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Have you ever stopped to think about how it is that you can have a relationship with God? I mean, we hear that a lot in church, but how does that actually work? How do you as a little human being standing on a rock that is floating in space that is 93 billion light years in diameter form a relationship with the God Who made all of that? How is that not an arrogant thing to assume? How are we able to do this? The answer to that lies in this passage in Genesis 12. It has been hinted at in Genesis 3, 6, and 9, but it is going to be spelled out for us in chapters 12, 15, 17, and 22. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the Abrahamic covenant. It is not an exaggeration to say that if you don't understand this covenant, you aren't going to understand any of the others, nor are you really going to understand the New Testament. The promise to Abraham and how it was done is going to provide the basis for Paul's argument for how we are saved by grace in Romans 4. It will form Paul's argument for predestination in Romans 9, and most relevantly for us, it will form Paul's argument for Gentile inclusion in the New Covenant in Galatians 3-4. And it isn't just the New Testament that finds this important, as it will come up a lot in the rest of the Old Testament as well. While it will be mentioned a lot in Genesis, I want to just draw your attention to Exodus. This covenant will be brought up in Ex 2:24-25 as the reason for why God is about to act. It will be brought back up when Israel needed comfort in Exodus 6 that He really was going to come and save them. Interestingly, it doesn't come up again until God is ready to consume Israel for their sin in Exodus 32, when Moses invokes that covenant as the mediator between God and the nation. What's fascinating is that he doesn't bring up the Mosaic covenant just made on Mountain, but rather he brings up the promise made to Abraham. God spared the entire nation based on the promise that He made to one man. That is how our God works. When He makes promises, He is going to uphold them. So let's see how God forms relationships and how that applies to us today by looking at our two points: God forms relationships through covenants and God advances His plans through covenants God forms relationships through covenants In order to know how God forms a relationship through covenants, we need to know what a covenant is. This word shows up 270 times in the Old Testament, and at its most basic level, it is a truly binding promise made between two or more parties. There were some pretty hefty punishments for breaking covenants, so even if a covenant was made deceptively, it still had to be honored (Joshua 9:18-21; Galatians 3:15). Oftentimes, and we will see this in Genesis 15, covenants were made in blood, requiring the death of an animal with the idea being that if the promise was broken, the offender would suffer the same fate as the animal. To take on a covenant was truly obligating oneself! This concept of a covenant is actually something that comes from human culture that God took upon Himself. Historical documents show us that kings in this time period would set up a covenant document that would look an awful lot like what we see in Genesis. This doesn't mean that the Bible has made up the idea of God forming relationships this way, it just means that God took something that was familiar to humanity and used it so that we would understand. It is similar when it says that God adopts us. We know what adoption means (and in the original context of Roman law, it was an unbreakable bond way stronger than what we have today), so to apply that to our relationship with God gives a real impact. In short, God forming a covenant with us is an example of condescension on God's part. In other words, as one writer put it, God "stoops" down to our level in order to form a relationship with us (Stephen Myers, God to Us, 9). He has to stoop because we are not only creatures and He the Creator, but we are also sinners and He is perfectly holy (Myers, 10-11). The only way on earth or in heaven that we can have a relationship with God is if He and He alone makes it possible. There was nothing that Abram could do to force a relationship to happen. He was a sinful, tiny human being just like you and me. For him to have a relationship with God required God to initiate this relationship. Of all the ways that God could have expressed the relationship, the fact that he does so in this way should be such a comfort. He could have made it like a business contract that could be negotiated and changed and exited. He could have made it like a product purchase with a receipt, returnable if undesirable. Instead, he used a covenant, an intimate relationship bound on pain of death. Honestly, God needed to make it that way, because that is really the only way that God could give confidence to the promises that He has made. God Advances His Plans Through Covenants Let's just take a look, as we slide into our second point, at what we have seen so far in Genesis. The very first covenant made to Adam and Eve promised eternal life and bliss which Adam and Eve quickly broke. That covenant was made on