The Sermon on the Mount XV

Subtitle:  Revealing Areas that are Pitfalls for Hypocrisy II

Matthew 6:25-34.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 24, 2024.

We continue looking at our relationship with things and asking how they can cause us to be hypocritical.  In the previous sections, Jesus has focused on wealth and its tendency to become our master.   However, most of the people in the crowd are not wealthy and do not entertain any ideas of becoming wealthy.  Today’s passage speaks to that large percentage of people who live at a level of survival.  They live from day to day, week to week, and their whole life is focused on the things that are necessary to keep living.

It is also important to understand that Jesus is using language that will remind them of the wilderness wanderings of Israel when they came out of Egypt.  There, God helped them to survive with food, water, and clothes that didn’t wear out.

Let’s look at our passage.

Do not worry about the necessities of life (v. 25-29)

The backdrop of Israel in the wilderness reminds us that God took care of them even though they were in a place of scarcity.  In His love, God wants us to understand that it is not His intention to live in worry about food, water, shelter and clothing.

Of course, in our luxury, we can be confused on what is necessary and what is simply a desire or a want.  Even in a necessary category such as food, we can long for a particular kind of food, or a level of cuisine that is higher.  It is important for us to understand that our Creator is also our heavenly Father.  He knows that we are mortal beings that need food.  However, He also knows that we do not “need” expensive food every day.  I don’t believe that this means He is opposed to the desires we have that go beyond necessities.  Yet, He never made us to be slaves to our desires, nor fearful of our necessities.  He has designed the world to care for such needs, and His supervision ensures that we will find what we need.

In the midst of our worrying, God wants us to know that we don’t have to do it.  We can choose to stop worrying.  In fact, Jesus commands his followers, “Do not worry…”

Jesus is talking about a stressful anxiety about these things and not simply planning for them.  He is not commanding us never to think about these things.  This word has the idea of being internally divided, or fractured, over various concerns.  Worrying about things is a type of bad stress that actually affects our health and life span negatively, but more on that later.

The average person in the crowd that day most likely stressed about food, clothing, and not being killed by the Romans.  Jesus focuses on food and drink (water) as necessary for life, and clothing as necessary for our bodies.  He could have added oxygen or other things, but these  work best because they will remind the people of the wilderness wanderings of Israel.

God provided food (bread and meat) and water in the desert.  They may have gone some days here and there without, but in the end, God always made sure they had these things. 

The Bible also tells us that their clothing and sandals did not wear out during the 40 years they were in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4; 29:5).  It was His supernatural provision just as much as the manna, flocks of quail, and water coming out of a rock upon the strike of the staff of Moses.  However, the clothing would also have the connotation of the Garden of Eden.  The environment of the earth was not hostile in the beginning.  Also, the earth was not a morally hostile environment either (sin and sinners).  Clothing becomes a protectant against exposure to the elements and exposure to those who may be stirred up by nakedness and thereby led into sin.

You will also notice that this section is filled with questions.  You could say that at the heart of worry is our unanswered questions, or questions that we have for which we do not like God’s answers.  We are questioned by Jesus (by God) five times versus the three questions that we often wrestle with and laid out in verse 31.

Here is the tie to hypocrisy.  Fearful questioning of God and the world around us can lead us to playing the hypocrite..  We may go through religious rituals that declare God’s provision and greatness, and  yet, we do not actually trust Him.

Jesus asks the question, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”  Of course, it is!  God’s purpose for humanity is higher than simply eating food and wearing clothes.  In fact, food, drink and clothing are symbols for the higher spiritual things that God wants to accomplish in our life.  The manna in the wilderness hints at a supernatural bread from heaven that we need.  We are told in the New Testament that this bread from heaven is Jesus himself.  The work that Jesus did in a human body was as necessary for us as natural bread is for our body’s survival. 

We are also told that Jesus is the source of the water of life.  It is the Words that Jesus spoke to us, and the Holy Spirit that He has poured out upon us.  Jesus is the source of water, the rock in the wilderness that has been struck so that the waters of life would pour out to us.

Finally, the righteousness of Christ is presented as a white robe that we can wear.   Our righteousness is not pure white.  Our robes are speckled with sin.  However, our faith in Jesus gives us a new robe of his righteousness that we can put on.  By faith, the Holy Spirit helps us to obey Jesus and go to war against sin our life.  Thus, we are enabled to walk out the righteousness of Christ even as we wear his robe.  This clothing will never wear out.

All of this is important to understand.  Yet, Jesus is telling us to stop worrying about the natural necessities of our life.  I can say that I believe, but then go on not to trust Him fully through worrying, complaining, and not having the relationship with God that I should, or even could.

To illustrate the illogical nature of worrying about these things, Jesus gives three illustrations of God supplying for His lesser creatures.  The first is about birds.

