WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.919 Now, if you would be able to, if you're able to, with your Bibles, turn back to the reading 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:14.240 that Ally read earlier, Matthew chapter 6 from verse 19 to verse 34. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.519 It's the second half of this chapter. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:20.679 Thomas looked at the first half of the chapter last Sunday. 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:28.000 We're looking through Matthew's Gospel and we've kind of slowed down at the Sermon on 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.000 the Mount. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:30.640 There's a great material in it. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:36.640 And today we're going to be looking at the section that Ally read. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:43.280 Great thing about the Bible, great thing about this passage today, is that it's a hugely 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.640 relevant passage. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:48.000 It always is. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.320 But maybe it's just that we're listening and reading a little bit more intently in these 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.840 days to what God is saying. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:04.359 But I think it's important just to remind ourselves that this word, the Bible, is God's 00:01:04.359 --> 00:01:10.280 living breath. 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:15.040 These days have been quite difficult for some of us, more than others. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:21.760 Some of us that are technologically illiterate have had to learn a different kind of language, 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.000 a different kind of communication. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:30.319 We've had to become better at talking online and listening for the gaps and not bumping 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:36.159 into one another and dealing with all the different issues that come up sometimes from 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:37.159 online communication. 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:42.799 It can be tough, it can be tiring, but we're really grateful, we're really thankful for 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:44.079 it in these days. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.079 It's amazing in these days of isolation. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:52.560 But remember too, when we come to the Bible, it also is a different kind of communication 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.079 that we have to learn. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:58.040 It's more than just listening to a sermon with our physical ears or online or in the 00:01:58.040 --> 00:01:59.719 television. 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:05.159 It's more than just reading with our physical eyes like any other book. 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:10.860 When we come to God's Word, we do need to have spiritual reception. 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:16.360 We need spiritual equipment to be able to understand and listen and grasp what God's 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:17.480 saying to us. 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:22.599 When that ability comes from God, we have to put our faith in Him, trust in Him and 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:28.679 ask Him to open our eyes and to open our ears spiritually so that He can speak into our 00:02:28.679 --> 00:02:32.399 lives and that we are listening to what He's saying. 00:02:32.399 --> 00:02:38.239 So we ask Him and we seek His help anytime that we come to the Bible because it's His 00:02:38.239 --> 00:02:42.679 living Word and He speaks to us through it. 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:47.599 And in the Sermon on the Mount, the first thing I want to say is that He speaks to us 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:50.760 as the King of Kings. 00:02:50.760 --> 00:02:56.719 You might not get that necessarily immediately from reading the passage because you just 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:03.400 think of Jesus in His gear on the mountainside preaching to a bunch of people just like 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:05.400 any other preacher in many ways. 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:10.760 But there are hints that what we have here or who we have here is the King of Kings. 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:15.359 He speaks a lot in the Sermon on the Mount about the Kingdom of Heaven. 00:03:15.359 --> 00:03:16.840 He speaks about hell. 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:23.719 He speaks with a really strong spiritual dimension and he speaks with great authority. 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:31.280 And we know if we broaden our look through the Bible to who Jesus Christ is, we recognise 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:36.680 that even here He's speaking, even though it's kind of guarded, He's speaking as the 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:42.879 King of Kings and as the Lord of Lords, got this magnificent description of Him in Revelation 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.439 chapter 17 where we also know that other description of Him is the Lamb. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:53.000 They will make war on the Lamb and the Lamb will conquer them for He is the Lord of Lords 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:59.920 and King of Kings and those with Him are called chosen and faithful. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:07.280 And that reminds us even though it's veiled here in the passage in many ways or in this 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:13.319 part of His ministry that this is the King of Kings who's speaking. 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:20.800 I don't listen to a lot of classical music or songs that are sung classically but Handel's 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:28.680 Messiah is just outstanding and that Hallelujah Chorus which speaks of Him as the King of 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:36.560 Kings and the Lord of Lords is so majestic and so awesome and spine-tingling for us. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:45.920 And we recognise that's who He is and indeed later in the Gospels, in Mark's Gospel where 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:52.319 the kids are working from today in the kids' lesson in the kids' church, if that's what 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:53.920 they're going to do. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:02.840 God does make Himself known very dramatically as the King of Kings on the Mount of Transfiguration. 00:05:02.840 --> 00:05:10.600 And that's hugely significant as we remember and come to this passage that is God in the 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:17.520 flesh, the Lord of Lords, King of Kings who's speaking and the claim is no less than that. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:25.519 He is the one before whom every knee will bow one day and it goes way beyond our current 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:26.599 estimation of Him. 00:05:26.599 --> 00:05:34.959 Even the greatest, most insightful Christian doesn't in any way grasp the majesty and the 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:36.439 glory of this Jesus. 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:42.599 He's way more important than we understand Him to be and so when He speaks, He's speaking 00:05:42.599 --> 00:05:46.599 and He's challenging us and I think it's good for us to be reminded of that. 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:48.879 It's all or nothing with Jesus. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:56.280 I hope we're never content with a divine weakling because Jesus isn't a weakling and we recognise 00:05:56.280 --> 00:05:59.040 Him as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:05.920 So He speaks as the King of Kings and as the King of Kings and as He speaks in this sermon, 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:12.760 we recognise that He is looking, He is seeing with an ultimate vision, with an ultimate 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:20.839 reality, He's seeing something really great, He's seeing a whole picture even as He delivers 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:21.839 this sermon. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:28.319 Now we often speak of the sermon in the mount as ethical and moral teaching and it's very 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:35.680 practical and it gives us very practical advice and please hold on to that thought because 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:41.639 I'll go on to say something about that practicality because it is, it is practical teaching and 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:46.120 it is moral and it is ethical but it's in a remarkable context and it's actually much 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:53.319 more than that, much, much more than that because the context of the sermon must bear 00:06:53.319 --> 00:07:02.039 in mind where Jesus had come from because Jesus was pre-existent. 00:07:02.039 --> 00:07:05.240 He had come from a spiritual realm, the spiritual realm. 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:06.879 He is God the Son. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.719 He is the originator of all life. 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:17.440 He had come from heaven, a place of indescribable perfection of beauty and of energy, of light 00:07:17.440 --> 00:07:18.440 and of life. 00:07:18.440 --> 00:07:25.760 He had come from this, in the mystery of all of the reality of Him, coming from a trinitarian 00:07:25.760 --> 00:07:30.520 relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in this eternal 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:39.560 relationship of grace and love so that even the very best of life that we can anticipate 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:45.680 and think of is only an absolute fleeting shadow compared with where He'd come from. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:53.800 It is incomparably poorer and He emptied Himself and came into our world but He came 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:56.759 from heaven. 00:07:56.759 --> 00:08:03.399 And He came into this world which from its very genesis, from its very beginning, humanity 00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:09.079 had rebelled against God and were jealous of God and were jealous of who He was and 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:14.560 of His power and of His glory and who turned away from Him the author of life. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:18.639 And that is where death was born. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:24.000 Now today we might feel that we are miles away from Adam and Eve and from what they 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.439 did and we might throw up our hands in horror and say, well, it's unfair. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:33.079 You know, why are we separated from God and from life because of what they've done but 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:39.360 we too, we too would absolutely have listened to the lies of Satan. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:47.600 We too would have chosen to live without God because that's our nature and that's what 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:54.000 we would, we have always done and that's what we would have done with Adam and Eve simply 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.080 being our representatives. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:01.759 We've become therefore spiritually blind and deceived so that when Jesus is speaking 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:08.120 here sometimes we miss the fact of where He has come from and that His perspective in 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:15.799 this sermon is often talking about heaven and talking about hell and talking about Satan 00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:18.919 and God and good and evil. 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:24.879 And He focuses on these things so much, He speaks a lot about them. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:31.480 The sermon on the Mount is full of these references to the spiritual realm. 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:35.759 So it's not just that we need to think of that perspective of where He's come from as 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:40.000 He addresses us here but also where He is going. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:47.920 Because Jesus knows exactly where He is going beyond the delivery of this sermon. 