condition of Adam and Eve's obedience. This clearly demonstrates that even perfect human beings cannot be counted on to hold up their end of the bargain. From there, in Genesis 3, God makes the covenant of grace, a covenant, a promise that would depend on God's faithfulness to it rather than theirs. In that one, He promises, in the middle of a now-decaying garden that He would make all things right and would do it through the seed of the woman. For Adam and Eve to imagine that God would do something like that would be absurd bordering on blasphemous, yet they can dare to hope that because God said it would happen. Next, when humanity gets to the absolute breaking point of evil, God makes another promise. Noah finds favor in God's eyes. God forms a relationship with him and preserves Noah from the flood. This promise advances the previous promise that He made in Genesis 3 to set all things right. And now as we get to Abraham, we will see God promise something even better. As one scholar put it, "The story has been one of failed hopes: creation and fall, childbirth and murder, personal deliverance and global rebellion. But in the person of Abram, the Lord initiates a plan for humanity and the world that includes true blessing for an individual, his offspring, and the world." (John Redd, 133) He continues later by saying, "...the work of redemption has been limited to individual instances of protection and deliverance from divine judgment. In the Abrahamic covenant, however, the redemptive program shifts to one of positive benefit – that is, blessing – both for the people of God, and for the whole world." (John Redd, 133). So what does this mean for us? I thought of a number of things, but I want to mention just two takeaways that we have here. The first is that God chose to have a relationship with us that places obligations on Himself. That is an immensely personal way of relating to us. No other god is like that. Every other god that we humans invent is aloof at best. The gods of the ancient peoples barely tolerated their worshipers much less formed personal, binding relationships with them. The second takeaway that I would bring to your attention is that this sort of relationship makes prayer possible as we know it today. To pray to other gods usually is going to involve bringing some sort of payment first. You have to convince the other gods to listen. The fact that God has established a relationship with us gives us the open door to prayer. My kids don't have to make an appointment to see me, or try to convince me to give them the things they need, as pale of a representation of good fatherhood as I am. God has formed a relationship with you such that you can approach Him and ask anything in prayer. He has bound Himself to you. Indeed, the final covenant that was made with us was made around a table of, among other things, unleavened bread and wine. There Jesus establishes a covenant saying that this is the new covenant, in my blood. God didn't just have to stoop; He had to bleed. And He took on a body just to be able to do that. We consider it presumptuous at best to ask others to pay for our debts, but how outlandish would we be to ask the lender to pay our debts for us. How bordering on unimaginable would it be to ask the victim of our crime to not only forgive us but to pay our penalty! How could a murderer ask the family of his victim to forgive him AND for them to serve his life sentence for him? And yet that is exactly what God does for us. How could we possibly have that arrangement? How could it be possible for us to even imagine? It is because God stooped down to make that very arrangement. That is how we have a relationship with God. And that's how He moves history forward. Because He is just that good.
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Does anyone else feel like there's just too much going on? I saw a video of a man saying—well, screaming—that exact sentiment from his car. Life just has so much happening at any given time, and it can feel like there is just no way to keep up with everything. Part of this comes down to our inability to say no to things. We've created such a culture that looks down on people who aren't overworked that we assume being busy absolutely all the time is what is most honoring to God. This ignores the fourth commandment that explicitly commands rest, but that's another sermon. Perhaps another possibility for this crazy sense of busyness might be because there is a misquoting (and understanding) of the verse that we are looking at here this morning. I've heard this verse in many conversations over the years saying, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." This idea that God doesn't overload us can give us permission (or threat) to just keep going with whatever life throws our way. Since God doesn't overload us, then whatever is on our plate must stay on our plate. Since God doesn't give me more than I can handle, then there is no need to ask for help. As we will see, today, that is not what that verse means—or even says. There is no verse that says that God won't give you more than you can handle. In fact, there is Biblical evidence to show the opposite! One scholar points to 