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Saturday, December 16, 2017

“We Are His Artwork”

Family Bible Week Kick-Off

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

July 17, 2022 :: Ephesians 2:10

What do you like to make? What do you enjoy making?

What do you enjoy creating?

As you can tell, our Family Bible Week this year is a celebration of creativity.

Mary Beth has transformed this place into an artist’s studio, but not just one kind of artwork, but all kinds of artwork.

What do you like to make?

Painting.

Drawing. Like Jacob does.

Making music. Like Joe does!

Photography. Like Laura does.

Carving.

Woodworking. Like Josh does.

Metalworking.

Blacksmithing. Like Andrew does.

Composing.

Writing.

Knitting. Like Heather does.

Crocheting.

Legos.

Minecraft.

Cri-cut. Like Natalie does.

Choreography.

Dance. Like Brandy does.

Beads.

Pottery.

Architecture.

Graphic design. Like Jeff does.

Weaving.

Cinema.

Filmmaking.

Cooking. Like Linda does.

Baking.

Origami.

Rebuilding a classic car like the Folmars do and the folks who come the Good New Cruise.

Hairstyling like Emigh does.

Nails like Macy does.

I could go on and on.

I may not have even gotten close to something you like to make.

It doesn’t have to be a recognized art form.

Maybe it’s computer code.

Or databases.

Or spreadsheets.

Or websites.

Or powerpoints.

What do you like to make?

My particular craft is the sermon. I make sermons. I’m a wordsmith. I work with and shape words for the ear. Every week, I write a 15 page auditory message to creatively communicate scriptural truth for life change.

What do you like to make?

As human beings we are all makers. We are made in the image of a Maker God. We are created in the image of a Creator God. So we are all sub-creators ourselves. In some way, we are all makers.

I’m not saying that we’re all masters. We can’t all be masters of all the creative arts. But we’re all, in some way, makers. What do you like to make?

I also like to make a mess. My kids were running around the house yesterday cleaning up the place so that it was presentable for Heather Joy this evening.

What do you like to make?

Here’s another question:

What kind of art do you really appreciate?

What kind of artwork you enjoy receiving, taking in, watching, listening to?

Do you like to go to a museum and see a Van Gogh or a Jackson Pollack or a Andy Warhol or a Claude Monet? We did that last summer with Isaac. We went to MOMA in New York City. The Museum of Modern Art.

Do you like to go to Bud Garvey’s and see some classic cars restored?

Do you like to go to a poetry slam or an improv act or a band concert or a play or a a film? Did you go to the Art Festival in State College or at Way Fruit Farm?

What kind of artwork do you really get into?

It doesn’t have to be just one thing. There are all kinds of art in this world to appreciate.

Humans can make some pretty amazing stuff. Because God has put it into us to be creative. Because God Himself is amazingly creative.

And today’s passage of holy Scripture tells us about how His amazing grace has made us into His amazing artwork.

This passage is not about the artwork that we create (as amazing or non-amazing as it might be), but the amazing artwork that God has made out of you and me.

Here is the astonishing claim the Apostle Paul makes in Ephesians 2:10.

“We are God’s workmanship.”

We, you and I who belong to Jesus Christ, are God’s own workmanship.

Today, I have just two simple points of application for us to consider from this passage as we kick off Family Bible Week, and here’s the first one:

#1. WONDER AT BEING HIS WORKMANSHIP!

The main thing I want to do this morning is just soak in this idea that you and I are the workmanship of God. To wonder and marvel at that idea.

The Greek word translated “workmanship” in verse 10 is ποίημα.

Like the English letters p-o-i-a-m-a. ποίημα

And can you guess what English word comes down from that? P-o-e-m. Poem.

That’s beautiful isn’t it? We are God’s “poem?”

But this word means more than just making poems. It means making things in general. It means “handiwork” or “skillful work.” One translation has “creative project.”

It means a work of art. You and I are God’s artwork. Isn’t that amazing?

Turn to the person next to you and say to them, “You are a masterpiece in the making.”

Is that a little awkward to say? Is it a little awkward to receive?