Birds do not sow seeds, water them, reap them and then store the seed in barns.  These are the kinds of things that God has given humans the wisdom and ability to do.  Thus, birds are in an even more precarious place than humans.  They are at the mercy of God’s provision even more than we are.  There are some animals that will cache food (squirrels), or store it as fat for winter (bears etc.), but don’t miss the point.  The emphasis is on the situation of the birds.  A bird has to forage and find food each day.  They have to wake up each day and go about looking for what God will provide.  Jesus actually says, “Your heavenly Father feeds them.”  Think about what that looks like.  The birds do not see a man with a grey beard floating down from the sky with a bag of bird seed.  God’s provision operates at a far grander and foundational level than that.  Because birds are not human, they will not spend time fretting over whether they will find enough seed each day.  Neither should we think that they exercise great faith in God.  They are simply an illustration to us that we don’t have to fret.

Thus, Jesus gives his second question.  “Are you not of more value than they?”  The answer is “Yes, yes you are!”  This does not mean birds have no value, but that the value placed upon them within God’s purposes is much lower than that placed upon us as humans.  We are His imagers upon this earth.  This means that He will even more make sure we are taken care of.  Surely your Creator has thought about your need and made provisions.  Yes, you will have to get up each day and work at bringing it in.  You will need to use your mind, and prayerfully ask God’s help.  But, you can trust Him.  Thus, our deepest question is simply this.  Can I trust God?  God is your God.  He cares for you.  Don’t think of Him as the pastor’s God, or the prophet’s God, like Saul did with Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:15, 21.  He is your God, and He cares about you more than the birds.

The second illustration is about length (verse 27).  It is simply laid out in the third question that Jesus asks us.  “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”  This translation (NKJV) relates the issue of length (1 cubit is about 18”) to stature.  However, the word primarily has a meaning of life.  It is more likely that the length here is a picture of lengthening one’s life in the sense of adding a step to your journey.  This fits the passage better than the concept of height, which is a secondary meaning of this word anyway.  No one can add a step (minute, hour, day, etc.) to their life by worrying.  The truth is that worrying will only lower our life.  Studies have shown that heavy anxiety can affect our immune system, our emotional well-being, and thereby our physical well-being.

One particular study tracked a large number of people from teens to ninety-year-olds.  They were able to follow them over the course of twelve years while tracking their anxiety levels.  At the end of the 12 years, they determined that a person with high anxiety was 2 times more likely not to be alive than those who did not have high anxiety.  It simply does you no good to worry and fret about something you cannot control, and it generally does bad things.

Why not make your default position trust in God’s purpose and loving care for you?  We will live exactly as long as God has enabled us to live, and I can be good with that.  Even if I were to die in my childhood, the resurrection and the age to come cause this time of our lives to pale in comparison.  Then, we will have bodies that are not dying, weak, and impacted by disease.  We will be immortal.  This life is actually just the proving grounds for our place in the life to come.

The third illustration (verse 28) is about flowers.  His fourth question is this.  “Why do you worry about clothing?”  He tells us that lilies do not toil nor spin.  These verbs have to do with making clothes.  They don’t work hard amassing the raw materials of clothing, neither do they spin that raw material into threads that can be worked in a loom into the material for making clothes.  This may seem like a silly statement, but notice that Jesus has increased the dependency by moving from an animal to a form of vegetation.  Birds can forage around, but flowers simply are what they are.  They draw nutrients from the soil and their DNA code expresses that in a particular form.  They are in an even more precarious situation than birds.  However, Jesus tells them that not even King Solomon was dressed, arrayed, in as much glory as they.  Remember that Solomon was extremely rich and would have the finest clothes that money could buy.

These simple flowers that grow up, bloom and then die, have a beauty that outshines our clothing.  If you think that Jesus is stretching the concept of clothing here, then think of it this way.  I spoke of clothing earlier in the sense of protection from the elements.  However, we generally fret and are anxious over how nice those clothes look.  Thus, clothes become a big part of a person’s identity, whether a rich nobleman or a peasant.  Jesus tells us that God has given flowers a visual glory to which our humanness doesn’t compare.

Yet, there is a beauty in our nature as humans.  I am not just talking about a beautiful person in the prime of their life.  There is a different kind of beauty that is displayed in the whole range of our look from newborn to senior.  There is also a beauty that is displayed in our male and female similarities and differences.

We can spend too much time trying to mimic the glory of a flower and forget that God’s different glory for us can be enough.  It should not be lost on us that Jesus emphasizes that the flowers which have a greater glory also have a much shorter life-span.  What glory are you going for?  The Bible says that the righteous will shine like the stars in the resurrection (Daniel 12:3).

