Worry is not something new to us. It is something that has been part of being human for all of history. Our brains are wired to worry. Worry helps to preserve us. It motivates us to take action. However According to the Huffington Post 85 % of the things we worry about never occur.
Today we are going to look at what Jesus says about worry. But in order to understand what Jesus has to say about worry we have to trying understand a very important concept to Jesus and the gospel writers. It is the term the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, or in our passage today, simply the kingdom.
The Kingdom is spoken about roughly 100 times in the gospels. It is used far more often than terms we today think to be very important such as salvation, justification, sin, forgiveness, heaven, or hell. And yet It wasn’t until my last year in college when I finally began to grasp what Jesus was talking about when he talked about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven and it changed my life.
So what is the kingdom of God or as Matthew puts it, the kingdom of heaven?
Today we are going to look at what Jesus says about worry. But in order to understand what Jesus has to say about worry we have to trying understand a very important concept to Jesus and the gospel writers. It is the term the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, or in our passage today, simply the kingdom.
The Kingdom is spoken about roughly 100 times in the gospels. It is used far more often than terms we today think to be very important such as salvation, justification, sin, forgiveness, heaven, or hell. And yet It wasn’t until my last year in college when I finally began to grasp what Jesus was talking about when he talked about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven and it changed my life.
So what is the kingdom of God or as Matthew puts it, the kingdom of heaven?
Worry is not something new to us. It is something that has been part of being human for all of history. Our brains are wired to worry. Worry helps to preserve us. It motivates us to take action. However According to the Huffington Post 85 % of the things we worry about never occur.
Today we are going to look at what Jesus says about worry. But in order to understand what Jesus has to say about worry we have to trying understand a very important concept to Jesus and the gospel writers. It is the term the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, or in our passage today, simply the kingdom.
The Kingdom is spoken about roughly 100 times in the gospels. It is used far more often than terms we today think to be very important such as salvation, justification, sin, forgiveness, heaven, or hell. And yet It wasn’t until my last year in college when I finally began to grasp what Jesus was talking about when he talked about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven and it changed my life.
So what is the kingdom of God or as Matthew puts it, the kingdom of heaven?
First, lets ask the question, what is a kingdom? We live in a democracy. This means that each of us have a say in what goes on in our country. On Tuesday we get to vote on who we want to represent us. We are self-governed. For all of our problems as a country, we still have individual rights and freedoms,
We don’t live in a kingdom.
So how is a kingdom different than a democracy.
When I was living in Israel I had the opportunity to travel a bit around the area and was able to visit the country of Jordan. It is a true kingdom. It is ruled by King Abdullah whose father King Hussein ruled before him. When you enter it one of the first things you notice is that the King is literally everywhere. There are large posters and billboards on almost every corner. His face is always watching you. He is eyes are always following you. He is the King. He makes the laws, he goes to war, he owns the oil. He is in control and he wants all of his subjects to carry out what he desires. This is a kingdom. It is King Abdullah II’s Kingdom.
A kingdom then is a place where the will of the King or Queen is carried out by his or her subjects. So what is the kingdom of God?
How many of you know the Lord’s prayer by heart? Recite it
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Did you hear that? The Kingdom of God already fully exists in the heavens.
In the heavens, God’s will is being perfecting carried out. Colossians 1:17 tells us that all things in the heavens and on the earth are held together by Christ. The sun and moon obey God’s commands. They rise and fall as a result of the will of God. The stars keep burning and the earth keeps circling the sun because of the will of God. Right now the heavens perfectly carry out God’s will. God’s kingdom has come fully there.
Jesus’ prayer is that it will happen on earth in the same way. So the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven is the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out. It exists imperfectly on earth and perfectly in heaven.
So here is where is gets fun. Just like God has a kingdom we to have kingdom. We have people and places and systems we influence. And we are called by God to use our influence to expand God’s influence, his kingdom, that is the place where his will is perfectly carried out. For instance, as a parent If I yell at my kids all the time they will learn that yelling is appropriate. If I beat my children they have all kinds of problems. If however I love my kids and teach them to love God then my kids will be more likely to love God. They will begin to learn to love God and God’s influence will expand. The earth will grow more in line with the heavens.
