Our series is on how Jesus resets our goals. We’re basing this on something Jesus taught in his sermon on the mount.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
(Matthew 6:25-33 ESV)
Jesus was saying that we can get so busy and consumed by the day to day concerns of life, we lose track of the point. What was the point? We were created for relationship with God, and one another. All humans gave that up by focusing on ourselves instead, and there is evidence in the world’s brokenness. We can see it in broken relationships with ourselves, one another, our natural world, and with God himself. But God offers his love to us all the same. He invites us to live in his kingdom – to be in a relationship with him as our Lord – thanks to what Jesus did on the cross.
Last week, we learned how Jesus and his death on the cross give us the opportunity to reset life. His death and resurrection reset the world, since death was the most visible consequence of our sin and rebellion against God. He made it possible for us to live in Kingdom of God now, and for eternity.
But we have lots to do. Jesus isn’t saying we should quit our jobs, run around naked and hungry. He’s not saying food, shelter, clothes are a bad thing. They are all part of his creation, like us, and he has plans for it all.
He is just saying that we shouldn’t worry about such things. We shouldn’t be consumed by them. We shouldn’t let them distract us from our life’s true purpose of living in relationship with God, and one another. We shouldn’t let worrying about little goals get in the way of life’s big goal.
Question: When does careful planning turn into worry and get in the way of life goals?
Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.
Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting tomorrow night, January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!
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Matthew 6:2-4 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Why does Jesus talk about rewards for giving generously? Why not just encourage altruism?
He knows us. Having created us, and been one of us, he knows us and our motivations intimately.
If he had commended doing good acts for purely altruistic reasons, do good just to be good, help others just for them, give to charity just for the charity, we’d very quickly have found a way to make it about us.
A reputation for generosity, or a feeling of goodness..we can make these our God...the source of our ultimate worth.
This is what Christians have traditionally called sin...putting something earthly in God’s place.
Generosity should be a good thing, but when it becomes our Gods, becomes pride and self-conceit. These can pretend to be better rewards than God himself.
It's hard to avoid...human nature. Seems whenever we give, someone will notice. Either others notice, shower us with praise.
Or, Even if we hide it from others, we shower ourselves with praise.
Jesus’ claim is that these are small rewards in the grand scheme of things...and we’re wasting our time if we receive them, as we can easily believe we’ve been “paid in full”
And so Jesus commends something different...do it just for God.
Whether you give money, time, medical help, gifts, talents, whatever.
Hide it from others, hide it from ourselves, and give to others because God loves them as his own children.
Give in order so they will see God loves and values them…and wont’ even notice us.
Our heavenly father sees this kind of thing – his children becoming more like him – and rewards it with his attention, himself, far more rewarding than the temporary attention of any human, even ourselves.
In God’s presence, we realize that anything less, like worldly praise or feeling smug, was a poor substitute.
Jesus can commend this because it’s his way.
We now realize how spiritually poor we are. We’ve been accepting the applause of others & ourselves instead of God, we’ve let our pride and self-conceit replace him!
But all the same, from the safety of heaven, as God the creator and sustainer, came to earth.
He gave up his safety and majesty in the most selfless act possible. He died for us, and gained nothing but a restored relationship with us, a relationship that asks us to follow him into our own selfless acts of service.
When giving is done for God and God alone, a much greater reward awaits…God!
Challenge: What practical steps can you take to be more generous to others, and to keep the focus on God instead of yourself?