The fifth and final question is this.  “Will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”  Of course, this is our true problem.  Faith and worry are inversely proportional.  That means, when faith goes up, worry goes down.  It is impossible to quit worrying without putting faith in something.  Some may not worry because they have faith in their own ability.  The believer knows that they have ability, but even greater than that, they also know that they have a heavenly Father who is caring for them.  We really do not have an excuse for worrying.

This is exactly the problem that is expressed by Israel back in the wilderness.  They perished because of their unbelief, lack of faith in God.  What is even sadder is the fact that they had a tremendous amount of amazing evidence that God could and would take care of them.  Don’t be the kind of person who blames their lack of faith on God’s lack of giving us evidence.  Unbelief actually blinds you to all the evidence.  So, listen to Jesus and start trusting God and stop worrying.  It just isn’t the logical and righteous thing to do.

Three conclusions (v. 30-34)

It is clear from the creation account that man is not only the apex of God’s creation, but that His purpose for us is for us to image Him to the earth and to the heavens.  Birds have their part in the purpose of God (i.e., one of those is to be an illustration to us humans).  But, our purpose is much more important to God.

In verse 30, Jesus tells us to stop questioning ourselves out of trusting God.  “What shall we eat?  What shall we drink?  What shall we wear?”  These are real questions that we may not have the answers to.  However, our lack of an answer is not a reason for unbelief, and not trusting God.  The Red Sea was not a reason for Israel to stop trusting God.  That is precisely when trust becomes the most critical thing.  It really doesn’t matter if a kid doesn’t know what they are going to eat for dinner.  What matters is that they have a loving parent who is taking care of those things for them.  Your worrying won’t fix any of your problems, but God can and will when we trust Him.

This leads to his first conclusion in verse 31.  He reminds them that this is how the Gentiles act (i.e., the nations).  They clamor and desperately seek for these kinds of things.  However, Israel was the people of God.  They had a heavenly Father Who had pledged Himself to caring for them.  Of course, there was a time when all the sons of Noah (all of humanity) were God’s people and cared for by Him.  However, the rebellion at the Tower of Babel brought judgment upon them.  On top of the confusion of languages and scattering across the earth, these nations doubled down on rebellion by throwing off the truth of their error.  They connected to fallen spirits who taught them all manner of false religion for the ulterior motives of those fallen spirits.

Jesus would go on to pay the price for the sins of the nations so that they too could come near to God.  However, don’t miss the power of the point.  Don’t act like a rebellious orphan who has no loving Father.  We shouldn’t fault a lost person who worries.  That is simply their situation.  However, it is a strange thing for a child of God to walk in worry and complaining. Stop it!

The second conclusion is put in a positive form and is clearly the most important of the three.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, and He will take care of these natural needs.  The life of the nations was all focused on these lower, lesser, things of life.  We could categorize them as concerns of the flesh.  God’s people on the other hand are to seek His kingdom and his righteousness.  These two themes have been presented throughout the sermon on the mount.  Our higher purpose is to work with God in order to bring His will and rule to the earth.  If we will do that, then He will take care of the lower needs.  This doesn’t mean we don’t work, buy food, prepare meals, make clothing, etc.  It does mean that we don’t worry about those things.  Instead, we will trust in His care.

We should even note that we can do these lesser things for God’s higher purposes.  We pray for food so that we can be strengthen to accomplish His greater purpose of the Kingdom.  In this way, even things like food, water and clothing can become holy.  I am not consumed with wanting designer clothes so that others will think I am great.  Instead, we will use clothing as a means of bringing in God’s Kingdom, whether in how we dress or in blessing others with their necessary clothing.  Lesser things can be done for higher purposes, which elevates them in the end.

This highlights the need for faith in our lives, not just faith for salvation, but also for living itself.  For a kid, becoming an adult is a scary thing.  A teenage boy can be intimidated by becoming a man, getting a job, paying for his own place, his own insurance, etc.  On top of this, he can really be intimidated by marrying a woman and raising a family.  No one ever approaches that with every single question answered about the future.  However, God has fitted us for becoming adults in many ways, and a critical part of that is having faith.  We don’t have to have all the answers.  We just have to have a reasonable hope that we can do it and it will be good.  In God, we always have a reason for hope and faith in our future.  I mentioned a young man, but we could also picture a teenage girl.  How intimidating is it to become a woman, marry a man, become pregnant, birth and raise a baby?  In and of themselves, these can be scary things.  God has not only fitted you to be able to do these things, but He also pledges to be with us and help us in them.  We can walk forward with faith and trust in Him.

The final conclusion is given in verse 34.  We are told to stop worrying about tomorrow and just face the difficulties of today.  Of course, as I said before, he is not talking about the thinking we do in order to plan for tomorrow.  This is our tendency to worry about the things that we think will happen or could happen tomorrow.