Many of us work. Our jobs are places of influence. They can be places where we expand the rule of God. If I am honest I spread the rule of God. If I don’t gossip even when everyone else I work with does, I spread the rule of God. No matter what my job is I can be honest, charging for only the work I do. I can work hard without complaining. In doing all these things I am bringing the world around me more inline with how God has always intended the world to be.
This is why we as a church run the clothesline. It is why we allow Carl to spend time loving people without any thought of whether or not these people will ever come to our church. He, through the power of the Holy Spirit is bringing Sumas and Kendal more in line with God’s kingdom.
It is why I coach football and sit with a troubled 6th grader in class on Mondays. I want to extend God’s rule by my influence in places where God’s kingdom is absent. As homes and schools and workplaces and towns and counties and cities and country’s more closely reflect God’s rule people will live better.
The reason we are bringing cookies and treats to the teachers in the school is because we value what they do. We recognize their role in teaching kids the values of the kingdom. Its not just that we want to try and share the gospel with them. What they do contributes to the kingdom, even if they don’t realize it and we as a church want to contribute to anything that brings more of this world under the influence of Christ and his values.
This week I went into the Middle school to meet with a student who has been having trouble staying in class. When I got there the principle realized that the 6th graders were going on a field trip today and asked if I wanted to come. I said sure, so I got on the bus and went to a movie downtown Bellingham. The movie a documentary about a school for girls in Afghanistan.
It was a moving story of how one women risked her life and continues to risk her life running a school for girls. She is truly a courageous woman. She is expanding God’s rule into the world even if she doesn’t realize it. As Christians we should recognize this and applaud it, even though this woman doesn’t know Christ personally. She is a Muslim. And yet she is doing work for God’s kingdom. This doesn’t mean she is saved or going to heaven, but it does mean that God is using her to expand his influence, and we should celebrate that. God’s spirit is at work everywhere, building the kingdom.
So that very briefly is the Kingdom of God. It is the rule of God coming to earth as it is in heaven. Understanding the role we play in this brings purpose and meaning to everything in life. There are no pointless jobs. There are no pointless days. Everything we do, every moment we have, and every dollar we spend contributes to either the expansion of God’s kingdom or the Kingdom of the World.
Oh yeah, we should probably talk about that, the other kingdom, the competing kingdom. Turn to Matthew 13. In this chapter Jesus tells a bunch of stories to his disciples to help them understand the kingdom of God. I am going to read starting in verses 24.
What this teaches us is that right now the kingdom of God is not fully realized. We know that God’s kingdom will eventually win out but we also know that right now there is a competing kingdom. This is the kingdom of the world. It is the kingdom that is ruled by the Devil. It is the place where his desires are carried out.
This kingdom is built around selfishness and greed. It is the place where people hoard their wealth. Just like the farmer in the passage Carl talked about last week they build bigger and bigger barns while the people around them starve. This kingdom uses power and threats to coerce and corrupt people and systems. It is a kingdom that thrives on fear and worry. It is a kingdom where the rich and the powerful rule over everyone else. This kingdom offers pleasure in order to medicate the hurt and pain that it causes. Nothing in this kingdom lasts into Eternity.
These are the two kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World. So with that long, long introduction lets go to the passage for today. Please turn to Luke 12. Read with me.
Much of this passage can be summed up as Jesus telling his disciples not worry because if God takes care of the plants and animals he will take care of them. That’s a pretty simple message and is true and good. It is a proverb that should warm our hearts. However, after finishing that message I think Jesus has something more to say to us about worry.
Lets look specifically at verses 29 thru 31.