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 "For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death." But then take a look at the rest of the verse:"But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (Eric Bargerhuff). Do you see the point being made here? God gives you more than you can handle all the time! The very point in doing so is so that you see your true weakness and look to God for help. That is reality! So where do we get this idea from? Well, that likely is coming from 1 Cor. 10:13, which we look at now. What God does say in that verse is that He is not going to allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able (again, with His help) to escape. That is what we are going to be looking at today as we contemplate our two points today: The danger of falling into temptation is real and Dependance on God and avoidance of sin is required. The danger of falling into temptation is real As we went over when we did this series back in the summer, a big part of misunderstanding what a verse means comes down to not looking at the context of the verse. Context shapes meaning. If I say the word "blinker" as an auto mechanic, you will assume I am talking about a car. If I say that same word as an eye doctor, you are probably going to assume I am talking about someone's eyes. That is just one word! How much more important in Scripture that when we see a verse, we need to read the verses (and preferably chapters) surround the verse to understand what it means. This verse is part of a much larger discussion in 1 Corinthians. This book was actually a letter written to the church at Corinth, and they had a problem with looking like the world around them. Relatable, eh? They have been told that they have been set free from their sins, but they are now assuming that they can flirt with those old sins. We can see what some of those might be by looking to the surrounding verses. One particular sin that is mentioned twice in this context is idolatry (verses 7 and 14), bowing down to statues as a show of allegiance to false gods. Now, the Corinthian Christians know that there is only one God. They know that those statues are false gods, so the thought is, "Well, it will make my business go much better to be seen at the false god temple. So what if I bend towards a statue? I don't really believe this stuff. It's just a rock. What's the real harm? My sins have all been forgiven in Christ." What Paul is saying to the Corinthians and us is that we are susceptible to temptation. In the early part of this chapter, Paul lays out some examples from history where Israel thought of herself as strong against temptation, but they fell into it embarrassingly quickly. Paul alludes to Israel fresh out of Egypt, having seen miracles, having eaten of the same heavenly bread, and drinking out of a rock in the middle of the desert, and yet, AND YET, even after hearing from God audibly on the mountain, the moment Moses turns his back, they set up a golden calf. Paul's point then is that if they can fall into temptation having seen all that they have, then surely we are all the more susceptible to temptation. This means we shouldn't get close to it. We've all seen those videos of people who handle wild animals for zoos and shows suddenly get attacked. They may have been with those animals for years, but suddenly, one day, the animal decides that it has had enough, and with one bite, their handler's lives change or end. I saw one where a animal handler was feeding an alligator when it bit down on her hand. A bystander saw what was happening, entered the alligator enclosure, jumped onto its back, looked at the keeper and then said, "Now, what?" That, too often, is how we deal with sin. We've kept it in its little cage assuming that it wasn't going to actually affect our lives, until one day, it bit. I've seen a number of marriages break up in just that way. One party thought they could keep a habit off to the side, but it didn't stay there. And if we think that we are beyond such temptation, that is exactly where we are the most vulnerable. A soldier is most in danger when he thinks he's in safe territory when he is not. Dependance on God and avoidance of sin is required. Now, all of this sounds very depressing, so far. What we have covered is that there are plenty of people, including the people who literally saw God work in some of the most miraculous ways, who thought that they could resist temptation, didn't. Therefore, we must be careful. But sin seems all but inevitable. Aren't we all just heading for some sort of blow up eventually? No, and that is exactly what 1 Corinthians 10:13 is telling us. It turns out that God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to resist IF we use the resources that God gives us to escape them. This is not saying that resisting temptation will be effortless or even easy. This IS saying that resisting temptation is possible with God. God will provide the way of escape, but YOU have to take it. And in many cases when it comes to sin, we just don't take it. So what are those resources? Well, the first is dependance on God, and the second is fleeing the temptation itself. When we say depending on God, I don't mean throwing