Today has enough evil of its own, whether we know what it will be or not.  Of course, you will want to trust God and ask His help as you face them.  You will also want to trust that He is working to help you with it as well.  It may take time for God’s answer to materialize, but it will.

We also have to be careful that our planning is not a means of ensuring that we never have to trust God. Our best plans are still the plans of frail humans.  We can’t control everything through sheer planning.  Even our plans have to be put in God’s hands.  We don’t have to trust Him, but we can.  We are privileged to have a heavenly Father who cares for us.  If your plan has no room for God in it, then you are not aiming high enough.

This life is a journey in which the Lord walks with you.  Don’t walk it as if He is not with you.  Instead, make your trusting in Him a critical part of your plan.  Anything short of this will lead religious people to be hypocrites.  We will give lip service to trusting and loving God, but we will doubt His love and care, becoming mere posers, actors.  May God save us from such an empty life!

SOTM XVI audio

Why You Should Not Worry

Luke 12:22-34.  If an audio link exists it will be at the end of the post.

In today’s passage Jesus speaks to the issue of worry or anxiety.  We often let stress build up in our lives to the point that we can even make ourselves sick.  Here are some recent statistics on stress in America.  20% of Americans say they feel stressed out every day, 60% say they feel stressed out once a week.  Research clearly shows that “stress deteriorates our immune systems; people under constant high stress show lower T-cell counts, which are essential for immune response.”

We use the term stress in two very different ways.  First, we use stress to refer to the person, thing, or situation that is the “stressor.”  This use focuses on the external thing that presents a challenge to us in some way.  However, the second use of this word refers to an inner response to that challenge.  Thus someone is “stressed out.”  It is to this inner aspect that the words “worry” or “anxiety” refer.  Now in some ways people can stress out about some of the silliest things.  I don’t say that to put them down because I do it myself from time to time.  That said, there is much in this world today about which we could reasonably worry.  In fact, the Bible describes the last days as, “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth,” Luke 21:26 (NKJV).

In our passage today we see that God intends His people to have peace in their hearts about the things in their lives, especially when the world is falling apart.  Paul describes the Christian life in Romans 14:17 this way, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  Worry is one of the main ways that we miss out on the peace and joy that God wants us to experience.   In fact, verse 22 starts out with the Lord’s command to not worry about things in our life.  So let’s look at eight reasons why we should not worry as followers of Christ.

Your Life Is More Than Food And Clothing

Look at verses 22-23. The word “life” here refers both to the living force within us (staying alive) and the internal soul and its will, emotions, desires, etc.  Whether the concern is physical survival or simply the desires of our heart, we fear the things that can affect both.  Here Jesus uses the issues of food and clothing.  In Matthew’s account of this sermon he adds shelter.  Notice that all three of these issues can be issues of survival or simply issues of what we desire.  I want better food or even yummier food! Or, I want nicer clothes!  Perhaps I want the best clothes so that I will be noticed?  Most people shoot way past survival when it comes to picking out shelter.  In fact, no one calls a house their “shelter.”  So we could add to this list that Jesus starts: entertainments, wealth, investments, vacations, holidays, boyfriends and girlfriends, spouses, and the list goes on and on.  Jesus is not discounting the necessity that exists within these things.  However, he tells us that our life is greater than those things.  The things that make four our being physically alive and our soul prospering are not fulfilled by such things alone.  In fact, the case could be made that they play the smaller part.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father.”  Thus if I have bread, but not the Father, I am in severe trouble.  Yet, if I have no bread, but have the care of the Father, then I have nothing to worry about.  And, that is the problem with worry, it shrinks our life down into small trivial things and we become a small trivial person swimming in a sea of problems.

You Are Valuable To God

In verse 24 Jesus turns to the birds and teaches us a lesson.  The raven is a bird of little value.  He doesn’t use the peacock or some other rare, expensive bird, but simply a raven.  He reminds us that God cares for them.  In fact, they don’t build barns and plant crops.  They simply live off of what is provided for them every day.  How much more will God carry us through who are more valuable to Him than a raven?  This rhetorical question is clearly intended to be answered with a resounding, “much more!”  But it is purposefully left hanging for us to meditate and chew on.

When we think about how God did not spare His own Son, but asked Him to come down to earth and become a man, and then to be put to death on a cross for a mankind that had rebelled against him, we ought to be amazed at the price God has paid for us.  When we think about the Son, without coercion, agreeing whole-heartedly to such a plan, we ought to be amazed at the value he places on us.  The value of each person is more to God than perhaps we can imagine.  Many times at the root of our worry is the fear that God cares for others, but not for us.  Some may challenge this premise that the birds owe their thanks for food to God.  But, they would be those who are not in relationship with God.  If He is your Father, then can you not see that He has made provision for you as well?