Verses 29 and 31 are parallel to each other, for the biblical scholars out there, both verses contain the same greek word. It is roughly translated as seek but could also be understood as desire. By using these words, Jesus and Luke are tying verses 29 and 31 together. They can be understood as two parts of the same command. The first part is the negative part of the command. Jesus says, “don’t set your heart on, or don’t desire, or don’t seek what you will eat or drink, don’t even worry about it”
Lets talk about Desire for a moment. There is an interesting book out right now by a philosophy professor at Calvin College. He argues that at the core of who we are is what we love. Our lives our ruled by what we love. What we desire.
Because of this, most of the decisions we make aren’t based on our intellect but our emotions. Intellect is basically the math part of our brains. It is the logical part of our brains. We don’t make decisions using this part of our brains because its not beautiful. It doesn’t excite us.
Instead we make decisions based on what we love. This may sound bad but its actually quite beautiful. Its why humans will sacrifice for each other. Its why young men will die for their country. Its why a friend will dive on a grenade for a friend. Its why couples stay together for 75 years.
But its also why we do things that hurt ourselves. Its why we struggle with addictions that will kill us. Its why people give all their money to a shady televangelist on tv. It why people will pay thousands of dollars to go to watch the cubs when they are in the world series.
What we love is what drives our actions. I’m not sure where I read this but its basically true, in life we get what we want. That is, whatever it is that captures our imaginations, whatever it is that captures our hearts, what we desire, is what get.
Generally, this is true. The man who lives alone in his large house, with his big barns, whose kids hate him, whose wife has left him has gotten exactly what he has always wanted. Deep inside he valued his house, his big barns more than his kids or his family. He may deny this if you ask them but the decisions he has made have been made in pursuit of the thing he truly loved.
Jesus understood this. He understood that what we love drives our actions. He knew this which is why he doesn’t just tell the disciples to quit worrying and move on. He knew they needed more than that if their behavior was going to change. Very rarely will anyone just change because they are told to.
So he challenges his disciples to not desire the kingdom of the world. To not seek after stuff that only lasts for this life.
Don’t use your time, treasure, or talent in order to get what is only temporary. The farmer from Carl’s sermon last week sought these things. He wanted stuff and you know what he got, He got stuff. Lots of stuff. So much stuff that he built barns to store it. So much stuff that he worried about losing it, and eventually lost it all. He died and he lost it all.
If we invest our lives in things that are temporary we are always worried we are going to lose it all, because deep in our hearts and minds we know we will. What we worry about reveals what we treasure. It reveals what we truly love. What has captured our imagination.
Lets turn back to the text. We have the first half of Christ’ command to us, don’t desire the stuff that makes up the Kingdom of the World. Lets look now at verse 31 and see the second half of his command. “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (Luk 12:31 NIV)”
So lets take this verse and insert what we just learned about the kingdom of God. So instead of the word kingdom we will insert (the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out). Lets read the verse again.
But seek or desire (the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out) and these things will be given to you as well.
So, instead of desiring the Kingdom of the this World, Desire that the world around us would be a place were God’s will is perfectly carried out. Let that be your highest love. Let that be the thing that motivates you. Let that be the thing that captures you. Let that be the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning.
Jesus knows that if we desire God’s kingdom, our actions will follow. We will give our time, our treasure, and our talent to kingdom work. And he knows that as we do this we will worry less, because our stuff will no longer be our stuff it will be God’s stuff. My car is not my car its God’s car, my house is not my house its God’s house, my life is not my life, my health is not my health. It is all God’s to use for his kingdom. If its stuff he is responsible for it. I don’t have to worry about it anymore. The man with the big barns worried all the time because he was scared he would lose everything. The kingdom of God is going to last into eternity so whatever we invest in it will last forever. We don’t have to worry about losing it.
On top of that Jesus knows that if we begin to make decisions based on what will do more for the kingdom of God we will find that God will take care of our needs. We will have money left over because we might find we don’t need the giant house we can’t pay for, or the new car, or cable, or whatever else. In a very practical manner our needs will be provided for, simply because we will be wiser with our money. So worry will lesson significantly as we invest in God’s kingdom.
Here is the thing though, none of us do this perfectly. All of us struggle with materialism. We all fail to give everything to God’s work. We all struggle with fear and worry and we all are desperately in need of God to change what we desire.