yourself into a bad situation and hope that God simply stops you from following through. In fact, depending on God often looks like being obedient to Him before temptation strikes. It is worth noting that God is giving you the way of escape often well before temptation takes place. As one commentator pointed out, one of the best defenses against sin is memorized Scripture (Eric Bargerhuff). After all, that is how Jesus modeled resisting temptation from Satan, didn't He? Every time Satan lobbed a temptation, how did Jesus respond? Did He give logical reasons for why He shouldn't follow through on Satan's request? No, He simply responded with what God has to say on the matter. It is already set out! Are you memorizing Scripture? You likely know what your weaknesses are in your life, have you memorized verses that speak to those things? If not, you are probably leaving your way of escape on the table. We expect this of sports players, don't we? We would think it very foolish if we saw players come onto a field expecting to be good having put no physical effort in beforehand. We would think it very strange for a ballerina to wait until the day of the recital to start learning the choreography. We roll our eyes at students who try to study for the final exam on the bus on the way to school having slept through the class all year. But that is exactly how we often approach temptation. We know what we are like. We know what we struggle with. But we wait until the temptation is well upon us, then we quick try to pray or try to remember something, but with nothing to reach for, we succumb with little struggle if at all. Depending on God means depending on the resources that He provides you right now, BEFORE temptation crosses your path. The second tool that God gives you to fight temptation is to simply avoid it! As the old joke goes, "Doctor, I broke my arm in two places!" "Well, then, stay out of those places!" If you find yourself yielding to temptation while doing a certain thing, then, in the words of Bob Newhart, "Stop it!" This can be very practical. Are you more susceptible to anger when you are tired? Then go to bed earlier for the sake of your soul! Do you find yourself using your phone in ways you shouldn't when you are alone? Don't be alone with your phone. Or better yet, get a phone that doesn't allow for that kind of temptation to pop up in the first place. The way of escape is often far more practical than we think. We don't need to pray down a miracle to keep us from saying mean things on Facebook, we just need to deactivate Facebook. The Christian life doesn't have to be that hard! You don't need to fight your sin on your own, tell someone else about your struggle and be accountable to them. "That sounds scary! I would be ashamed to have to tell someone if I fail," Exactly! Sounds like a solid strategy. God works through means, so don't be afraid to use them. I promise you, if you are taking radical steps to ensure that you don't sin, are memorizing Bible verses to use in your spiritual fight, praying for the Lord to bring these things to mind in the midst of temptation, and enlist others in the fight against sin, guess what you are going to do? You are going to grow so much you will want to keep doing all of these things! You will be living as a Christian. And you will succumb to temptation less. No one is ever going to be perfect in this world as verse 12 reminds us. But God has not sent us out into a battlefield with nothing to fight with. He has sent the Holy Spirit to live within us to begin to change our desires. He has written His Word with specific guidance on how to live as Christians. He moves us in prayer. And He has given us plain old common sense. Use it all to resist temptation. So what is our takeaway from all of this? One, God will absolutely give you more than you can handle so you learn to stop trying to handle it yourself. God will give you opportunities to do far more good things than you can possibly do. All of that will teach you that you're not the Messiah and you need to take a rest like He told you. God is going to give you kids that are well beyond your current patience level to force you to come to God in prayer every morning asking for fresh energy. There will also be times that you will call out in prayer for something that you think you need, and He will say no to show you that you actually don’t need that thing and He’s not a vending machine. God will allow you access to someone at work or on the internet to make you choose between Him and your job or Him and the internet. And if you use the tools that I mentioned earlier, the disciplines of the Christian life humbly relying on God to make them work, you will find the way of escape. Two, take temptation seriously. Prepare for it, and be practical about it. To save money from being thoughtlessly spent, you put it in the savings account. You don’t try to develop better discipline and memory of what you wanted to save, you just move it into the savings account. Done! Treat your propensity to sin with equal practicality.
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Today's sermon explores Psalm 103 as we learn what it looks like to remember in order to not forget.