Try saying this one, “I am a masterpiece in the making.”

Look in the mirror first thing tomorrow morning and say to the person you see, “I am masterpiece in the making.” I am God’s artwork.

Isn’t that breathtaking?!

Do you believe it?

Is this how you see yourself? Is this how you talk to yourself about yourself?

Is this how you see your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? The other people in this room. The folks outside.

Because this is a corporate thing, too. Paul says, “WE are his workmanship.”

All of us. Each of us. And all of us together. We are God’s artwork.

I know it doesn’t always feel like it.

My guess is that if unfinished inanimate artwork had feelings, it would often not feel like artwork yet either. But it certainly is.

We are God’s ποίημα.

And that means that we have value.

Last month, in WORLD Magazine, I read a story about a woman who was shopping at a Goodwill thrift store in Autin, Texas and she bought stone statue, a marble bust for $35.00 and took it home.

Now, she was art collector, and she thought that it might be worth something. And in fact, she was able to prove that it was as Roman original from the first century. Made about the time that Paul was writing Ephesians!

Eventually she got it put on display at the San Antonio Museum of Art!

I’m sure it’s worth thousands and thousands of dollars.

But Goodwill had a sticker on it for $35.

It’s easy for you and me to think that we are worth some thrift-store sticker price.

But we are Whose artwork?

What name do you have signed in the corner by the frame–so to speak–of your life?

Yahweh.

The LORD.

God!

And His Son Jesus Christ.

“We are His workmanship.”

You are worth so much more than $35.00. You are not junk. You are a priceless piece of artwork.

Paul says (v.10), we are “created in Christ Jesus.”

Now, that could be referring to the original creation. Being a creation of God in the first place. Which we all are.

We are creatures. We are made. We didn’t make ourselves. We didn’t create ourselves. And every human on the planet is creatively unique. Every one has their own DNA. Their own beauty. Their own dignity. Even those who are yet unborn.

Every one of us is an original piece of God’s artwork.

And the Bible says that Jesus was involved in all of that initial creation.

The Apostle John tells us that “Through [Jesus] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (Jn. 1:3 NIVO)

Paul tells us elsewhere that “all things were created by [Jesus] and for [Jesus].” (Col. 1:16 NIVO)

But I don’t think that’s what Paul is emphasizing here.

That’s not what he’s been talking about in this part of Ephesians.

There is a different creation being talked about here. It’s a new creation. It’s a re-creation.

It’s God bringing about something new in our lives.

It’s our salvation!

Did you notice that our verse begins with the word “for?”

Verse 10, “FOR we are his workmanship.”

There is a logic here. Verse 10 is the powerful conclusion of a train of thought that Paul has been chugging along since verse 1.

Let’s go back and see what he says there. He’s actually going to tell you the wonderful story of your life. If you belong to Jesus today, here is your story. Marvel at this. Ephesians 2:1.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

This is a dark story, isn’t it? It starts with a death, and the death is yours and mine. Paul says that we were dead. Not physically, but spiritually.

That’s bad news because that means that you and I cannot fix our problem for ourselves. We were dead, and in our dead-life we were following Satan, and were, by nature, objects of God’s just wrath.

That’s really bad news, and if the story stopped there, we would all be in trouble.

But this story has a hero, and it is not us! Look at verse 4.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Stop there for a second.

The hero of this story is God. And He has done something that nobody else could. He a has raised us from the dead–spiritually! He’s “made us alive with Christ” (someone Whom He had raised physically from the dead!). And He’s put us spiritually up in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

You and I are there right now, spiritually! We are in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

How mindblowing this is! How breathtaking!

And why?! To show off!!!

Look at verse 7 again. Why? “...in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

We are artwork for Him to display in His heavenly art gallery!

You know that whenever you make something, you want to show somebody? Put it on the fridge. Take it to fair. Toss it up on Instagram or Tictok.

The more proud you are of it, the more you want to show it off.

Please bring in your artwork this week to display there in the entrance art gallery.

But you and I are the artwork in display in God’s gallery!

