REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28″And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was not dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
INTRODUCTION
Theme of 6:18-34 is “A Christian’s Ambition.” Here Jesus warns us to renounce materialism, the value system of the pagan.
Vss. 32-33: The pagans focus on material wealth, we are to focus on God’s Kingdom and righteousness.
FLIP-CHART – Vs. 33: But seek (zeteo) ye first the kingdom of God …. The same root word. So we could translate Mt. 6:33 as follows: We should have our thoughts dominated by and diligently, eagerly seek the extension of God’s Kingdom and His righteousness
REVIEW:
The big question for us: Do I have an unhealthy pre-occupation with things? Am I focused on laying up treasures on earth? Do I own a generous or a stingy eye? Am I seeking to split my allegiance between God and materialism? I have a worldview. Is it materialistic? Partially materialistic? Although there is a good type of worry/concern about the physical and spiritual well-being of others, anxious worry and running after material needs for self is the mark of a Materialist. It puts us in sync with pagans.
If my thought life focuses on worrying about material needs, I am a Materialist at heart. Don’t I realize that the body is more valuable than clothing? If God made the body, won’t he clothe it? Don’t I realize that I am more valuable than the birds of the air? If my Father feeds them won’t he also feed me?
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
REASONS WHY WE SHOULD NOT / MUST NOT WORRY ABOUT FDC
1. The Body/Life is Worth More than FDC
2. The World’s Birds are Fed by God
3. Worry Solves No Problems, Accomplishes Nothing
4. The Flowers that God Creates & Clothes Last a Day, We are Eternal
5. Our Father is the Ultimate / Perfect Omni-Multi-Tasker
EXTENDING LIFE, DECORATING FLOWERS AND MULTI-TASKING
I. THE BODY/LIFE IS WORTH MORE THAN FDC
These people had valid reasons to be anxious / worry. They were really poor. The first argument against worry and anxiety about FDC is an argument from common sense. It is an argument that proceeds from the greater to the lesser, a fortiori argument. Since God has given us life, won’t he also give us food and drink? Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Would God give us such a wonderful body, give us life and then be unable or unwilling to provide us with food, drink, clothing in order to nourish and protect this body, sustain our life?
ILL: Daughter worried that her mother won’t be able to purchase food for the $1000 refrigerator they just bought. Mother’s response: Don’t you think that if I had enough money to buy the refrigerator I wouldn’t have enough money to purchase food to fill it?
II. THE WORLD’S BIRDS ARE FED BY GOD
The Lord uses one of the most common creatures, there are 100 billion birds in the world, to illustrate our Father’s care. We are worth more than birds, and even though birds need to work God provides for them.
If He watches over the 100 billion birds in the world and tracks the 700 trillion strands of hair on top of the heads of the world’s 7 billion people, he also watches over us, His redeemed children, bought with the precious blood of the Divine Son.
FLIP-CHART:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every bush aflame with God.
But only those who see take off their shoes;
The rest of us sit around and pluck blackberries.”
(Elizabeth Barret Browning, 1806-61)
III. WORRY SOLVES NO PROBLEMS, ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (27)
The ancient Greek can mean either “adding to life” or “adding to height” and thus different translations of the verse.
“Add one cubit to his life” (RSV); “Prolong his life a single moment” (TCNT); “Add a single foot to his life” (Weymouth); “Make himself an inch taller” (Phillips); “Add anything to your life” (Beck).
I like the NIV translation!
It seems to me that in 6:27 Jesus is talking about God’s sovereignty over our lives.
The Bible is clear that God determines the length of our lives. Psalm 90, the Psalm of Moses, says “You turn men back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust O sons of men.’ And “You sweep men away in the sleep of death. They are like the new grass of the morning. Though in the morning it springs up new by evening it is dry and withered.”
The apostle James warns us about boasting about tomorrow: Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14)
We may think we are extending our lives by good health practices, e.g. exercise and eating right but God is the final arbiter of how many days we will spend on earth. That is why I love the little poem written by G.K. Chesterton that I have adapted a bit:
Yesterday was a good day
During which I head eyes, ears and hands
And the great world around me.
And now comes another.
Why am I allowed two?
John Stott emphasizes here that Jesus is not forbidding “thought” or even “forethought” but “anxious thought” like Martha had, worry about making sure everything was just right.
We worry about two sorts of things: Things we have control over and things we have no control over. It is senseless to worry about things that we have no control over, e.g. the state of the economy, the price of gas. If we do have control over a situation then we should not be worrying. We should be doing something about it.
ILL: A ninety-five year old woman at the nursing home received a visit from one of her fellow church members. “How are you feeling?” the visitor asked. “Oh,” said the lady, “I’m just worried sick!” “What are you worried about, dear?” her friend asked. “You look rather well and healthy today. Are they taking good care of you here?” “Oh, yes, they’re taking very good care of me.” “Are you in any pain?” she asked. “No, I’m not in any pain at all.” “Well then, what are you worried about?” her friend asked again. The lady leaned back in her rocking chair, sighed a heavy sigh, then slowly explained her major worry. “Every close friend I ever had has already died and gone on to heaven. I’m afraid they’re all wondering where I went.”
Obviously she had no control over what her friends in heaven were thinking.
Worry is a waste – – a waste of time, thought and nervous energy. . . . If our fears do not materialize we have worried once for nothing; if it does materialize, we have worried twice instead of once. In both cases it is foolish: worry doubles trouble.” (Stott, 169)
Worry is pointless, as pointless in worrying about extending our height or years on this earth. God is sovereign and those things are in our genes and in His hands.
You may worry yourself to death but you can not worry yourself to life. (MacArthur 423)
Worry doesn’t “add” to your life but it does “subtract.”