00:09:47.920 --> 00:09:52.200 He is going to the place of a skull. 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:59.600 He is going to a hill outside Jerusalem, Golgotha, Calvary. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:08.159 The place of a skull, it actually means the place of the cranium that protects the brain, 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:12.879 that very centre of thought and mind and reality for us. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:21.960 And it seems that that may even point to the centrality of what Jesus was doing on that 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:26.680 hillside, outside of Jerusalem. 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:31.639 And as He goes on in life as if to prove the rebellious hearts of humanity that He was 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:41.079 walking in among and that He loved, humanity that knew Him as the perfect Son of God rejected 00:10:41.079 --> 00:10:42.079 Him. 00:10:42.079 --> 00:10:46.679 They drove Him to death and to the cross. 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:51.839 They rejected His teaching, they rejected His life, they didn't want Him anymore around 00:10:51.840 --> 00:11:03.800 them. The only real reference to His kingship is nailed on the cross by a secular Roman 00:11:03.800 --> 00:11:09.480 ruler who says, this is Jesus Christ, King of the Jews. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:15.840 But yet His death we know becomes the doorway back to spiritual life for every believer. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:22.560 An astonishing act of love, He pays the price for our rebellion, our separation. 00:11:22.560 --> 00:11:29.200 He is plunged into darkness, the darkness of hell in our place, baring the wrath of 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:36.680 God, the holy God, that God who can't ignore sin and evil and rebellion because it only 00:11:36.680 --> 00:11:38.080 ever leads to death. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:42.879 It only ever leads to death and that's the world in which we live. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:49.240 We can't put that right. We can't overcome death. We can't resist it ultimately. But 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:57.120 He did. He could have resisted death but chose to go into death for us and rose again on 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:01.799 the third day as we trust in Him. We can know freedom and life. 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:08.519 Now that is Christianity and that is the very core of our faith and it's with that perspective 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:14.120 that we look at this sermon on the Mount Always and remember who Jesus was, where He'd come 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:20.639 from and where He was going and therefore what He says here is in that context. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:26.679 And it's in the context of people who already trust in Him, His disciples, and He's giving 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:32.639 them because they are redeemed and they are saved and they belong to Him and trust in 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:38.639 Him. He's giving them and therefore He's giving us as Christians a great and powerful 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:43.399 call to live life differently. 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:49.279 And He says for us as Christians therefore in this passage that we have to recognize 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:55.240 two very important things. The first is that our treasure is in heaven. Chapter 6 in that 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:01.240 section verses 19 to 24 speaks about our treasure being in heaven. 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:05.019 Do not lay up yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves 00:13:05.019 --> 00:13:10.720 breaking in steel. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is, there 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:17.639 your heart will be also. So He's reminding us as believers and with His perspective that 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:23.320 our genuine life, our true life, our perspective and our treasure is in heaven. What does He 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:25.919 mean by that? What does He mean? 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:32.639 Well it means that as believers Christ has become our treasure. He speaks about where 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:39.360 our heart is, that's where our treasure lies. And for the believer Christ has become the 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:48.039 core of our life and the core of our love. In Him is real life, love, hope, future, truth 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:56.240 and security. It's in Jesus Christ that our deepest love and our longings are met. All 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:03.439 of the searches that we make in this life for these things are a pale reflection, a mere 00:14:03.439 --> 00:14:11.120 broken shadow of what Jesus offers as we put our faith and trust in Him and enjoy a relationship 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:16.879 with Him. We have life and forgiveness and belonging and hope and a future in Him and 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:23.399 death's power has been removed. The sting of death has removed for us. So Christ is 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:31.720 our treasure. He is what our heart is. We have given our hearts to Him and therefore 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:36.879 we are called to live differently because of that, because of our treasure being there. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:42.120 We're called to live in His light. Verse 22, it gives us that illustration of the eye being 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:46.320 the lamp of the body and if it's healthy your whole body will be full of light. But if 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:54.360 your eye is bad it is full of darkness. And therefore He encourages us to think about 00:14:54.360 --> 00:15:01.800 the eye as it kind of affects all of life. We use the phrase, what have you got your 00:15:01.800 --> 00:15:08.000 eye on? What do you really fancy? What would you really like? And it really maybe is an 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:14.960 illustration of, to explain what our heart's desire is. So there's a link between our heart 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:23.240 and our eye in this picture. In fact, Psalm 119 gives us that illustration. In verse 10 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:28.120 it says, with my whole heart I seek you, let me not wander from your commandments. And 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:34.800 then in verse 18 it says, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your 00:15:34.800 --> 00:15:40.639 law. So we've got this reality that Christ comes into our life and transforms our ability, 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:48.759 like I mentioned at the beginning, to see spiritually and to live accordingly. And when 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:56.360 we're in Christ we are to be living with our heart's desire focused on Him so that we 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:05.159 are living in His light. Because everything else is darkness and blindness. And I speak 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:09.240 to a lot of people who are not Christians and who say, well I just can't see it. I just 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:15.320 can't see it. And the Bible's clear that that's the case. That naturally we are spiritually 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.840 blind and we can't see it. And maybe that's true of you today. And so I would ask you, 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:24.720 if you can't see Jesus Christ and the reality of what He has done and what He is offering 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:34.680 and how good news that is, then please pray to Him and ask Him to open your eyes. And 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:41.120 therefore Jesus is saying that's what our treasure should be. And He's guarding us against 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:50.279 being duplicitous or double-minded or having a divided heart. In verse 24 it says, no one 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:55.000 can serve two masters. He will hate one and love the other. He will be devoted to one or 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:00.079 despise the other. You cannot serve God and money or God and materialism or God and mammon. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:08.759 However, you want to describe that. So what He's saying here is, as Christians 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:15.039 are treasures in heaven, therefore live as if are treasures in heaven. Don't live as 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:21.000 if this world is the most important thing. Don't live as if all that matters is material 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:29.120 realities, the accumulation of wealth or depending on wealth and what it brings you for security, 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:35.759 for a purpose in life or for comfort. Don't depend on wealth for that. And don't therefore 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:42.079 resent God for getting in the way of that. Don't be half-hearted. Don't really have one 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:48.679 eye on what this world is comfort and security can offer and think maybe even at best Jesus 00:17:48.679 --> 00:17:55.479 is an insurance policy for the future when I get old and decrepit. But recognize and 00:17:55.480 --> 00:18:04.519 see and understand that our heart is absolutely key and that we are to lean on and rest on 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:14.240 Jesus Christ for our security, our purpose and comfort and not on material things. Maybe. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:22.200 Maybe we recognize that the heart today is absolutely key. Maybe just this crisis that 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:28.000 we're going through is revealing where your heart and where my heart really lies. What 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:35.600 do we live for? In whom do we trust? What do we love most? What do we believe or not? 00:18:35.600 --> 00:18:40.799 There's two ways to live and it's all over this passage, eternally, temporally, in light 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:46.080 or darkness serving God or materialism with faith or with destructive worry, a kingdom 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:53.799 of light or a kingdom of darkness chasing the wind or resting in Jesus. So He calls 00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:59.599 us to live differently by recognizing as Christians are treasures in heaven, that's where our 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:05.399 heart should be and to give Him all of our heart. But also then I think to recognize 00:19:05.399 --> 00:19:10.720 that His kingdom comes first. In the second section there, His kingdom comes first. And 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:15.159 if you go towards the end of verse 33, He says, seek first the kingdom of God and His 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.480 righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So He's reminding us, He's 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:24.160 following on from what He said and He's reminding us that we're to live a righteous life as 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:31.519 Christians and the righteous life is to affect everything. Now there's two ways in which 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:35.960 righteousness affects our life. One, we're covered in the righteousness of Christ so 00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:41.440 that when God looks at us, He sees Christ's perfection. But we are also to seek after 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:49.000 a life of obedience and righteous living, becoming more like Jesus every day. And we're 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:54.759 to live it out, in other words, live out grace in our lives and live out what it means to 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:59.880 be a Christian. And that's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. In other words, 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:05.279 Jesus said, look your citizens of another kingdom, of a different kingdom whose ethics 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:11.559 and morals are different from the world in which we live. And therefore all of life comes 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:19.720 under this rubric of Christ's Lordship because our heart has been taken by Him and His love 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:21.720 is our law. 