Worry Will Not Help Your Situation

In verses 25-26 Jesus points out the futility of worry.  Whether it is a foot to your stature or a million dollars to your bank account, worrying doesn’t do anything to help.  In fact, it does quite the opposite.  Worrying will always make the situation worse.  It ruins our attitude and hampers the response that we can make.  It can affect the people around us.  Like the Peanuts character “Pigpen” our attitude of fear and worry surrounds us like a cloud and sends those around us either fleeing or catches them up in our cloud.  Worry blurs the lines between what we can change and what we can’t.  It has negative affects upon us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  In fact, I don’t believe that anyone worries because they think it will help.  They worry because they think they have no choice and no power over their situation.  Now let’s be clear.  Analyzing a problem and choosing a response is not equivalent to worrying.  It is a proper response to any stress to figure out if there is anything we can do to mitigate it.  However, we often run into situations where there is little we can do.  It is at this point that we can slide into anxiety and worry.  We cycle around and around about a problem with no solution and underline our powerlessness in our mind, until we are paralyzed and depressed.  It can become habitual like a rut in the road that, no matter how many times you pop out of it, it quickly sucks you back down into itself.  Worrying really is a foolish response when we think about it this way.  Why would I want to make a bad situation worse?  I know that no one does it for that reason.  But perhaps we can stop for that reason?

Worry Lacks Faith In A Faithful God

In verses 27-28 Jesus draws from another nature analogy.  As ravens are to food, so flowers are compared to clothing.  You might think that Jesus is really stretching it for this analogy, but go with Him for a little bit.  Clothing can be about warmth, but in most cases we want to make a social statement with how we dress.  It is a big part of who we are.  Jesus says that the lily is clothed with greater spendor than King Solomon ever was.  Notice that a lily cannot lay claim to why it is so beautiful.  Of course we could point out many beautiful flowers throughout creation.  All of them have been given a unique beauty and glory from God.  Will not God so clothe you with unique beauty and glory?  Our problem is that we often look to clothes to do what they really cannot do.  Clothes can only impress the superficial.  The things that make for our true “social statement” are not our clothes.  Again Jesus hammers home the point of our value to God.  Flowers are frailer than even mankind.  Yet, Jesus asks how much more will God clothe us?  I won’t take time to go into it, but there appears to be an implication that reaches forward to the Resurrection, in which we will be “clothed with glory” and “this mortal will put on immortality.”

Now Jesus ends this with the phrase, “O you of little faith.”  Here he points us to our lack of faith in a God who has proven Himself faithful many times over.  God is asking His people to trust Him, not just in a blind faith.  He is faithful everyday to his creation.  He even causes it to rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  God’s provision is spread throughout the cosmos.  In fact, we might even call it wasteful as an immeasurable amount of energy, that we will never be able to harness, is cast into the void of space.  But it is not wasteful for God because He is infinite and it is He who has made provision for us.  How greatly do we trust God?  Many Christians have been stripped of their clothing, houses, lands, freedom, and even their lives.  They could have completely despaired God’s care and concern for them.  They could have “cursed God and died.”  Yet, they testified, over and over again, that God was faithful to them through it all.  Our life is greater than things that can be taken away from us in this life.  Jesus promises that anyone who loses anything for His sake will be paid back in this life and in the Age to come.  Imagine the great glory we will have in the Resurrection ruling in power with Jesus Himself when He returns.  The small losses of this life are trivial in light of the great glory that is coming to us.

Those Who Are Separated From God Worry

In verses 29 and 30 there are actually a couple of reasons not to worry.  The first is in the reference to the nations.  The Bible reveals that the nations of the world had walked away from God.  Thus they were separated from Him and in darkness to their true condition.  They had been given over to the “god” of this world.  However, Israel was a unique thing.  God created a nation who would not only belong to Him, but also be a light to the darkened gentiles.  In fact the term “nations” was a Jewish idiom for all other nations who were outside God's kingdom.  Jesus challenges his disciples with the recognition that we can be guilty of acting like the lost.  Now it makes sense for those who are lost and in darkness to worry.  God is not their Father and the “gods” (actually demons) that do rule over them are heavy taskmasters.  On top of this they are enemies of the One True God.  In that sense they have every reason to worry.  Such should not be for those who are the Children of God.  Why would His people worry?  Perhaps we are not confident in our relationship with Him.  In fact many trials test our ability to keep our confidence in God’s faithfulness.  Too often we let these small issues define whether God loves us or not.  However, when He was hanging on the cross, what did Jesus have that would enable Him to be confident in God’s promises to Him?  Everything that we could use to comfort ourselves was stripped from Him, except the very Word of God itself.  Thus He says to us, "pick up your cross and follow me."