Someone said that worrying is like shoveling smoke. It will keep you moving and wear you out but will not accomplish anything.
Another person said that worry is like rocking in a rocking chair. It will keep you busy, giving you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.
ILL: For several years a woman had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did find a burglar. “Good evening,” said the man of the house. “I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you.”
IV. THE FLOWERS THAT GOD CREATES AND CLOTHES LAST FOR A DAY, WE WILL LIVE FOREVER.
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire . . . ,
Is physical well-being a worthy object to which to devote my life?
Matthew Henry, the Puritan commentator had a good attitude to his physical well-being when he said after being robbed: Lord, I thank You: That I have never been robbed before, That although they took my money, they spared my life. That although they took everything, it wasn’t very much. That it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.
John Wesley when informed that his house had burned down went about his business and showed little concern. Some of his friends remonstrated with him and asked him how he could be so indifferent about this catastrophe. He replied that it was God’s house that burned down and not his.
These stories sound unreal but they point out a correct attitude towards our material things. Now we move into the area of clothing.
FLIP-CHART: Think of the names of the various clothing stores in the East Valley. Let’s make two lists – One list for stores that only sell clothes and another for stores that sell lots of clothes as well as other things.
QUESTION: How many pairs of shoes do you have? Let’s see who has the least number of pairs of shoes? Of shirts? Of dresses? Of suits?
Obviously worrying about having something to wear is not a problem and yet we hear statements like “I have nothing to wear.” And of course another is “I don’t know what to wear.”
But think of it. Jesus is telling those who only had a single garment not to worry about clothing. In fact John the Baptist in Luke 3:11 tells those who have two tunics to give one away and Jesus says in Luke 9:3 that when you go on a ministry trip take only one tunic.
Again, to teach us a lesson Jesus turns to nature, His creation.
FLIP CHART: Remember the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
“Earth is crammed with heaven,
And every bush aflame with God.
He that has eyes to see takes of his shoes.
The rest of us sit around and pluck blackberries.”
“See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (29)
When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true (I Kings 10:4-6).
“In the light of Solomon’s great glory, some might think this illustration is overstated. Far from it! “Lilies of the field” are wildflowers, and a microscope applied to any of them reveals a magnificence that makes Solomon’s robeslook like rags! These wildflowers collectively decorate the green grass with exquisite beauty . . . “ (Hughes, 223)
“Are you discouraged, trapped in the pattern of worry? One very practical suggestion that comes out of Jesus’ teaching here is often overlooked. Lift up your eyes and enjoy God’s simple pleasures. Stop and take time to focus on the minute details of God’s loving care over creation. Stop and look at the flowers. Stop and look at the grass. Stop and take a look at the sunrise. Breathe in the fresh air. Literally, stop and take some time with God recognizing his creation. The intricate care of God over the minutest detail of creation should encourage us.” (Sermon by Jim Hammond)
“Daffodils” (1804)
I WANDER’D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
How does God clothe each flower, each blade of grass, through a genetic mechanism or through continual involvement minute by minute?
The Lord Jesus says that all this effort is made to beautify the flowers and then they are thrown into the fire.
“Kilbanos, the word for fire is better translated “oven.” Such ovens were made of hardened clay and were used primarily for baking bread. When a woman wanted to hurry the baking process, she would build a fire inside the oven as well as under it. Fuel for the inside heating was usually composed of dried grass and flowers gathered from nearby fields. Once the flower’s beauty was gone it had little use except to be burned up as fuel for baking. Then it was gone.” (MacArthur, 424)
The argument is that if God will go to all that trouble to beautify a flower that has such a short life span, won’t he clothe me, His redeemed child, who will live with him eternally in heaven?
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)
ILL: A mother buys all kinds of decorations for a birthday party which are dumped in the trash after the party is over. Yet the daughter worries if her mother is able to buy her clothes for school.
APPLICATION: Do I believe that this is my Father’s world? If he can clothe the grass and flowers won’t He take care of me?
A PRAYER: Thank you Father for decorating and re-decorating our world!!! For making everything so beautiful for us. Thus, even among mixed signals, I can see your hand – another clue not only of your existence – but of who you are, what you are like, how much you care for me.”
V. OUR FATHER – THE ULTIMATE OMNI-MULTI-TASKER
The Lord Jesus is reminding us that the main antidote to worry is a right perception of who God is.
He is: Omnipotent “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good” (5:45), Omnipresent “…sees what is done in secret” (6:4), Omniscient, “… knows that you need them” (6:32) Omni-benevolent “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (5:45) and here we see the ultimate Omni-MultiTasker “clothes the grass of the field” (6:30).
We saw that he keeps his eye on each of the 100 billion birds in the world, numbers every strand of hair on every head in our world, clothes every flower, every blade of grass, manages every cell in every human body. He gives adequate attention to all of these things.
“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as full as if there were no others.” (A.W. Tozer)
APPLICATION: The real key to overcoming worry is just to meditate and grasp the five points discussed by Jesus: God made our bodies/life which is more valuable than food; God feeds the birds and we are more valuable then they; worrying is a sum-loss exercise; God clothes the flowers which are temporal, won’t he close us, who are eternal; He is the Perfect Omni-MultiTasker which means he can give full attention to all of his children individually at the same time.
SO WHAT???
1. Worry is a sum-total loss! It does not add to our life. It always subtracts from our life.
2. Since our Father created our body He will certainly take care of our body while we are on this earth.
3. He feeds 100 billion birds so He will provide us with adequate food.
4. He decorates our temporal world with flowers and grass so he will certainly provide clothing for his children who are eternal, who will live with Him forever.
5. Our Father who provides care for creation gives each of us His undivided attention and will certainly care for us.