Inside of us we have two kingdoms. We have the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. We desire God’s rule and we want to rule ourselves. And we need God to change us. We need his spirit to change us and we need his grace and forgiveness to change us. On the cross he freed us from the power of the kingdom of the world. He defeated satan. But we still struggle with living in that freedom.
Today is a special Sunday as we get to take communion in remembrance of what Christ has done. We need him now more than ever. In our culture we are taught to desire stuff, but on the cross, Jesus demonstrated his rejection of the stuff of the world. He gave up his life, he gave up his popularity, he gave up his security to defeat Satan and initiate the Kingdom. His death shows us that the only proper way to live is to die to ourselves. And we need his help to do that. We must rest in his love and not worry about our stuff. He loves us dearly and will take care of us. Lets pray.
Today we are going to look at what Jesus says about worry. But in order to understand what Jesus has to say about worry we have to trying understand a very important concept to Jesus and the gospel writers. It is the term the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, or in our passage today, simply the kingdom.
The Kingdom is spoken about roughly 100 times in the gospels. It is used far more often than terms we today think to be very important such as salvation, justification, sin, forgiveness, heaven, or hell. And yet It wasn’t until my last year in college when I finally began to grasp what Jesus was talking about when he talked about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven and it changed my life.
So what is the kingdom of God or as Matthew puts it, the kingdom of heaven?
First, lets ask the question, what is a kingdom? We live in a democracy. This means that each of us have a say in what goes on in our country. On Tuesday we get to vote on who we want to represent us. We are self-governed. For all of our problems as a country, we still have individual rights and freedoms,
We don’t live in a kingdom.
So how is a kingdom different than a democracy.
When I was living in Israel I had the opportunity to travel a bit around the area and was able to visit the country of Jordan. It is a true kingdom. It is ruled by King Abdullah whose father King Hussein ruled before him. When you enter it one of the first things you notice is that the King is literally everywhere. There are large posters and billboards on almost every corner. His face is always watching you. He is eyes are always following you. He is the King. He makes the laws, he goes to war, he owns the oil. He is in control and he wants all of his subjects to carry out what he desires. This is a kingdom. It is King Abdullah II’s Kingdom.
A kingdom then is a place where the will of the King or Queen is carried out by his or her subjects. So what is the kingdom of God?
How many of you know the Lord’s prayer by heart? Recite it
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Did you hear that? The Kingdom of God already fully exists in the heavens.
In the heavens, God’s will is being perfecting carried out. Colossians 1:17 tells us that all things in the heavens and on the earth are held together by Christ. The sun and moon obey God’s commands. They rise and fall as a result of the will of God. The stars keep burning and the earth keeps circling the sun because of the will of God. Right now the heavens perfectly carry out God’s will. God’s kingdom has come fully there.
Jesus’ prayer is that it will happen on earth in the same way. So the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven is the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out. It exists imperfectly on earth and perfectly in heaven.
So here is where is gets fun. Just like God has a kingdom we to have kingdom. We have people and places and systems we influence. And we are called by God to use our influence to expand God’s influence, his kingdom, that is the place where his will is perfectly carried out. For instance, as a parent If I yell at my kids all the time they will learn that yelling is appropriate. If I beat my children they have all kinds of problems. If however I love my kids and teach them to love God then my kids will be more likely to love God. They will begin to learn to love God and God’s influence will expand. The earth will grow more in line with the heavens.
Many of us work. Our jobs are places of influence. They can be places where we expand the rule of God. If I am honest I spread the rule of God. If I don’t gossip even when everyone else I work with does, I spread the rule of God. No matter what my job is I can be honest, charging for only the work I do. I can work hard without complaining. In doing all these things I am bringing the world around me more inline with how God has always intended the world to be.
This is why we as a church run the clothesline. It is why we allow Carl to spend time loving people without any thought of whether or not these people will ever come to our church. He, through the power of the Holy Spirit is bringing Sumas and Kendal more in line with God’s kingdom.
