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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“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. (Matthew 6:24 ESV)
Illustrate with two cups (money, God) beside each other. Can only fill one.
Remember Monday – I asked you to list your priorities in order. One per rank, no ties.
Illustrated with stacked cups.
Still can only fill one. And money isn’t the only thing we can prioritize in life, it’s just one of the most common, and Jesus said it was one of the most seductive challengers to God’s place in our lives.
Almost effortlessly it is able to lure us into its sphere of influence. When we grow from dependent children into adults, before we know it, we are living lives in its service. It calls us, it drives us, it threatens us, it rewards us. We don’t know if we have enough here, too much there, need to make more, invest more or borrow more.
Money is a deep rooted power. It reaches to the very centre of who we are and what we live for – the heart and eye we spoke of yesterday. Jesus ascribed to money almost ultimate power. “No one” he said “can serve two masters, one cannot serve God and money.” You can only serve one master faithfully.
This isn’t about taking on two jobs – he deliberately uses the language of slavery from his culture – where people sold themselves, in entirety, to pay off a debt – and could naturally not sell a second “self” to someone else. Jesus says money has that kind of demand on our lives – it is the most likely thing to challenge God in our lives.
The point he was leading to was this: You cannot serve both God and money! If God and the vision of God’s reign is not the ultimate focus of our lives, something else will be. For many of us the something else will be money in its various forms. Money has a power all of its own. It has the power to take the very place of God in our lives. Money can lure us into its service.
But putting God as our first priority doesn’t mean we deny our children, spouses, and other good things in our lives. God made them, said they were good. This is not an either/or. God wants to fill every area of our lives with his love, his power, his leadership.
Illustrated with four cups on level 1, and a full God cup on level 2. Pouring water into God’s cup overflows into the others.
When we start to open ourselves to God, welcoming the reality that he poured himself out for us by dying on the cross, we quickly find he pours out into all areas of our lives, and then into others.
People who give of their time in service of others will tell you time and time again how incredibly fulfilling it is…that happiness doesn’t come from wealth, financial or otherwise, but rather because they have handed over all areas of their lives to God’s care as Lord. They are able to be contented and happy in all things, and that is a kind of wealth in itself that overflows into all area of life.
Challenge: Take another look at your list of priorities from Monday. What does Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount say to you about each of these? Have any of them been prioritized over God’s will? IF so, ask God to be Lord over, and pour into that area of your life.
