You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
! Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. Amen. Thank you, Danita.
! I want you to stay right there in that place where your heart's at while you're listening
to that song for a minute.
The way you're feeling as you think about God watching the sparrow and watching you, what
I want you to know this morning is that you can live with God like that and be constantly
experiencing peace and appreciating the beauty and wonder of God in every moment, serving
the people God puts in your life rather than serving yourself. You can. You can live right
there. In fact, Jesus wants you there, constantly experiencing peace, appreciating God's beauty
and wonder and serving other people. In fact, you can live like that calm place and taking everything in and
slowly moving through life and living sacrificially and you can still have a joyful, fulfilling,
successful year. Would you sign up for that? Would you sign up for that if you could have that sense of peace and that fulfilled of a life?
My guess is you might have enjoyed it during the song. But when I tell you you can live like that all the time, it probably seems a bit far-fetched to most of us.
As you consider your world, as you consider your own life. Probably a lot of reasons, a lot of things going on in your life that might make you wonder and think,
yeah, well, that was nice for that song, but I'm going to leave here in a little bit and it's not going to feel like that anymore.
Some of you probably, like me, have been enjoying the last few days of summer vacation.
You don't really like me calling them the last few days
of summer vacation. I've been in the mountains this week celebrating my parents'
50th anniversary. As I was driving home last night,
I started to think,
for the first time,
I've got a kid who's not coming home with us.
How do I stay in touch with her, love her, support her?
Well, but school starts this week.
There's new teachers to meet, supplies to purchase,
emotions to manage.
We still haven't fixed those sinks in our bathroom,
says what I'm writing down as we're driving back.
I've fallen behind on that work project during vacation, right?
Better get ready for Revelation next week.
What about that new grace group we're starting?
Probably we should have the neighbors over first.
We need to get them in our home sometime.
But no way can all that happen in just seven days a week, right?
Are we adding some?
But we have kids.
Some of our kids live at home.
Grandkids, maybe you have activities.
Swim, soccer, band.
Maybe they need a sport, an academic group,
an art, and a service project for their resume, right?
Better be well-rounded by the time they finish high school.
She's going to need a ride to all of those things.
Oh, no, one of them still doesn't drive.
Oh, honey, yes, also date night.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
That's important.
Let's make that a priority.
And let's see, October?
Is that our next open night on the calendar?
Put that on there for then.
I don't know what your last few days have been like.
That's where I was last night.
Everybody has different things and different seasons.
But I want to ask you this morning,
have the things on your calendar
or in your heart or on your list,
have they been making your heart rate rise at all lately?
Would you say you're more anxious or calm recently
if you had to pick one?
Do you ever get to a place where you wonder
if you can really handle it all?
Or where to start if you were going to try?
Where would you start?
I thought before we jump into Revelation next Sunday,
not just to delay a week for my own sake,
although partially,
before we jump into a busy fall,
school year, ministry year,
I want us to listen to the words of Jesus
as He orients our hearts, our lives.
Turn with me to Matthew 6 this morning.
I'm going to read some words of Jesus
where He's speaking in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount.
He sat down with people gathered around Him
to tell them and us how to live
with God's values and priorities.
Here, in these verses,
He tells us where to start, right?
What's first?
I want to ask you to listen really carefully
to the words that I'm about to read.
They are the most important of the whole sermon.
See, this is God's Word.
It is, in a rapidly changing world,
something eternally unchanging.
In a world of disappointing people and promises,
something you can completely count on.
In a world of confusion and chaos,
it's something that is absolutely true.
Matthew 6 and verse 25,
Jesus says,
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.
Is not life more than food
and the body more than clothing?
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 of more value than they?
And which of you, by 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.
Yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
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?
Therefore, do not be anxious,
saying,
what shall we eat or what shall we drink
or what shall we wear?
For the Gentiles seek after all these things,
and your heavenly Father
knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself,
sufficient for the day
is its own trouble.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word.
Jesus, you know what we need to hear.
Father,
and you've spoken clearly.
Holy Spirit,
you know how each of us this morning
needs to have this truth applied
to our hearts and lives,
and so help us.
Give us ears to hear.
Give us hearts
to respond
joyfully,
even.
To have your priorities,
to live with your values,
to know and love you,
Jesus.
Help us with that,
we ask even now,
in your name.
Amen.