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:27.119 And so the Sermon on the Mount speaks about all kinds of practical things, as I mentioned 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:33.399 at the beginning, dealing with anger, sexual parameters, family life, honesty, respect and 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:40.120 love for every human being, even our enemies. Generosity, our attitude to money, our prayer 00:20:40.120 --> 00:20:47.440 life, charity, to food and drink. And in this section, the second section of this entitled 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:54.120 Do Not Be Anxious, the priority that we give to our looks and to our obsession sometimes 00:20:54.120 --> 00:21:01.400 with fashion and with clothes and worrying overly about these things as if they are ultimately 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:09.040 significant for us. It deals with anxiety and worry and its causes and mental health 00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:14.560 and how much store we put by the opinion and judgment of others rather than God. It's all 00:21:14.560 --> 00:21:20.680 there. It's all there in the Sermon. And He encourages us to live the righteous life 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:24.400 and His strength and His grace. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:31.280 And interestingly, as He does so, He says something I think that is really quite paradoxical 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:36.759 verse 34. He says, Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:43.559 for itself. Sufficient for the day, as it says in the Av, sufficient for the day is 00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:49.119 the evil that are of, or sufficient for the day is its own trouble and difficulty. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:54.519 So interestingly, what He says is, in the light of eternity, in the light of who Jesus 00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:59.960 is, in the light of where our hope lies, where our heart lies and where our future lies, 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:08.200 He says, Tomorrow is safe, therefore live for today. Isn't that an interesting kind of paradox? 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:12.480 He doesn't, in other words, say because we're Christians and because our treasures in heaven 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:19.039 that were to be, as the old phrase goes, too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:24.799 It's quite the opposite of a pious disengagement from being part of this world. We are, we 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:31.839 are, He says, to live for today and not be anxious about tomorrow. Every day has its 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:37.960 own trouble and difficulties. It's beautifully paradoxical in a way. In other words, He's 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:47.359 saying today, don't anxiously trace a chase after a material lifestyle. In verse 32, He 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:52.639 talks about that, you know, therefore don't be anxious saying, what shall we eat, what 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:57.720 shall we drink, what shall we wear, Gentiles run after these things, your heavenly Father 00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:02.360 knows that you need them all. He's not saying these things don't matter, but He's saying, 00:23:02.360 --> 00:23:09.640 don't treat them as if that's all that life is about, as if chasing these things is simply 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:14.759 what your life's about, all there is, taking up all your thoughts and all your priorities. 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:21.400 Because if we're simply living for in a materialistic world, might worldview, it leads to deep 00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:28.440 insecurity and unspoken terrors about the future. What will happen? Will I have enough? 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:32.840 Am I going to survive? What do I look like? What will it be like when I grow old? It's 00:23:32.840 --> 00:23:38.759 a terrible way to live. It brings out deep anxieties within us. And indeed three times 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:44.160 in this passage, He says, don't be anxious, don't be anxious, don't be anxious. And you 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:50.519 know, He says, who of us can add one more hour to our day or maybe even one more inch 00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:55.799 to our height by simply worrying about it? In other words, it's destructive. It doesn't 00:23:55.799 --> 00:24:04.359 help any, it simply makes matters worse. So I think if this past month has taught us 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:13.839 anything, it's taught us that life and what we live for can be taken from us in an instant, 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:21.279 in this material world, and this physical life that we live is hugely vulnerable and 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:29.879 insecure. Yet we are to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ because He still loves us. He still 00:24:29.879 --> 00:24:36.399 offers His love. He still reigns. He is still defeated death, and He still is the one who 00:24:36.399 --> 00:24:43.199 gives real life. So don't be anxious, don't anxiously chase after a material life. It's 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:48.640 really what Jesus is saying here, you know, the Gentiles or the pagans that could be translated, 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:54.360 seek after, run after these things as if that is all there is. But He acknowledges that 00:24:54.360 --> 00:25:02.319 each day has its own battles or troubles. So take one day at a time. Each day does have 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:09.000 troubles, and He wants us to focus our attention on praying through these and committing them 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:14.039 to the Lord. He acknowledges that there's trouble and concerns, and there's certainly 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:20.480 plenty in these current days and in this current crisis. And I don't in any way, and God doesn't 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:26.480 in any way, and the Word doesn't in any way belittle these things. But we do see in