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.879 for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.799 This is common sense, isn't it? 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:55.899 I heard John Stott speak on this a number of years ago 00:16:55.899 --> 00:17:00.139 about just the absolute illogic of worry. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:02.480 The worry that we commit ourselves to daily 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.339 that makes no sense at all. 00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:07.220 This is common sense, he says. 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:09.720 If you are worrying today 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:11.759 about what will happen tomorrow 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:13.240 and it doesn't happen, 00:17:14.180 --> 00:17:16.440 well, then you're worried once for nothing. 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:18.820 And if you're worrying today 00:17:18.820 --> 00:17:20.500 about what will happen tomorrow 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:21.700 and it does happen, 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:24.440 well, you have worried twice instead of once. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:25.980 In either case, 00:17:26.059 --> 00:17:27.920 your worrying has doubled your trouble. 00:17:28.620 --> 00:17:30.860 It's the wrong focus and the wrong activity, 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:32.519 so quit worrying. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.700 It's a waste of time, if nothing else. 00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:36.539 Instead, Jesus says, 00:17:36.660 --> 00:17:38.360 seek first the kingdom of God 00:17:38.360 --> 00:17:39.759 and his righteousness. 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:41.700 And all these things, 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:43.240 and he means all of the things, right, 00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:44.580 that we're given to worry about, 00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:46.819 will be added to you. 00:17:48.539 --> 00:17:50.179 The battle against worry 00:17:50.179 --> 00:17:52.799 isn't a one-undone proposition. 00:17:53.259 --> 00:17:55.759 It's a daily education in the life of a Christian. 00:17:56.439 --> 00:17:57.740 And again, I have found 00:17:57.740 --> 00:17:58.879 that this is one of the ways 00:17:58.879 --> 00:18:00.179 in which the enemy gets at me. 00:18:00.299 --> 00:18:02.879 Say, oh, you're still dealing with that. 00:18:03.399 --> 00:18:05.179 That's so basic, constable. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:07.159 That's 101 stuff, worry. 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:11.019 And yet it's not. 00:18:12.100 --> 00:18:13.700 The point of such temptations 00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:15.140 is that we should face them 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:17.720 with the gospel and with the promises of Jesus, 00:18:18.080 --> 00:18:19.700 not pretend to ourselves 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:21.360 that we are something we're not. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.000 I think of Martha with Jesus in Luke 10. 00:18:25.100 --> 00:18:26.180 She's stressed out. 00:18:27.500 --> 00:18:29.400 She's got a strong sense of hospitality 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:30.240 and duty. 00:18:32.140 --> 00:18:33.220 And Jesus tells her, 00:18:33.300 --> 00:18:34.019 you're worried. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:36.960 You're upset, Martha, 00:18:37.060 --> 00:18:38.120 about many things, 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:40.560 but only one thing is necessary. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:42.259 All this other stuff, 00:18:42.360 --> 00:18:44.580 it will come and it will go. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:47.880 You just need one thing, Martha. 00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:51.140 Martha, I am that one thing. 00:18:51.140 --> 00:18:54.980 You likely haven't heard 00:18:54.980 --> 00:18:56.460 of the 19th century missionary, 00:18:56.660 --> 00:18:57.400 Alan Gardner. 00:18:58.259 --> 00:18:59.440 In 1851, 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.259 after almost 20 years 00:19:01.259 --> 00:19:03.280 of frustration at mission work, 00:19:03.840 --> 00:19:05.320 failure in trying to get 00:19:05.320 --> 00:19:06.240 to the mission field, 00:19:06.620 --> 00:19:07.580 and when he did, 00:19:07.780 --> 00:19:09.280 really no fruit, 00:19:10.320 --> 00:19:11.820 he was finally on his way 00:19:11.820 --> 00:19:13.280 to what looked like an open door 00:19:13.280 --> 00:19:14.960 that God was going to bless. 