The main thing
is to keep the main thing
the main thing.
Most of you
have heard me say that before,
often around this time of year.
But I need to hear it.
In the midst of an array
of activities,
of potential priorities,
how do we know
where to start?
Well,
Jesus tells us
in this passage
about the life
that he's made us for,
where we keep our eye
on the ball,
this is what he wants for us,
where we don't miss
the important things,
the main thing.
And so that's my heart
for us this morning
is to slow down.
It's the beginning
of a new year,
so to speak.
Whatever season
you're in
and walking into,
slow down
and see clearly.
That seems simple.
That would be neat
and easy.
Get our priorities
in line quickly
if it weren't
for our universal problem.
Jesus knows
that we are all
prone
to anxious
distraction.
He has to tell us
this over
and over,
right?
Verse 25,
don't be anxious.
Verse 28,
why are you anxious?
Verse 31,
don't be anxious.
Verse 34,
don't be anxious.
You getting the idea?
Your Bible
may say
don't worry
or something
similar to that.
but the word
that's being used
there,
it refers to being
distracted
or divided,
right?
Pulled in two
directions.
Like Martha
in Luke 10,
she was distracted
with much
serving.
Many good
things,
so many
important
things to do
when Mary
is sitting
where?
At Jesus'
feet.
Maybe you feel
multiple relationships,
multiple screens
that you're
watching at one
time,
multiple problems,
multiple
distractions.
I'm anxious.
Some of us
are distracted
with the stressors
of the present
moment.
Always,
that's where we are.
Others of us
tend to spin
up our anxiety
worrying about
future possibilities,
how things
might go,
what might
happen,
how it could
go wrong
if we don't
get things
under control,
right?
But regardless
of how that
works in
your heart,
we're all
easily
distracted
from the
main thing.
we may
be anxious
about food
or clothing.
Just
based on
what I
know of
sermons,
someone has
already started
making a
grocery list
since I
started a
few minutes
ago.
That's
the truth.
Somebody
else is
worried about
what to wear
the first
day of
school.
That's
what you've
been thinking
about.
Verse 25
says,
don't be
anxious about
that.
The length
of your
life,
verse 27,
somebody's
probably been
wondering about
your health
already.
Or what
I'm doing
tomorrow,
verse 34,
somebody's
been planning
your schedule
for the
week.
I know,
I've done
that.
What's
next?
Listen,
we're doing
all of those
things just
right now and
God is
speaking to
you.
And yet
we're
distracted.
There's so
much we feel
like we have
to worry
about.
And Jesus
says that's
a problem.
Not that we
care about
those things,
of course,
but that we're
relying on
ourselves to
take care of
them to the
point that they
distract us from
what is most
important.
see, there's
a problem
beneath the
problem.
When we
realize we're
anxiously
distracted,
it's not that
you get bored
by this
preacher,
that's not
the problem.
We can see
the problem
in verse 30.
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?
That Jesus
is talking
here to
people who
are expressing
some faith
in him.
These are
warnings for
the people of
God, for
us, people
who do have
faith.
But like
Jesus'
disciples, we
often have
little faith.
We have
perhaps believed
in Jesus to
save us from
our sins one
day, someday,
but we are
not believing
Jesus for
today.
In other
words, the
problem beneath
the problem
is a neglected
relationship
with God.
Isn't that at
the root of
our problems
here?
Let me tease
it out for
you.
See, I'm
anxiously
distracted by
obsessing over
my health and
my weight
because I've
not been
nurturing a
relationship with
the great
physician who
made me
fearfully and
wonderfully and
promises no
hair falls from
my head without
his good care.
I've decided I
like controlling
my life better.
Or I'm anxiously
distracted by
obsessing over my
kids and their
current and future
success in life
life because I've
not been talking
about them to
the God who
promises to be a
God to me and
to my children
after me and
has been faithful
generation after
generation.
I've decided I
like controlling
my kids' lives
better.
money.
Or I'm
anxiously distracted
by obsessing over
my bank account
and my budget
because I've not
been remembering
and thanking God
who owns the
cattle on a
thousand hills for
entrusting some of
his resources to
me to steward.
Even though he
promises to meet
all my needs
according to his
glorious riches in
Christ Jesus, I've
decided I like
controlling my
financial security
better.
Just confessing.
Do you see how
that's little faith?
God, I believe you
exist but I don't
believe it's best to
trust you in this
area.