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My hope this morning is will you be encouraged to love the LORD your God and the things He loves. In doing so, you will find relief any anxiety you are experiencing. Jesus says in 6:25 “Do not be anxious for your life…” He then gives us many reason not to be anxious here at the end of chapter 6: He reminds us that life is more than food and clothing. These things are necessary, but they cannot provide the great things of life — knowing God and being known by Him, enjoying His presence in a way that you even find some joy in the midst of your suffering, the hope of eternity in his presence. He states in v. 26 that all creation relies on Him verse 26: “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?” He goes on to say that anxiety is useless verse 27: “And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?” He says Our Father delights to adorn. He does it for the flowers. He will do it for you. “Fear not little flock. It is the Father’s pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” It is the unbelievers who should be anxious. But not His Children. Their father is evil and mammon is all they’ve got. But not you. Your Heavenly Father knows your needs, even before you ask Him. And He says He will carry the burdens of His children. Moreover, our Father spreads the burdens out over time. verse 34 says, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.” Jesus is saying that if you will put your trust in Him He will anxious on your behalf for that stuff up ahead that piles up and tries to bite you today. But in verse 25 Jesus did not merely say “do not be anxious for your life.” He said THEREFORE, do not be anxious - or“For this reason” you can win over anxiety. For what reason? This means there is something Jesus has already said that sheds light on the rest of what He has to say. He has revealed to us at least two universal principles about people. Being a missionary, universal truths come in handy. This means, no matter the culture, somehow this principle applies to them too. I just have to patiently observe and listen to figure out how it is to be applied. The world is quite anxious these days. Some are saying 2024 is the year for the next attempt at the great reset. There are wars and rumors of wars. WWIII is within the realm of possibility. So knowing and acting on Jesus teaching we can find relief from the sleepless nights, the sense of isolation and loneliness we have felt due to worry. The one who spoke us into creation is offering a universal solution to fear and anxiety. They are these:
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life… There are three main imperatives, or command in the rest of chapter 6- Everything else is meant to help you see the commands as wise and right and joyfully possible. The three commands of the rest of chapter 6 are:
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (v19) is a specific instance of what seeking God’s kingdom involves. Seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness involves not trying to be rich on earth but trying to be rich in heaven, that is, rich in God. Seeking the kingdom means treasuring God and freeing yourself from the drag of earth’s gravitational pull. And as you focus up there, He will take care of everything you need down here. Guaranteed. No risk investment. Then “Do not be anxious” is the condition of the heart by which we break free from our addiction to earth-treasure. Transactional relationships, and give ourselves with passion to heaven-treasure. By faith in his promises, God frees us from anxiety, and in this freedom, we don’t crave treasures on earth anymore. Those are the three main imperatives in the text. Jesus is asking you to ask yourself: “What is my treasure?” He makes clear where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. If you look at your investments and realize you need surgery to repair the longings of your heart, Jesus performs an operation deep into your soul with v. 22: Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! The idea behind this passage is one of childlike simplicity. However, these verses contain one of the most shocking warnings against self-deception possible. This paradoxical phrase haunts me at times: “If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” In the Lord’s prayer we pray for protection from the evil one - an external force coming at us like a roaring lion. But here in v. 23 - Jesus was not warning against some external enemy: "If... the light that is in us [within, inside] us be darkness, it is no light at all. It is great darkness" This is about the strongest warning against self-deception imaginable. Elder David last night prayed last night according to 7:21: 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ That can seem to be an absolutely terrifying statement: after all my devotion will I be shocked to find out I had my ladder leaning on the wrong wall?” Paul does challenge the Corinthian church to test theirselves to see if they are of the faith. (2 Cor. 13) But Our Father is not out to trick us or leave us guessing. This SoM is about setting us free: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: they shall be satisfied.’ To understand the most striking meaning verses 22-23 we must see it in its placement: Before: 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. Then look at the verse after: 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” So I see a money issue before and a money issue after. The healthy, single, generous eye would see heaven as more valuable and would lay up treasure there. The bad eye would see this life as more valuable. God over money or money over God. Cannot treasure both. The “evil eye” was a Hebrew expression referring to jealousy and envy. The greek word ‘poneros’ here means grudging and ungenerous. You see the ‘evil eye’ in Proverbs 28:22 A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, And does not consider that poverty will come upon him. You see the use of the healthy, single, clear eye in Proverbs 22:9 “Whoever has a bountiful [generous] eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” The person who