God Knows About Your Needs

The second thing in verses 29 and 30 is the phrase, “Your Father in Heaven knows you need these things.”  It is not just that He knows, it is He who designed us with these needs in the first place.  Yes, our desires and wants often sprint on past our needs.  Still, it doesn’t change the fact that God knows exactly what our needs are, even better than ourselves.  Therein lies part of the problem.  God always provides but not always at the levels we desire and seek after.  God always meets our greatest needs, but His list and our list are generally not the same.  We often seek fulfillment in the things that should be at the bottom of the list at the expense of the things that should be at the top.  God loves us too much to satisfy our every wish.  He has greater plans for us.

Our Life Is Found In Seeking The Kingdom Of God

In verses 31 and 32, Jesus points us towards what we should be seeking after, the Kingdom of God.  Worry focuses our life on exactly the wrong things.  So what does it mean to seek the Kingdom of God?  We seek to have Him ruling in our hearts and our life by reading His Word and prayerfully incorporating it into our life.  We seek to understand the reasons behind his commands and designs.  We seek to fulfill the commission that He has given us by sharing His act of love with those who are lost and in the dark to these things.  In short we choose His way over the top of our way, or even the way of the latest self-help guru we may admire.

Jesus uses a term “little flock.”  This term is intended to be an extremely tender term.  In fact the word flock is a diminutive form.  To coin a term it is like him calling them a “little flocklet,”- my apologies to the English language.  They are few and little, not even a full “flock.”  These are the very kind of things that cause us to worry.  Yet, here we see it is precisely what makes them dear to our Lord.  Have you ever thought that the very things you fret over are exactly what make you precious and dear to the heart of God?  The tenderness of Jesus here is the tenderness of the Father towards all who suffer things in this life for His sake.  Even in seeking His kingdom we must bear in mind that we receive it not because of our ability, but simply because it pleases Him to give it to those who are the “weak” and the “poor” of this life.  We are often guilty of striving to obtain in this life what we cannot at the expense of even greater things in the life to come.  As Jim Elliot wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”  This was written by a man who would die at the hands of an unreached tribe in the jungles of Equador.   Was it a tragic loss?  On the natural plane it was.  But in the spiritual plane of the Kingdom of God it was a nuclear bomb that brought an entire village out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Jesus.

Worry Ties Our Heart To This World

In the last verse Jesus seals the deal.  Where is your heart?  Our worries and anxieties are like carbon cords tying us to the “stone” of this world.  This world and the cares of it are passing away.  If we allow our hearts to be lashed to the mast of a ship that is going down, then we will perish with it.  Thus, Jesus has brought his disciples full circle to the Rich Young Fool in verses “12-21.”  This man’s heart was tied to this world without thought for the things of God.  When his judgment came he was found lacking and judged as a fool.  Worry is a foolish thing because it jeopardizes our soul.  Yet, it is easy to give into it because of the frailty of our flesh.  Even though this is a clear command from Christ, it is given in a far more tender way.  This is not the command of a master, but the tender heart of a Father who doesn’t want to see us fret when He has pledged Himself to us.  May God help us this year to do much less worrying and much more trusting so that we can focus on what really matters in this life!

Why You Should Not Worry Audio

Power and Authority Delegated

Today we will be looking at Luke chapter 9 and verses one through ten.  It is easy to think of the ministry of Jesus and his disciples in the sense that the disciples were just baggage that Jesus carried around with him.  However, in today’s passage we see that, even before the cross, Christ had sent them on missions in which they were able to do what Christ had been doing (to some degree).  How was this possible?  It was possible because Jesus had delegated to them his power and authority.

Power and Authority Delegated

In the first two verses we see that the word delegated is not used.  However, it clearly says that Jesus gave his disciples power and authority.  Of course, this is the very definition of delegation.  The word “power” focuses on the raw power to do something.  The disciples would have this “raw power” because the Holy Spirit would work through them.  Jesus was giving this to them.  The word “authority” focuses on the right or position that enables one to do something.  As personal representatives of Jesus, they are given the right to act on the behalf of Jesus in certain ways.

Now remember that Jesus has more than proven his power and authority by this point.  He has shown power over disease and nature.  He has also demonstrated power and authority over spiritual powers.  So when he tells them that he is “giving” them power we should sit up and take notice.  This somewhat amazing command is helped by the very nature of the one giving it.

Freeing a person from a spirit or from a virus is really quite similar.  A foreign entity is removed so that a person can operate as God intended them to do.  Yet, spirits do have sentience.  So Jesus tells them to cast out spirits and to cure diseases.  Yet, the authority and power is limited.  They are not told to take over the administration of Israel, or to command the Romans to leave Israel.  Thus true delegation is powerful and yet limited by the one who is giving it.  It is easy to do to dismiss the “backwards” notion of evil spirits.  However, those who have honestly researched into these things will find that too many things cannot be explained.  I won’t go into it this morning, but God’s Word warns us against opening ourselves up to evil spirits through drugs and occult rituals.  These things are ways that people give “permission” to evil entities to begin operating within them.  As our nation, more and more, rejects Jesus and God’s Word, we will begin to see more and more demonic activity.  Are you ready?