God, I believe you
created the world but
I don't believe you
know better than I do
how it works.
God, I believe you
sent your son to
rescue me forever
and I'll sing about
it but I don't
believe you will care
for me when I'm
alone or hungry or
hurting.
Little faith.
Jesus is telling us
over and over here
don't live like that.
Don't have small
thoughts of me.
Don't neglect your
relationship with God.
Now, yes, be a
faithful planner like
the ant.
Yes, work hard as
God tells you to but
don't leave God
behind to make a
run at life on your
own for even one
busy season.
Don't do it.
Don't make a run at a
season when I'm just
going to live by the
things I see for now
rather than by faith.
For so many reasons
Jesus says don't be
anxious.
Don't be distracted.
Don't miss what's
most important.
That's so easy to do.
I want us to hear
Jesus' solution to
these problems and
then talk about how
his solution transforms
our lives to be the
peaceful, marveling
servants that I talked
about a minute ago.
You know how Jesus
often teaches.
He's making a point
and he looks around
for examples that
are right there in
front of the people
he's teaching.
And what he's wanting
to teach right here,
he wants to show
these anxiously
distracted followers a
focus on God, who he
is, his character, in
particular God's
commitment to provide.
Provide.
So he makes two
arguments from lesser
things to greater
things.
Verse 26, birds.
Look at the birds of
the air.
Open your eyes, he
says.
They neither sow nor
reap nor gather into
barns, yet your heavenly
Father feeds them.
Are you not of more
value than they?
Look, if God feeds the
bird, his eye is on
the sparrow, right?
Then can't you trust
him to feed you?
How much more is he
going to feed you,
right?
And by the way, birds
don't have Costco to
buy food.
They don't have freezers
to stockpile food.
They don't have a garden
to grow food, except the
one in your backyard they
think is theirs.
They don't rely on
themselves, do they?
That's not how it
works.
They rely on their
creator to provide, and
how well does he do?
Marvelously well.
Imagine how much more
he will do for you.
Then Jesus says, another
example, verse 28,
flowers, the lilies of
the field.
Verse 28, why are you
anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow.
They neither toil nor
spin.
They're not working hard.
Yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one
of these.
Look at how beautiful
these flowers are.
Picture a beautiful flower
in your mind.
God really put some
unique design into
gorgeous plants all
around us.
And did you know, not a
single flower woke up
this morning and thought,
I better put on a nicer
dress, or get to a
tanning bed before
anyone sees me.
Or if I don't improve
my skin care routine,
or start hitting the
gym harder, I won't
look beautiful in ten
years.
Not one flower bought
that.
And yet they're so
beautiful that we stop
to take pictures of
them.
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?
Oh, you of little faith,
you're an eternal soul.
Will not your creator
make you beautiful?
Forever beautiful?
Beautiful?
Deep beauty from the
inside out in every
way?
Won't he do that for
you?
That's what Romans 8.32
reminds us of.
That if God did not
withhold his own son,
but loved us so much
that he gave us that
greatest of all gifts,
how will he not also
along with him
graciously give us
all things?
He saved you from your
sins.
He's not leaving you
consistently without
lunch.
He's given you his
most precious gift.
He's not withholding
the good life that
you're chasing somewhere
else, right?
He's brought you into
relationship with him
forever.
He's not leaving you
alone right now, is
he?
No way.
See, if there's a
problem beneath the
problem, there's a
solution beneath the
solution.
It's the relationship,
right?
We must focus on our
relationship with God.
Now, we've been
talking about that a
lot this year.
You've heard me use the
phrase, a faith
priority.
Owning your own
faith, not just
coasting spiritually
while investing all
your time and energy
elsewhere.
where, but even
though we hear that,
there are a lot of
things competing for
our time and
attention, aren't
there?
Notice how Jesus
points out this
underlying solution
here.
Verse 26, your
heavenly father
feeds the birds.
father, not their
father, but yours.
You have a special
relationship with him.
Verse 32, your
heavenly father knows
that you need them all,
everything you need.
So you focus on your
relationship with God.
You want to know where
to start?
first, seek first the
kingdom of God and his
righteousness.
That relationship.
Seek that first.
And he is such a
generous provider, such
a gracious father, that
as long as you have him,
you'll have all those
other things that you
obsess over and get
anxiously distracted by.