00:19:15.020 --> 00:19:16.800 An entirely new territory, 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:18.640 right down at the base 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:19.880 of South America. 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:21.820 But at the last, 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:23.500 he was shipwrecked on the way 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:24.580 before he could get there, 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:25.600 he and his companions, 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:27.080 at the very end of the world, 00:19:27.620 --> 00:19:28.600 Tierra del Fuego. 00:19:29.320 --> 00:19:30.520 And he and his companions 00:19:30.520 --> 00:19:32.180 waited on a beach there 00:19:32.180 --> 00:19:32.860 for rescue, 00:19:33.100 --> 00:19:33.760 and they waited, 00:19:34.520 --> 00:19:35.240 and they waited, 00:19:36.280 --> 00:19:37.980 but nobody ever came. 00:19:38.820 --> 00:19:39.920 And Alan Gardner 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.280 died on that remote beach. 00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:43.080 His life, 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:45.640 to all intents and purposes, 00:19:45.820 --> 00:19:47.140 from an outside point of view, 00:19:47.420 --> 00:19:48.100 frustration 00:19:48.100 --> 00:19:49.680 and abject 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:50.160 failure. 00:19:52.259 --> 00:19:52.820 However, 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:54.220 when they discovered 00:19:54.220 --> 00:19:54.759 his body, 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:56.320 they found his journal 00:19:56.320 --> 00:19:57.039 next to him. 00:19:57.580 --> 00:19:58.900 And on its final page, 00:19:58.940 --> 00:20:00.420 he'd written from Psalm 34, 00:20:00.600 --> 00:20:01.600 the young lions 00:20:01.600 --> 00:20:02.220 do lack 00:20:02.220 --> 00:20:03.279 and suffer hunger, 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:04.360 but they 00:20:04.360 --> 00:20:05.519 that seek the Lord 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:07.200 do not 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:08.480 no good thing. 00:20:10.100 --> 00:20:10.900 And underneath it, 00:20:10.940 --> 00:20:11.279 he wrote, 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.420 I'm overwhelmed 00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:14.339 with a sense 00:20:14.339 --> 00:20:15.299 of the goodness 00:20:15.299 --> 00:20:15.859 of God. 00:20:17.259 --> 00:20:18.299 No bitterness, 00:20:19.180 --> 00:20:20.539 no regret, 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:23.119 and no matter 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:23.980 what had happened, 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:24.920 no worry. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.240 Because at the end 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:28.240 of a life of loss 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:29.180 and frustration, 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:30.740 all he has, 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:31.339 what was, 00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:32.859 what couldn't be taken 00:20:32.859 --> 00:20:33.399 from him, 00:20:33.459 --> 00:20:34.279 his one thing. 00:20:35.779 --> 00:20:36.979 If all the world 00:20:36.979 --> 00:20:37.879 had forgotten him, 00:20:37.959 --> 00:20:39.019 he mattered to Jesus. 00:20:41.199 --> 00:20:42.119 And if he saw 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:42.919 any beauty 00:20:42.919 --> 00:20:43.799 in his life, 00:20:44.399 --> 00:20:45.059 he found it 00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:46.039 only at the end 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:46.679 by gazing 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:47.340 at the beauty 00:20:47.340 --> 00:20:48.019 of Christ 00:20:48.019 --> 00:20:49.740 and his extraordinary 00:20:49.740 --> 00:20:51.019 blossoming glory 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:51.720 on the cross. 00:20:52.860 --> 00:20:54.279 And as far as he was 00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:55.500 from everyone else 00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.259 that this was his safety, 00:20:57.880 --> 00:20:58.779 that the Father 00:20:58.779 --> 00:20:59.460 had made him 00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:00.460 part of his family. 