He’s saying, “Look what I have done! Look what I am doing!

Look at my workmanship. Look at my grace at work. Look at my ποίημα.”

Because make no doubt about it: it was work.

To make artwork takes work, right? All you makers out there. Is being creative easy?

I’m sure it get easier at least in some ways. But I’ve making sermons now for going on 3 decades, and it’s hard work. I don’t wonder now most weeks if I’ll actually have a sermon for you. But every once in a while, it just doesn’t want to come.

Some week, I thought I might have get up here and say, “Sorry. I don’t have a sermon for you today. We had supply chain issues...And I was the missing link!”

But most of the time, to make artwork takes hard work.

And God wants to get all of the credit.

So, we get verses 8 and 9 to explain who really did the work. Look at that. Verse 8.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I hope you have those verses memorized.

Do you see how important it is to Him that God gets the glory?

How are we saved? Are we saved by our good works? No way!

We are not saved by being good people. Which is good, because we are not.

We are not saved by going to church. Which is good, because we could never go to church enough to pay for our sins.

We are not saved by doing good works at all. Which is good because we could never do enough good works to right the scales.

We are saved by grace alone. We are saved by gift.

Through faith! We do receive this gift. We put our faith in and trust in it. But even that is not from us. Even our faith is a gift of God.

So that we cannot boast. And that God can. Isn’t that amazing?

It’s called amazing grace for a reason!

Just marvel at it.

We are not saved by our works.

But by Jesus’ work on the Cross.

“Not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.”

Do you see now what that “creation” is?

That is the creation of spiritual life where there was only spiritual death.

That is the creation of light where there was only darkness.

That is the creation of salvation where there was only condemnation.

That is the creation of beauty where there was only ashes.

No wonder Paul says that we are a masterpiece!

He looks at us, and He says, {Chef’s Kiss} “ποίημα!”

And He signs His name in the corner of our lives.

“Created in Christ Jesus.”

Isn’t that amazing?

I want you to feel that.

I want you to see yourself in that.

He’s not talking about how pretty we all are. He’s talking about the beauty of what He has done and is doing and will do with our salvation and our lives.

We are His artwork.

Find your joy in that, and nothing can knock you down.

See yourself that way, and shame will not have the last word.

Walk through life knowing that you are a part of God’s masterpiece.

And you will hold your head up high.

You won’t get a big head. Because it wasn’t you that did it.

You cannot boast in your salvation.

The only thing that you and I brought to our salvation was our sin. Our sinful need of it.

But no matter. We are God’s workmanship. Wonder at that.

Unless, of course, you are not yet part of His ποίημα. It is by grace gift you have been saved, through faith. Have you received this gift of salvation? Jesus Christ did all of the work. He went to the Cross to pay for our transgressions and sins and came back to life to raise us to life. Have you received His gift? I hope so. If not, don’t wait any longer.

Now, does the fact that we are not saved by works mean that we don’t have to do any works? That there are no works for us to do?

No! I’m so glad that verse 10 follows right on the heals of verses 8 and 9.

Because it’s really clear here that we are not saved BY GOOD WORKS, but we are saved FOR GOOD WORKS.

In fact, it’s part of the whole point! Look at verse 10 again.

“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Your works will never save you, but because you’re saved, you’re supposed to do good works.

God has got them ready for you to walk in.

And that’s point number two and last.

#2. WALK IN THE WORKS HE PREPARED FOR YOU.

Wonder at simply being His creative workmanship.

And walk in the works that He has prepared for you to do.

The Greek here can literally be translated “to walk” in these works. It’s the same word from verse 2 where the NIV has “lived.” We used to walk in the ways of the dead world. But now we walk in the works of a new life. And God’s got it all planned out for us.

We just have to step out and follow Him.

You know that Mary Beth and Cindy have been working for weeks to get the crafts ready for the kids each night this week? There’s a whole room of the art supplies that are prepped and ready to go.

The kids are going to do the crafts. But Mary Beth and Cindy have prepared them ahead of time for the kids to do.

And, in the same way, God has prepared a bunch of good work for you and me to walk out.