You'll have all of them
except perhaps the ones
that he knows you don't
need.
There's one thing, the
main thing, it's your
relationship with God,
your faith priority.
Jesus says you don't
have to rush around
wondering where to
start.
You don't even have to
find a new book that
tells you how to do it
better, which activity
is most important, what
needs to land on your
calendar first to make
you successful this
year.
He says seek first
God's kingdom, his
righteousness.
These are words for
life in relationship with
the one who made you,
remember, for himself.
That's why he made you.
That's why you exist.
See, Jesus is heading to
the cross to secure not
merely the forgiveness of
our sins, but ultimately
our adoption into the
family of God.
We have a father who
cares for us as his
children even more than
he does for birds and
grass and flowers and he
cares for them really well.
And he is calling us to
enjoy him, to obey him,
to get to know him more,
to live with him in every
moment and to trust him
with the many things that
might otherwise distract us
from the best thing.
Jesus says you can slow
down, you can breathe,
because you have a good
and gracious father.
A pastor friend of mine
tells the story of a young
boy who was adopted into a
family after spending his
early years as an orphan,
where he was mistreated,
malnourished, often went
extended periods of time
without getting any food.
Not long after being
adopted into his new
family, the parents began
to notice that food was
missing from the pantry
and the fridge more and
more.
And one day the father
went into his son's room
and he found him
underneath his bed with a
stockpile of food.
The boy explained, of
course, that he was
afraid that the food would
run out, that he wouldn't
be given anymore.
So in his anxiety over
those possibilities, he had
attempted to provide for
himself by stashing food
under his bed.
You can understand that.
The father understood, but it
broke his heart, right?
And it gave him the chance
to reassure his son,
you're my son.
All the food in this house
belongs to me and it is
yours because you're my son.
I will always make sure that
you get fed.
You don't have to provide for
yourself.
You don't have to be anxious.
I hope you can hear your
father saying that to you
this morning because there's
more of us than we'd like to
admit approaching this next
season like the boy under the
bed.
Have you been neglecting your
relationship with your father
and trying in any number of
ways to provide for yourself?
Is it leading to anxiety, to
frantic attempts at self-reliance,
desperate efforts to provide
what you need and maybe what
you're feeling is very little
peace and very little rest?
Slow down, Jesus says.
One thing, just one thing,
seek ye first.
Focus on your relationship with
God.
I know it may seem like you
won't get cared for, but
trust me, he says, all these
things will be added to you as
well.
You just focus on the one
thing first.
Actually live like you have a
good father.
Make it your ambition to lead a
quiet life at peace with God,
learning more about how good and
gracious your father is,
rejoicing more in his kindness
to you, simple gifts.
Now you may hear me describe a
life like that and you think,
oh, that's some super spiritual
kind of life.
I want to suggest it's super
practical.
It doesn't need to feel weird.
See, the result of God's solution
to the problem we all struggle
with is that because he has
solved your biggest problems,
he has met your deepest needs,
you can live that kind of
focused life and find that it's
still a fulfilled life at the
same time that all these things
are added unto you.
And his kingdom, when we talk
about seeking first his kingdom,
that's huge.
That touches every area of life.
That's not merely some churchy
thing that's confined to this
building or this day of the week
or this hour of the day.
I want to give you some suggestions
of what it can look like to seek
first his kingdom and righteousness.
Your relationship with him focused
on his rule everywhere and his way
in everything.
That's what that means.
His rule everywhere,
his way in everything.
These, to be clear, are just
suggestions, okay?
Not biblical directives.
You can think of your own.
Perhaps just to be merciful to
yourself, just pick one or two
areas that you want to focus on for
now.
How could your life change as you
focus on the main thing?
Perhaps start family worship or
devotionals, discussions again this
week.
I cannot count how many times I've
stopped and started.
There's no limit.
But spend time together focusing on
God.
Not just so you can feel more
spiritual, but so your kids get to
know their heavenly father more and
actually know that he's more
important to you than algebra.
They'll be delighted to know that.
Maybe even more delighted to know
that you know that.
Seek first God's kingdom at work.
I say that specifically because it's
a place where we're really tempted
to build our own kingdoms rather
than God's kingdom.
Perhaps by prioritizing Sabbath rest
for yourself or your company.
Perhaps by pursuing prophets in God
honoring ways that care for the
needy.