It is why I coach football and sit with a troubled 6th grader in class on Mondays. I want to extend God’s rule by my influence in places where God’s kingdom is absent. As homes and schools and workplaces and towns and counties and cities and country’s more closely reflect God’s rule people will live better.
The reason we are bringing cookies and treats to the teachers in the school is because we value what they do. We recognize their role in teaching kids the values of the kingdom. Its not just that we want to try and share the gospel with them. What they do contributes to the kingdom, even if they don’t realize it and we as a church want to contribute to anything that brings more of this world under the influence of Christ and his values.
This week I went into the Middle school to meet with a student who has been having trouble staying in class. When I got there the principle realized that the 6th graders were going on a field trip today and asked if I wanted to come. I said sure, so I got on the bus and went to a movie downtown Bellingham. The movie a documentary about a school for girls in Afghanistan.
It was a moving story of how one women risked her life and continues to risk her life running a school for girls. She is truly a courageous woman. She is expanding God’s rule into the world even if she doesn’t realize it. As Christians we should recognize this and applaud it, even though this woman doesn’t know Christ personally. She is a Muslim. And yet she is doing work for God’s kingdom. This doesn’t mean she is saved or going to heaven, but it does mean that God is using her to expand his influence, and we should celebrate that. God’s spirit is at work everywhere, building the kingdom.
So that very briefly is the Kingdom of God. It is the rule of God coming to earth as it is in heaven. Understanding the role we play in this brings purpose and meaning to everything in life. There are no pointless jobs. There are no pointless days. Everything we do, every moment we have, and every dollar we spend contributes to either the expansion of God’s kingdom or the Kingdom of the World.
Oh yeah, we should probably talk about that, the other kingdom, the competing kingdom. Turn to Matthew 13. In this chapter Jesus tells a bunch of stories to his disciples to help them understand the kingdom of God. I am going to read starting in verses 24.
What this teaches us is that right now the kingdom of God is not fully realized. We know that God’s kingdom will eventually win out but we also know that right now there is a competing kingdom. This is the kingdom of the world. It is the kingdom that is ruled by the Devil. It is the place where his desires are carried out.
This kingdom is built around selfishness and greed. It is the place where people hoard their wealth. Just like the farmer in the passage Carl talked about last week they build bigger and bigger barns while the people around them starve. This kingdom uses power and threats to coerce and corrupt people and systems. It is a kingdom that thrives on fear and worry. It is a kingdom where the rich and the powerful rule over everyone else. This kingdom offers pleasure in order to medicate the hurt and pain that it causes. Nothing in this kingdom lasts into Eternity.
These are the two kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World. So with that long, long introduction lets go to the passage for today. Please turn to Luke 12. Read with me.
Much of this passage can be summed up as Jesus telling his disciples not worry because if God takes care of the plants and animals he will take care of them. That’s a pretty simple message and is true and good. It is a proverb that should warm our hearts. However, after finishing that message I think Jesus has something more to say to us about worry.
Lets look specifically at verses 29 thru 31.
Verses 29 and 31 are parallel to each other, for the biblical scholars out there, both verses contain the same greek word. It is roughly translated as seek but could also be understood as desire. By using these words, Jesus and Luke are tying verses 29 and 31 together. They can be understood as two parts of the same command. The first part is the negative part of the command. Jesus says, “don’t set your heart on, or don’t desire, or don’t seek what you will eat or drink, don’t even worry about it”
Lets talk about Desire for a moment. There is an interesting book out right now by a philosophy professor at Calvin College. He argues that at the core of who we are is what we love. Our lives our ruled by what we love. What we desire.
Because of this, most of the decisions we make aren’t based on our intellect but our emotions. Intellect is basically the math part of our brains. It is the logical part of our brains. We don’t make decisions using this part of our brains because its not beautiful. It doesn’t excite us.
Instead we make decisions based on what we love. This may sound bad but its actually quite beautiful. Its why humans will sacrifice for each other. Its why young men will die for their country. Its why a friend will dive on a grenade for a friend. Its why couples stay together for 75 years.