Now those good works could take a lot of forms.

It could be serving at Family Bible Week. And many of you will be doing that.

Or it could be doing your work at your work as worship of Jesus. And many of you are doing that week in and week out.

It might be giving to the Family Bible Week Missions Project. That would be a good work. Wouldn’t it be great if we could send at least 7 sewing machines and at least 7 sewing kits to the refugees in Malawi?

I think God has prepared that good work for us to do.

There are three words you’re going to hear a lot this week:

CREATED. DESIGNED. EMPOWERED.

That’s what we’re going to talk about in each class all week long.

It’s really just working out our salvation on a daily basis, living as the artwork that we truly are.

Because we are not stale and lifeless artifacts. We are not just statues. We are not confined to paper or even film.

We are living artwork, made in the image of a Maker God saved by His amazing grace to live for the glory of our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[Matt's Messages] "Seek First His Kingdom"

6/03/2018 12:13:00 PM Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Matt's Messages, The Gospel of Matthew 0 comments

“Seek First His Kingdom”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
June 3, 2018 :: Matthew 6:25-34

It is a sweet gift from the Lord that this particular passage is the one that we are going to study together on Graduation Sunday. We just sang the key verse in our last song (v.33), one of the most famous verses in the Gospel of Matthew, and our brand new Hide the Word verse for this Summer.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

What a perfect passage to give as a gift to our grads!

Grads, I hope this message speaks especially to you as you launch into this new exciting season of your life.

But of course Jesus didn’t just give that verse to the grads. He gave it to all of His disciples and to all of us here.

And He didn’t just give it as a verse all by itself. I mean you can tell just by the word it starts with, “but.” There’s an argument going on here. And it references “all these things” but doesn’t say what all these things are.

We have to study this verse in its context to really get its message.

So let’s do that.

The context is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

The first of five major blocks of teaching from our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew.

Jesus has gone up on a mountainside and has begun to teach authoritatively.

He is teaching as the King, the Messiah Who was to come.

The fulfillment of all of the Promises of the Old Testament.

And the fulfiller of all of the Law of the Old Testament, too.

In His Sermon on the Mount, King Jesus is telling His disciples how to live as citizens of His kingdom which has come and is to come.

And we’ve said that this kingdom is an upside-down and an inside-out kingdom.

That is, everything in this kingdom seems upside-down. But it’s really us.

So we need to change to fit in.

We need to repent because the kingdom is near.

And we need to change from the heart.

It’s not good enough to look good on the outside; Jesus wants us to change from the inside-out.

To have a righteousness that is whole, complete, perfect...from the heart out to our behavior.

Not like the scribes and the Pharisees! They were just outside-guys. Our righteousness needs to be greater than their’s. Our needs to be whole-hearted, from the inside-out.

And where we left off last week, Jesus was saying that our hearts need to be wholly His when it comes to money and possessions.

Jesus warned us to choose wisely between two paths, between two masters.

In verse 24, he said, “"No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.”

And then He immediately teaches our passage for today. It flows right out of that statement about God versus Mammon. In fact, says, “Therefore.”

I only have two simple points to make this morning to try to capture the application of this passage.

Neither one should surprise you, they are right there in the text.

But both of them are BIG, no matter how simple they are.

Here’s number one.

#1. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE.

Easier said than done, huh?

I don’t know about you, but I need this one badly.

Left to my own devices, I am a worrier. It’s one of my besetting temptations.

My wife tells me that she remembers copying out this particular passage of Scripture and giving it to me on a piece of paper in the first year that we knew each other.

Long before we were married. Long before we were engaged.

When we were about your age, Grads. When we were just barely dating, Heather could already see that I had a major problem with worrying.

And she said, “Here. Read this. You need this.” Matthew chapter 6, verses 25-34.

Look at the first verse.

“‘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?”

Three times in this passage, Jesus tells His disciples to not worry.

Verse 25, verse 31, and verse 34. You think He means it?

The first one probably has the sense of “Stop your worrying.”

Cut it out.

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear....”