Now in verse two it mentions that they are to preach the Kingdom of God.  Thus while they do spectacular works of power, they are proclaiming a message about God’s Kingdom.  Israel had longed for the Anointed King or (Messiah) to come and rule with the righteousness of God.  His would be a just administration that would truly be God with us.  Jesus and his disciples proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was now here.  However, it has a present and a future sense.  In the spiritual, Jesus would take up rule in the hearts of his believers without an earthly throne.  By his Spirit in their hearts he would direct and rule over this kingdom from heaven.  This is not exactly what Israel was expecting.  They were looking for the Messiah to sit on a throne in Jerusalem and raise up Israel to rule over the world.  Now there is a future promise that Jesus will come back to earth in physical form.  He will also put down the armies of the nations of the world as they try to stop his coming.  Jesus will indeed rule in person on this earth one day.  But that day is not yet.  Thus there was a strong need for some powerful proof that the disciples were not just making up a likely fairy tale to explain why Jesus had “failed,” once he was crucified.

Don’t Worry About Provision

In verse three Jesus tells them not to stock up on things that they would normally take with them on a journey.  Why?  Material provisions and our worry about them can often get between us and God’s plan.  So, Jesus ensures that they will have to learn quickly how to trust God and Him alone.  In some ways not taking anything would make matters worse.  From day one they could worry about where their next meal would come from.  They could worry more.  But, as they found God supplying their needs they would grow in faith.  Sometimes God allows us to enter times that seem lean to us.  Yet, if we will trust Him, we will find that His supply will remain constant, though maybe not at the level we hope for.  If we remain thankful and faithful, we will become more like Christ and bring joy to our heavenly Father.

We also notice that God would provide through people.  This is seen in the following verses.  This too is a pitfall.  Will I become to lean on people more than God who opens their heart towards me?  What is my motivation?  Am I seeking to mooch off of people or even worse, fleece them?  The work of a minister is to be a humble one.  I am at the mercy and care of others.  I should never take advantage of that, nor become angry when it is not up to my liking.  If God calls you to full-time ministry then He will provide for you.  It will often come through the help of people who are thankful for your ministry on God’s behalf.  Do not let that corrupt you.  Rather continually give God thanks no matter what is given and minister freely to those who do not have.  Even if you are not called to full-time ministry, no matter what God calls you to do, He will provide.  You won’t have to shake people down, or manipulate them through better fundraising techniques.  You merely need to pray and be faithful at what He has called you to do.

Don’t Worry About How You Are Received

In verses 4-5 Jesus speaks about the kinds of reception they will receive.  Now when we say, “don’t worry about how people receive you,” it doesn’t mean you don’t care about how they respond.  But, it does mean we refuse to operate out of a method that will change the message in order to get more to receive us.  Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders because he pointed out their sins.  Some would receive the disciples.  Perhaps because of what was being preached and wanting to know more.  Or perhaps, because of a miracle that they had seen the disciples do.  They would find people who wanted to be a part of the kingdom of God and would invite them into their houses and feed them.

On the other hand some people would reject them.  Not all still believe there is such a thing as the Kingdom of God.  Perhaps they have grown cynical.  They would be rejected by individuals and yet, Jesus says that they might be rejected by whole villages.  The Gospel was not to be changed in order to appease them.  Rather, Jesus instructed his disciples to shake the dust off of their feet as they left town.  This is a reference to a custom of some religious Jews who, when they left Gentile cities, would shake off the dust from their feet as a sign that they wanted no contamination to cling to them.  Yet, here Jesus uses it as a sign that the disciples had been there and would leave evidence that God could point to as proof of the guilt of those who rejected them.  When we come in the name and manner of Jesus, He will deal with those who reject us.  We need not be bitter or compromising.

The Rulers of This World Perplexed

In verses 6-10, we see Herod perplexed.  Jesus is the king of the Kingdom of God.  However, the current King of Israel isn’t sure how to take him.  Herod is himself a pretender to the throne.  Given to him by Rome’s Ceasar, Herod had no true claim to Israel’s throne.  Yet, Jesus does not seem to be trying to take it.  He doesn’t “do politics” in a way that Herod understands.  Herod also seems to have some guilt about killing John the Baptist.  He conjectures that Jesus just may be John come back from the dead.