But its also why we do things that hurt ourselves. Its why we struggle with addictions that will kill us. Its why people give all their money to a shady televangelist on tv. It why people will pay thousands of dollars to go to watch the cubs when they are in the world series.
What we love is what drives our actions. I’m not sure where I read this but its basically true, in life we get what we want. That is, whatever it is that captures our imaginations, whatever it is that captures our hearts, what we desire, is what get.
Generally, this is true. The man who lives alone in his large house, with his big barns, whose kids hate him, whose wife has left him has gotten exactly what he has always wanted. Deep inside he valued his house, his big barns more than his kids or his family. He may deny this if you ask them but the decisions he has made have been made in pursuit of the thing he truly loved.
Jesus understood this. He understood that what we love drives our actions. He knew this which is why he doesn’t just tell the disciples to quit worrying and move on. He knew they needed more than that if their behavior was going to change. Very rarely will anyone just change because they are told to.
So he challenges his disciples to not desire the kingdom of the world. To not seek after stuff that only lasts for this life.
Don’t use your time, treasure, or talent in order to get what is only temporary. The farmer from Carl’s sermon last week sought these things. He wanted stuff and you know what he got, He got stuff. Lots of stuff. So much stuff that he built barns to store it. So much stuff that he worried about losing it, and eventually lost it all. He died and he lost it all.
If we invest our lives in things that are temporary we are always worried we are going to lose it all, because deep in our hearts and minds we know we will. What we worry about reveals what we treasure. It reveals what we truly love. What has captured our imagination.
Lets turn back to the text. We have the first half of Christ’ command to us, don’t desire the stuff that makes up the Kingdom of the World. Lets look now at verse 31 and see the second half of his command. “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (Luk 12:31 NIV)”
So lets take this verse and insert what we just learned about the kingdom of God. So instead of the word kingdom we will insert (the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out). Lets read the verse again.
But seek or desire (the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out) and these things will be given to you as well.
So, instead of desiring the Kingdom of the this World, Desire that the world around us would be a place were God’s will is perfectly carried out. Let that be your highest love. Let that be the thing that motivates you. Let that be the thing that captures you. Let that be the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning.
Jesus knows that if we desire God’s kingdom, our actions will follow. We will give our time, our treasure, and our talent to kingdom work. And he knows that as we do this we will worry less, because our stuff will no longer be our stuff it will be God’s stuff. My car is not my car its God’s car, my house is not my house its God’s house, my life is not my life, my health is not my health. It is all God’s to use for his kingdom. If its stuff he is responsible for it. I don’t have to worry about it anymore. The man with the big barns worried all the time because he was scared he would lose everything. The kingdom of God is going to last into eternity so whatever we invest in it will last forever. We don’t have to worry about losing it.
On top of that Jesus knows that if we begin to make decisions based on what will do more for the kingdom of God we will find that God will take care of our needs. We will have money left over because we might find we don’t need the giant house we can’t pay for, or the new car, or cable, or whatever else. In a very practical manner our needs will be provided for, simply because we will be wiser with our money. So worry will lesson significantly as we invest in God’s kingdom.
Here is the thing though, none of us do this perfectly. All of us struggle with materialism. We all fail to give everything to God’s work. We all struggle with fear and worry and we all are desperately in need of God to change what we desire.
Inside of us we have two kingdoms. We have the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. We desire God’s rule and we want to rule ourselves. And we need God to change us. We need his spirit to change us and we need his grace and forgiveness to change us. On the cross he freed us from the power of the kingdom of the world. He defeated satan. But we still struggle with living in that freedom.
Today is a special Sunday as we get to take communion in remembrance of what Christ has done. We need him now more than ever. In our culture we are taught to desire stuff, but on the cross, Jesus demonstrated his rejection of the stuff of the world. He gave up his life, he gave up his popularity, he gave up his security to defeat Satan and initiate the Kingdom. His death shows us that the only proper way to live is to die to ourselves. And we need his help to do that. We must rest in his love and not worry about our stuff. He loves us dearly and will take care of us. Lets pray.
RSS Feed