Now, Jesus is not saying that we shouldn’t think ahead or plan for the future.

The graduates are right to be making plans for what’s next for them.

We saw last week that the Proverbs commend the prudent who look into the future and make appropriate preparations.

But! “Do not worry about your life...”

I also don’t think that Jesus is prohibiting us from being concerned about things. We are called to care about certain things and deeply. To care how they turn out. To care about others and their futures.

The Apostle Paul talks about his concern for the churches. And how perplexed he was at times for them. He talked about it being like giving birth!

It’s right to be concerned and even heavily perplexed at times about things.

But! “Do not worry about your life...”

Do not get carried away with worry.

Do not give in to anxiousness about your life and your future.

And that extends down to the basic details of life.

“[D]o not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. [Why?] Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

Jesus uses questions to prod our hearts.

What’s the answer to that one?

Is life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Yes, of course.

I think the point is that God has given us life and that’s a big thing. Don’t you think that He can do the small thing of giving you food?

If God has given you a body, that’s a big thing. Don’t you think that He can provide something to keep you warm and modest?

The point is that God cares.

Jesus asks another question to show it. Verse 26

“Look 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?”

What’s the answer to that one?

Are you more valuable than a bird?

Some animal rights activists might say differently, but Jesus says, “Yes. My disciples are worth more than birds.”

And “your heavenly Father feeds them.”

Don’t miss those words “your heavenly Father.”

We are so used to those words, but they are mindblowing!

Your. Heavenly. Father.

Those words change everything, don’t they?

If God is your Father, then what?

What do you have to worry about?

Now, notice that Jesus is not saying that we shouldn’t work.

Do birds work? Of course they do. They spend all day looking for food.

This is a not a call to laziness.

Grads, don’t go home and say, “Pastor Matt said I don’t have to go get a job.”

No. Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life.”

Because you are more valuable than the birds.

Listen to this question. Verse 27.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

What’s the answer to that one?

Well, I totally act like I can!

I’ve often called “worrying” my “super power.”

If I just worry, then at least I’m...what?...doing something.

But Jesus says that worry is worthless.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

You just about might be able to do the opposite. Take some hours off your life by worrying.

But worrying does not accomplish anything.

Now, that’s one of the ways you can tell if you are caught in sinful worry.

Sinful worry is not productive. Being properly concerned and engaged can be productive. Worry is counterproductive.

Worry is foolish. There is no point to it.

Here’s another question from Jesus. Verse 28.

“And why do you worry about clothes? 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. If 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?”

What’s the answer to that one?

Yes, of course, He will.

Because God is your Heavenly Father.

My wife loves flowers. She would spend all day every day in a flower garden if she could.

And she’s seen some beautiful ones. Last year, she got to go to Monet’s Garden in France.

There is so much beauty in God’s world.

If God does that just for nature that is here today and then gone tomorrow, what will He do for His children?

Do you see what Jesus called us?

“O you of little faith.”

The Greek word is “oligopistoi.”

And Jesus calls His disciples that 4 times in the Gospel of Matthew.

It’s one of His favorite names for us!

It’s a gentle rebuke name.

“Oligopistoi.”

“Come on, guys. Don’t you trust me? Don’t you trust your Heavenly Father?”

My wife has a similar term of endearment for me and my three sons.

She calls us, “You dummies.”

When we’re just not thinking.

When we’ve forgotten what we know.

She never says it in anger. She says it to give us a gentle shove back to where we belong.

That’s what Jesus is doing. He’s giving us a gentle shove to remind us to not give in to worry.

The opposite of worry is trust.

The opposite of anxiousness is faith.

And the reasons we can have faith, the reason we can trust is because God is our Father. V.31

“So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [Where’s it going to come from?] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

Do you see the rebuke?

The pagans do that. They “run after” all of this stuff.

But they don’t have God.

Yes, the pagans get consumed by stuff. By money and possessions.

They store it up stuff in the first of bank of Earth.

Because that’s the only bank they know!

That’s the only bank they can see.

That’s the only bank they believe in.

But we know about the First Bank of Heaven.