00:21:02.820 --> 00:21:04.000 And as I was reading this, 00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:04.680 and I hope that you 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:05.440 can see it too, 00:21:05.539 --> 00:21:06.580 don't you see that's true 00:21:06.580 --> 00:21:07.380 for you and me? 00:21:09.620 --> 00:21:10.279 But no matter 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:11.560 what we fail at, 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:12.180 no matter 00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:14.759 what we struggle with, 00:21:15.600 --> 00:21:16.100 no matter 00:21:16.099 --> 00:21:17.119 how little 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:17.679 it seems 00:21:17.679 --> 00:21:18.579 we've accomplished, 00:21:19.480 --> 00:21:20.500 you matter 00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:21.799 to your heavenly Father. 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:23.459 And in that 00:21:23.459 --> 00:21:24.399 is the hope. 00:21:26.159 --> 00:21:26.919 We're vulnerable 00:21:26.919 --> 00:21:27.359 creatures, 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:27.879 we're prone 00:21:27.879 --> 00:21:28.439 to worry, 00:21:28.539 --> 00:21:28.699 yes, 00:21:28.740 --> 00:21:29.759 if it was up 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:30.439 to you and me 00:21:30.439 --> 00:21:30.959 and what we could 00:21:30.959 --> 00:21:31.819 do for ourselves, 00:21:31.939 --> 00:21:32.579 there would obviously 00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:33.459 be no hope. 00:21:34.399 --> 00:21:35.219 And in that case, 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:35.819 like the world, 00:21:35.899 --> 00:21:36.299 we would have 00:21:36.299 --> 00:21:37.119 every cause 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:37.639 to worry. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:39.139 But this is the point, 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:39.559 right? 00:21:40.179 --> 00:21:41.019 You are not. 00:21:43.059 --> 00:21:43.839 You matter 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:44.500 to him. 00:21:46.099 --> 00:21:46.839 You have a heavenly 00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:47.980 Father who knows 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:49.659 you and who knows 00:21:49.659 --> 00:21:51.000 all of your situations. 00:21:51.159 --> 00:21:52.179 He's not oblivious 00:21:52.179 --> 00:21:52.679 to them. 00:21:53.379 --> 00:21:54.219 If you're staring 00:21:54.219 --> 00:21:55.240 at that gas bill 00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:55.759 this morning, 00:21:55.899 --> 00:21:56.059 well, 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:56.879 he knows that. 00:21:58.159 --> 00:21:59.119 If you're worried 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.839 about one of your 00:21:59.839 --> 00:22:00.879 children after a phone 00:22:00.879 --> 00:22:01.619 call yesterday, 00:22:01.619 --> 00:22:02.599 he knows that. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:05.879 If you're worried 00:22:05.879 --> 00:22:06.939 about a matter 00:22:06.939 --> 00:22:07.839 of illness, 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:09.359 he knows that 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.099 and he cares 00:22:10.099 --> 00:22:10.819 for you. 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:11.899 He's able to 00:22:11.899 --> 00:22:13.159 provide for you. 00:22:13.160 --> 00:22:14.680 You have a Father 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:15.300 in heaven 00:22:15.300 --> 00:22:16.840 who knows you, 00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:18.300 who loves you. 00:22:19.580 --> 00:22:20.540 So the Lord Jesus 00:22:20.540 --> 00:22:21.779 here is reminding you 00:22:21.779 --> 00:22:22.480 there is nothing 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.400 you can do 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:24.540 to make him 00:22:24.540 --> 00:22:25.560 love you more 00:22:25.560 --> 00:22:27.220 or to make yourself 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:28.160 more secure. 00:22:30.560 --> 00:22:32.740 There is no need 00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:33.519 to worry. 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:35.340 You are utterly 00:22:35.340 --> 00:22:37.300 safe in him. 00:22:37.299 --> 00:22:40.099 So trust your Father. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:42.759 Si' first the 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:43.500 kingdom of God 00:22:43.500 --> 00:22:44.440 and his righteousness 00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:46.339 and all these 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:47.399 things will be added 00:22:47.399 --> 00:22:48.240 to you. 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:49.839 Let's pray. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:50.220 Amen. 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:50.220 00:22:50.220 --> 00:23:20.200 Thank you.