April 25, 2021
Morning Service

Mat 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  (21)  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

            We were all challenged to look into our spiritual mirror and examine our own lives to see what things we are investing our lives in; whether it be things of this world or the things of God.  By identifying our treasure, we then know who owns our heart.  Our relationship with the Lord needs come first in our list of priorities.  He made it very clear that you can’t serve two masters; we must choose to follow Him as the Lord of our life.  Jesus continues that point as He turns to something we all struggle with at times and that is worry.

Mat 6:25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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?

            Jesus again encourages us to examine ourselves and see where our perspective is focused.  To worry means to “have anxiety based upon perceived or real impending misfortune;” the “what if” syndrome.  It means you focus on events of the future and fear that they will not work out as you like.  We focus intently on areas of our lives such as financial, physical or even relational and play out the “what if” scenarios exhaustively.  There is a difference between worry and concern.  Worry immobilizes you to pull back fearing the worse doing nothing, but concern moves you to action.  Jesus calls us to walk by faith; “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”  The control of our future is not in our hands, but in the hands of our loving and caring Lord who knows what is best for us.  Worry is a lack of faith.  Concern moves you to do all that you can about a situation and then faith allows you to trust Him to do the rest.  God is in control of each and every situation.  He is there for you, trust Him don’t worry.  In this verse Jesus mentions worrying about food, drink, and clothing.  He now uses some examples that we all understand to teach us about another spiritual truth.

 Mat 6:26-32 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  (27)  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  (28)  "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; (29) and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  (30)  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  (31)  "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  (32)  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

            Jesus tells us that nature is preaching to us about worry.  The birds don’t sow nor reap, but our Father takes care of them.  The lilies of the field don’t either, but look at their beauty He clothes them with.  Does He value the birds and lilies more than He values you?  No way!  Worry is also futile because no matter how much we worry it does not change anything.  Have you ever lived through stressful situation and once it is resolved say; “I am so glad I worried about that so much?”  It is always the opposite; we realize we worried too much and to no avail.  When we fully give our hearts to God, we need to also learn to fully trust Him for everything; “For your Heavenly Father knows you need all these things.”  Paul instructed us in the Philippian letter to do this:

Php 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

            Is it possible to live without anxiety, worry and stress?  Yes, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirt and through Christ.  Is it easy to do that?  No way, we want to be in control and guide our lives in the direction that we want to travel; but we must realize again that God is not our Copilot, but He is the Pilot!  How do we let Jesus “take the wheel?”  Through prayer and through a trusting faith.  Paul instructs us to “in everything” we are to turn to our Lord with nothing being too big or nothing being too small.  Don’t worry about it, pray about it and trust the Lord to work it out.  Pray with supplication (which means be specific about your needs) and with a thankful, humble and grateful attitude ultimately yielding your will to His perfect will.  Look at the results; “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard you hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  When you pray believing and trusting fully in your Heavenly Father to hear and act according to His will, a peace will fill your mind, heart and soul.  It will be a peace so deep that you will not even be able to understand it, but it will be there.  Are you there yet in your walk with Jesus?  When troubles come around is prayer your first action that you take or, does it come later after you worry and fret about it first?  Paul is instructing you to “make your requests know to God” as your part and then trust Him to move accordingly.  He hears you.  He sees you.  He loves and cares for you.  He knows you and your circumstances.  He has a plan for those circumstances to draw you closer to Him, allow the process to work.  Don’t let worry get in the way of becoming all that God has for you to be!  How can we do that with all the worries our world has for us today?  Covid 19, police issues, political unrest, and even the idea of the end times being upon us are all a big burden to carry without worry.  How do I do that?  Jesus gives us the answer.

Mat 6:33-34 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  (34)  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

            Here is the key to a life free of worry and stress; seek God to be first and then trust Him to handle everything else; “all these things will be added to you.”  That is a promise.  “Seek” is an action word; it is something we have to consciously and deliberately do.  We must keep our eyes on Him even in the time of a storm, times of change, and times we just don’t understand where He is leading us.  He also tells us to take one day at a time.  Trust Him to provide for you and guide you down the path He wants you to go.  Pray about everything handing all our cares and worries over to Him and faithfully follow.  He wants us to learn to rely fully upon Him.  Ask for forgiveness when (not if) you fall down and get back up and move on.  Stand firmly on scriptures like these and don’t let the cares of this world to bog your down.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Rom 8:31-32   What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  (32)  He who did not spare His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

            God is at work in your life.  Nothing happens by coincidence.  He is shaping you into who He wants you to be by the circumstances you encounter.  He asks you to call upon Him and “make our requests known” and then TRUST Him to work it out.  If “God is for us, who can be against us?”  He gave His all for us upon the cross, how then would He not then through Christ “also give us all things?”

 

Heavenly Father, open our hearts to be able to see Your guiding Hand in our lives, and allow us the courage to follow You and learn to fully trust you through the struggles this life has to offer.