today's 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:33.680 crisis, I think, in many ways, a worldwide parable of our own fragility and vulnerability, 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:40.039 a sobering reminder that we live in the shadow of death. There's only one hope, one answer, 00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:45.720 and one love. So take each day as it comes, and rely on the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:52.440 His prayer earlier on, and give us this day our daily bread. And rather than chase after 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:59.880 a material lifestyle, He says, rather be people of faith. In verse 30, He rebukes us for being 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:08.240 so, having such little faith in God's provision for us, and really probably living so much 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:14.320 of the time like God is a weakling, and that He doesn't really care. But He wants us to 00:26:14.320 --> 00:26:21.600 cry out to Him, and He will give us what we need in this life, and more importantly, 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:30.279 He will give us eternal life. And He reminds us of that by speaking about our heavenly Father, 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:36.959 who cares. In verse 26, you know, He talks about the flowers of the field, or sorry, 00:26:36.959 --> 00:26:41.079 He talks about the birds of the air, and He says, Luke, they don't reap, or gather into 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:50.000 barns yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And then in verse 32, again, He speaks about 00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:00.200 the flowers, and the beauty of how they are clothed by God, and your heavenly Father, 00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:05.119 if He closes them, knows how much more we need to be clothed. And as Thomas was talking 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:09.880 about last week, about the great picture of the New Testament picture of God, who, the 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:16.240 great I am, who becomes our Father, our heavenly Father. Again, Jesus stresses that here. He 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:23.440 provides food for the birds, and the beauty of the flowers, and He will provide for us, 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:30.519 as we put our trust in Him. And there's an ultimate sense, obviously, that He is already 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:37.920 provided for us, whatever happens in this life, whatever brokenness and battles and 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:41.680 terrible things happen in this life. There's an ultimate sense, which has started now for 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:48.680 every believer, that the provision has been made for Him, and we are safe in Him. We're 00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:53.480 all still going to die unless Jesus comes back first. This life will always be a battle, 00:27:53.480 --> 00:28:01.920 it will always be death and evil, even though it's defeated, it's yet to be destroyed. It's 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:06.360 a broken world, and sooner or later, whether it's by pandemic, or by war, or by famine, 00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:16.279 or by disease, or by old age, or by accident, or by violence, we will all die. But in Christ, 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:24.519 even though the body dies, it dies in order to be raised, and the soul lives on with Jesus 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:29.799 Christ waiting for the fulfillment of all things, the final resurrection and new life, 00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:37.200 of which this life at its very best, in our youngest, strongest, fittest, healthiest, 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:43.440 sunniest, brightest, most fulfilled, satisfied days, is only the opening line of an opening 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:51.799 chapter of a never-ending story. The pandemic that we are living through just now is indeed 00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:58.359 scary. It's a huge challenge to all of our lives, I think, and a huge challenge to where 00:28:58.359 --> 00:29:03.599 our hope and where our security and where our future lies, because we will all one day 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:10.240 stand before the judgment seat of God. And as Christians, it's a great challenge to us 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:18.079 as to how we love God, what place He has in our heart, how often our hearts can be divided, 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:25.799 and how often we fail to live as citizens of another kingdom. But please do consider 00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:31.359 the gospel and the message of Jesus Christ. If you're not a Christian, again, to solemnly 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:37.559 think about the claims of Jesus Christ, who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:46.000 Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we ask and pray that you would teach us from your word, that 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:55.839 we would seek the spiritual equipment that you ask us to have our eyes opened, that we 00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:01.119 would entrust our lives to you, that we would pray to you and ask for eyes to see, ears 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:09.039 to hear, that you would breathe life into us, into those who don't know you. And as Christians, 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:14.279 we would grasp more of what it means to be alive in Christ and what it means to be and 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:21.720 to help with the spirit, to be citizens of a heavenly kingdom which Jesus knew all about. 00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:28.240 And Lord God, we pray that you would bless this strange and difficult and time of great 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:35.399 trial and that through it your kingdom would grow, that people would come to know a deeper 00:30:35.399 --> 00:30:42.920 and greater love and security and belonging than anything that this world can offer. 00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:49.039 So that out of what is dark and black, good will come. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.