is materialistic and greedy is spiritually blind. Because he has no way of recognizing true light, he thinks he has light when he does not. What is thought to be the light good works is therefore really darkness, because the motives were not for God but to please men and enjoy their compliments - it was transactional. And because of the self-deception, how great is the darkness! A great theme of the SoM Mt 5-7 has to do with your private life, by yourself with God. You can fool people. Men look at the outward appearances, but God looks at the heart. The principle is simple and sobering: the way we look at and use our stuff is a sure barometer of our spiritual condition. There is nothing like generosity for giving you a clear and undistorted view of life and of people; there is nothing like a grudging and ungenerous spirit for distorting your view of life and of people. The Master Mammon: 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Jesus says "You cannot serve God and mammon." The word mammon comes from a root which means to entrust; and mammon was that which a man entrusted to a banker or to a safe deposit of some kind. Mammon was the wealth which a man entrusted to someone to keep safe for him. But as the years went on mammon came to mean, not that which is entrusted, but that in which a man puts his trust. Material possessions can usurp a place in life which they were never meant to have. Originally a man's material possessions were the things which he entrusted to someone else for safe-keeping; in the end they came to be the things in which a man puts his trust. Surely there is no better description of a man's god, than to say that his god is the power in whom he trusts; and when a man puts his trust in material things, then material things have become, not his support, but his god. The most literal translation of v. 24 is this: 6:24 “No man can be a slave to two owners; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cleave to the one and despise the other. You cannot be a slave to God and to material things.” Here, then, is our relationship to our treasures. They own us. Many have been deceived into thinking our treasures were in submission to us. Mankind lives the life of an illusion of freedom and control of his life and destiny. Jesus says it is not true. People are slaves to a master. And in the words of the theologian-poet Brother Bob Dylan: “You gonna have serve somebody. It might be the devil. It might be the lord, but you gonna have to serve somebody.” Joshua 24:14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In regard to the master we serve - we have no rights of our own. The god we serve must be the undisputed master of our lives, our time, our hearts. There is nothing worse than a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. If it is the Lord God, serve him wholeheartedly or get out of the business of religion. If it is mammon, the things of this life, then by all means, go for the gusto. Get rich, build bigger barns, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die and go to hell forever! Jesus is saying that since you are a slave who cannot serve two masters, be certain to invest your treasure in eternal markets. Here Jesus is warning that earthly mammon will ensnare you and eventually cause you to shun God, even hate this entire concept of GOD as master and determiner of your life. You will grow cold toward one or the other. But He is also hinting that if you return to God, who is your Father and relinquish your heart to Him, the things of this world will grow strangely dim. Your eye will be clear and you will discern that the fleeting pleasures of this world. You will shun the deception of the world and hate the things that challenge God’s irrefutable reign and rule. That is where your tithe and faith promise to missions come into play. You give to the poor, who can never repay you, because that is exactly what your Father has already done for you. Your heart will be where you place your treasures, and He has invested in you. He gave his treasure, His only Son for you to have Him. Knowing that you were born to serve is clarifying, isn’t it? But one of the greatest things about Jesus is that, though He is an absolute master and you are his bondservant, and though He does bid you die with Him, He does not want his people to be anxious. God does not secure his kingship by cultivating anxiety. He has made himself king over us for the very opposite purpose, namely, to take away our anxiety. In my own life, the sheer statement from the Lord that he does not want me to be anxious has a great tendency to give me peace. But when you add to it the reasons he gives why we don’t need to be anxious, his word becomes tremendously powerful. Global mission is about setting people free! Verse 25: “Do not be anxious about your life.” Verse 31: “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’” Verse 34: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” So one thing should ring in your ears when you leave this morning, namely, “ My master King Jesus does not want me to be anxious.” But that is just the negative way of stating the main point of this passage. There is a positive way found in verse 33, namely, instead of being anxious, “Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness” Ah, that is mission! The only true solution to anxiety - serving God and seeking His Kingdom reign. Knowing that you were born to serve is clarifying. And to seek the kingship of God first in every affair of life is a thrilling way to live. It’s full of freedom and peace and joy and adventure and hardship, and it’s worth it all. If you believe in the kingship of your heavenly Father, you do not need to be anxious about anything. For your master has promised, “All these things shall be added unto you.” Rom7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! …Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Isaiah 41:8 “... I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Luke 12:32–34) “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” |
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January 2025
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