Perhaps by carving out time in your
calendar to meet with God on your
busiest days.
Just block it off before you get
there.
Another idea.
Do something sacrificial with your
time or your money.
Like perhaps instead of committing to
the gym every night, commit one or
two nights a week to partnering with a
neighbor in a faith and finances
class.
Like using your discretionary money to
bless someone else.
Start looking at your life through the
lens of abundance because, listen,
you have a father who has given you the
kingdom and he's given you eternity to
enjoy it.
Can you believe that?
Everything you need and all the time you
could imagine to enjoy it.
So you are freed up to sacrifice and find
yourself not empty but full again and
again.
Consider your grace group intentionally as you
reconnect this fall.
If you're not in one, maybe that makes the
calendar before some other things you're about
to fill in.
But when you are in one, prioritize engaging in
those relationships beyond just meetings.
Ask others in the group, how are they doing
with Jesus?
How God's growing or teaching them lately?
How you can pray for their spiritual good?
If it feels weird to you and awkward, just
blame it on me.
Pastor Will told me to ask, how can I pray for
your spiritual good?
Fine.
But do it and pray.
And watch God deepen those relationships.
How could you seek first God's kingdom with
your words?
The tongue has so much power to build up, to
tear down, but a heart seeking first God's
kingdom is looking for fellow travelers on that
road to encourage with a note, with a word,
evaluating how my social media comments are
pointing to Jesus or may need to be left unsaid.
Maybe starting to pray every Sunday afternoon
about someone I saw this morning or someone I
missed this morning.
Someone who would benefit from hearing from me.
One last thought.
This one probably more of a biblical directive
than the others.
Commit to praying daily, to talking with God.
If that's what he made you for, it's a great place to
start this exploration of what it means in your life to
seek first his kingdom.
Because if you use the Lord's prayer we prayed together
earlier, you're going to pray, thy kingdom come.
And you could say, God, I'm not even sure what that means,
but would you show me what that means in my life today?
You could ask him that every morning.
You could pray for people who don't yet know the king and for
boldness to share the good news with them.
Just slow down and talk with your father.
I'm not trying to tell you exactly how to live your life.
I certainly am not trying to have you leave here with a longer
list of to-dos heaped on you.
That's not my goal.
I don't know what seek ye first God's kingdom needs to look like
in each of our lives specifically.
I do know that Jesus is telling us where to start.
And unless we are so pridefully self-confident that we think we know
better than he does how to run our lives, then we start with him.
I'm listening in relationship.
We ought to receive his direction to us today from his word as a gift
because we don't have to guess the organizing principle of life
or the top priority we should have this fall or any other time.
He doesn't leave us there wondering.
Do you ever feel like you're trying to hold about a dozen different things at once?
Do you ever not feel that way?
Do you ever feel like you just keep dropping more and more of them?
God is saying to you this morning, just you hold one.
Can you hold one?
And he has big and strong, capable arms to hold all the rest.
He's saying, hand them off.
Bring them with you.
Give them to me.
If we're willing to start there, to slow down, to avoid all the potential distractions
and be with him and follow his path, Jesus is saying,
there, right there is true abundant life.
There really is a peace that your heavenly father knows what you need
and delights to provide.
There's a wonder, a love living with wonder
that God has placed you in a glorious creation
to enjoy more of his glory
and he doesn't want you to miss the small things this week.
There's a purpose.
There's a driving purpose that you can live for
and you can love others
and you can find as you do
that someone is looking out for your needs
while you're focused elsewhere.
Jesus says, don't worry, you of little faith.
Watch your faith grow big in your big God
who cares for you, his child.
He says, this is going to be great.
Trust me.
Keep your eye on the ball.
Seek first his kingdom and righteousness.
Let's ask for his help.
Jesus, you know how much we struggle with this.
You tell us over and over because you love us
and you want what's best for us
and forgive us for not listening,
for not listening in a way that intends to have our lives
be any different
because we're pretty sure we already know
what our priorities should be.
Father, forgive me for that.
You do know best.
You are trustworthy.
You care for a lot of sparrows
really well.
How much do you love us?
How much more have you invited us
into your family
to be the objects of your great provision,
your divine affection,
your tender mercy?
We need it.
And help us not to go somewhere else
looking for it this week.
Might we live with you
and for you because we trust you.
We ask in your name, Jesus.
Amen.
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