Although God works indirectly through world leaders, His primary tool in this world is His Church- people who are surrendered to His rule and mission in their life.  God has rejected the wise men and the movers and shakers of this world.  This perplexes them.  They cannot conceive that anything great can truly be done without them.  But God has pledged to do exactly this.  If you find yourself among the powerful of this world, humble yourself and beg of God for grace.  Jesus and His Kingdom will not be brought in by Herod, Ceasar, or the leaders of the world today.  Rather, He will do so through the most humble of the earth.  1 Corinthians 2:7- 8 says, “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”

Just as Herod was perplexed with Jesus, so the spiritual powers behind him are at a loss as well.  The strategy of Jesus is quite different from the schemes and tricks of the devil.  In fact, had satan realized what crucifying Christ was doing for sinners, he most likely would have refrained from instigating the leaders against him.  But now Jesus has spiritually bound the strongman.  Those who know Christ are given the right and authority to preach the gospel on His behalf.  He also chooses to confirm this gospel through signs and wonders that he performs at his desire.  Yet, the battle is not completely over.  Even as satan is spiritually bound today and all are free to embrace Jesus, many still reject Christ.  Eventually God will let the world and its leaders have the way that they have desired, which will only lead to rapid ruin for this planet.  So until the Kingdom of God is materially instituted on this earth are you operating within it by the Spirit already?  Christ is still delegating today power and authority to His faithful disciples.  We must respond in a way that waits upon the Lord for direction as to how he has determined for us to serve him.  We must also be bold in this hour when the enemy wants to cause us to fear through intimidation.  Respond to the Spirit today by putting your faith in Jesus and becoming a proclaimer of the Kingdom of God.

Power Authority Delegated Audio

Trust in God

On Sunday, May 27, Evangelist Ernie Salinas preached a message about trusting God during this current time of social disruption.  The following article is a summary prepared by Pastor Marty Bonner.

Troubled Hearts

In John 14:1 Jesus reminded his disciples that things would happen that would trouble their hearts.  Not just the disciples, but the whole nation of Israel was in the middle of a huge social disruption that would forever change how they related to God.  Similarly our nation is in the middle of such a disruption that has fragmented our society.  Certain cultural patterns of thinking and living are being broken down and either transformed or discarded.  This creates a period of confusion as people ask this internal question.  “If I can’t do this (whatever is no longer acceptable) then what do I do now?”  How should I act and what is expected of me are other ways of asking this question.

Now Jesus was not only speaking to the social disruption that was happening in the first century AD, but he also spoke to the social disruption that would be prevalent at the end of the age.  In Matthew 24:6 and following, Jesus talks about how there would be social turmoil and wars.  Yet, he tells his followers to not be troubled by these things.  That word troubled is the picture of a turbulent sea of various currents that keep our heart agitated and anxious.  This time and its events will have the effect of agitating our minds and filling our hearts with worry.  But Jesus tells them to not allow their hearts to be tossed to and fro by these events.  How is that possible?

The disciples were about to get a lesson in how to do this.  Their time with Jesus and the way things had been for the last 3 years was coming to a close.  Jesus had been their stability and had told them what they were going to do each day.  They followed him.  But that dynamic was about to be changed or transformed.  In John 13:30 there is an interesting phrase that is used after Judas leaves to betray Jesus.  It simply says, “and it was night.”  Most scholars point out that this is meant to be more than a chronological statement.  It wasn’t just night time, but it was metaphorical of the dark night their hearts were going through.  A time when the light you have been living by seems to be snuffed out and you can’t see to find your bearings.  What do we do now?  This question was asked by each disciples as they saw their Lord crucified and buried.

That is why Jesus was telling them to not let their hearts be troubled.

Trusting God And Jesus

After telling them to not let their hearts be troubled (a negative command) he then positively commands them to not only believe in God but to also believe in him.  That word believe is to put your trust in them.  The turmoil would cause them to contemplate not trusting.  However, they were to fight that and find a calm and peace around continuing to trust God in the face of impossibility. 

It has been said that uncertainty is a certainty.  In this world the uncertainties around us will either cause us to give up or it will cause us to look to the certainty that is God himself.  Jesus went on to tell his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them.  Not only was he preparing a place for them, but he would come and bring them to be with him.  Trust me, is what he was saying.  Even when it seems impossible, trust me.

We are given a tender picture of this in Revelation 21:4.  Here we find that all who have put their faith and trust in God will reach a day when he personally wipes the tears from their eyes.  This is not a sense of  “quit your whining, we don’t cry here.”  It is more a tender picture of God stepping in with his personal touch to wipe away those tears of this life.  He becomes the One who knowingly understands our tears and identifies with our tears.  He will tenderly brush them away as he heals our hearts from the pain and sorrow.

The believer must always hold before them the hope that God has given us in this.  No matter how difficult my path in this life, I will eventually leave this anxiety behind and I will be welcomed into God’ healing presence.  Thus I do not need to be tossed about by the troubles of this life.  Though they are real and I will have to deal with them, through faith in Jesus I can find a place of peace here and now in the midst of my own personal night.