And we know God the Father!

And God the Father knows what we need.

They have no god. What’s your excuse?

Yes, it’s a rebuke. But it’s also a reassurance.

Don’t just hear the rebuke. Hear the reassurance.

“So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things [they seek them, strenuously], and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” v.33.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

#2. SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM.

That’s the antidote to worry.

To put the kingdom first.

And amazingly, “all these things” will be gifted to you, too.

“All these things” must be the food and drink and clothes that the disciples need.

The daily bread.
The sustenance.
The provision.

They come almost as an afterthought for what’s really important.

The kingdom of God.

“Seek first His kingdom.”

The word “seek” is the same root word as the “run after” in verse 32.

It means to really strive for something.

To find something, to search it out, to make it a priority.

Jesus wants us to run after the kingdom.

To make the kingdom our first priority.

So that every other priority seems really far down the list.

This is the opposite of what the world will tell you.

When my wife graduated from high school, the speaker at her graduation ceremony talked about the vital importance of making money.

Heather’s impression was that what he had to say was that Money was the most important thing in life.

And so making money was the most important thing for you to do with your life.

Money opens so many doors and does so much for you.

So seek out Money.

Now, most people are not that crass. They don’t come out and say it that way.

This guy was at least honest.

But isn’t that message of so many in this life?

Money, money, money.

That’s what’s important!

And for those who don’t, it’s something else.

It’s happiness. Or popularity. Or the absence of conflict. Or pleasure.

Or family.

Have you heard anyone say that “Family is what’s most important.”

I’m sure you have.

Jesus says, “Seek first his kingdom...”

Make that your number one priority. And all of the other priorities will fall into place.

Grads, “Seek first His kingdom!”

That’s the antidote to worry.

Have you ever heard the saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff?”

Well, Jesus is saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and everything except the kingdom of God is the small stuff.”

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness...”

Don’t miss that phrase. Jesus has been talking about talking about righteousness for the whole Sermon on the Mount, hasn’t He?

He wants us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and we’ll be filled.

He wants us to live out a greater righteousness than the scribes and the Pharisees. Then we’ll be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

He wants us to practice our righteousness in secret, for the approval of God alone, and then our Father who sees what is done in secret will rewards us.

He wants us to go whole hog after righteousness, and then we’ll get all these things as well.

He simply saying that He wants us to live the way He’s been laying out in the Sermon on the Mount and not worry about anything else.

Now, there will be times when Christians go without food or clothing.

There will be times when Christians are deprived of those things in the short run.

Our Lord Jesus was.

The Apostle Paul was at times.

This is not saying that food and clothes will miraculously drop out of the sky every single time you need them.

But those times when Christians are deprived are few and far between, and they will all be more than made up for when the kingdom comes in all of its fullness.

You have nothing to worry about.
You have nothing to worry about.
You have nothing to worry about.

Just worry about the kingdom.

Just seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Whose?

Whose kingdom is Jesus talking about in verse 33?

What is the antecedent for “his” in verse 33?

It’s “your heavenly Father” from verse 32, isn’t it?

This kingdom belongs to your Dad!

You have nothing to worry about! V.34

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow [graduates!], for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I love that!

Jesus is so funny. “Tomorrow will worry about itself.”

Let the future worry about the future.

Most of the stuff you worry about never comes true.

Just deal with the problems you’ve got in front of you.

Don’t make any more for yourself.

I know that there is a line here that’s sometimes hard to discern.

What is worry and what is appropriate concern?

I don’t know about you though, but I never run that line.

I’m always over on the rumble strips.

I’m always over there worrying about my little kingdom.

And being, “Oligopistoi,” “O you of little faith.”

And Jesus is calling me, and I’m sure He’s calling you to cut it out.

To repent of sinful worry.

To turn away from building my little kingdom and serving Mammon.

To repent of run after all of these things.

And to put my trust in my Heavenly Father Who knows what I need.

Who feeds the birds and clothes the fields with flowers.

I have nothing to worry about.

I just need to seek His kingdom and the righteousness that He is calling me to.