Scripture reading: Psalm 131.

Sermon text: Matthew 6:24-34.

Introduction

Imagine a society seemingly on the brink of chaos. Economic distress infected the mentality of most of the citizens as the majority of them survived literally day to day. Most people went to bed at night hoping to have enough to eat the next day. Unpopular leaders ruled over the nation, involving it in political intrigue and stamping out any opposition. Religious leaders regularly condemned those who disagreed with them without offering any hopeful solutions themselves. Within a matter of years, the entire nation would disintegrate under the military and religious pressures, never to rise again.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? You’ve just read an accurate description of first-century Judea.

We often forget that few things have changed since Jesus’ time on earth. Yes, we have fancy technology; you’re reading this on a computer that contains more computing power than the Apollo spacecraft that flew to the moon and back. We possess the ability to communicate instantaneously with friends around the world. We can awaken in Alabama in the morning and go to sleep on another continent that night. However, we still worry about things just as the first-century Jews who heard Jesus firsthand.

Jesus told His listeners, “do not be anxious.” Jesus wanted to spare His listeners and followers the pain of worrying about what we cannot control. Instead, Jesus sought to give us peace as we faithfully seek His will. What is Jesus’ will? What is His answer to the temptation to worry in life? “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

I must humbly confess that I stand chief among sinners. I often find myself anxious about many things: my secular job, my family, my health, and you, my church. I must confess that this sermon applies to me far more intimately than I care to admit. Yet, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I must obey His calling in my life. Join with me in this sacred moment; let’s explore together how we may best “seek the kingdom” and leave our cares in the hands of a God who already holds tomorrow.

Sermon

At the moment of this saying, Jesus has completed roughly two-thirds of His Sermon on the Mount as recorded by St. Matthew. In these teachings, Jesus has already challenged His listeners to a new lifestyle, one defined by godly love and actions. Jesus went even deeper by teaching that our intentions matter as much as our deeds. For example, helping the poor for our own benefit does us little good; forgiving those who love us accomplishes less than forgiving those who hate us. Jesus cares as much for our hearts as He does for the bodies that accomplish our actions.

Now, Jesus addressed one of the primary issues of human existence: worry.

No other animals in all creation have a sense of time like human beings. We remember our pasts, live in the present, and spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about our future.  Alone of God’s creation, we know we have a future existence.  Scriptures tell us that this future includes a glorious existence in God’s presence, unaffected by sickness or death.

Unfortunately for us, this knowledge of the future, while it should give us infinite comfort, often provides us with infinite opportunities for anxiety and stress. We start rather early in life trying to control our future. We tell students to plan for their future occupations. We hope to meet the person with whom we’ll live for our lifetimes. We try to choose jobs that will provide us financial security. We buy insurance in case something happens to us.

Given the effort we put into controlling our futures, it’s shocking at how little good it does us. We build homes in which to live, only to lose them to accidents or disasters. We exercise to preserve our health, only to suffer unexpected diseases or accidents. We invest in financial instruments trying to preserve our wealth, only to suffer loss when the economy tanks.

The Soviet novelist Mikhail Bulgakov, in a masterpiece work called The Master and Margarita, wrote a classic line about planning for the future. When one of the characters states, “Man rules himself,” another retorts, “I beg your pardon, but to rule, one must have a precise plan worked out for some reasonable period in the future. Allow me to inquire how man can control his affairs when he is not only incapable of compiling a plan for some laughably short term, such as, say, a thousand years, but cannot even predict what will happen to him tomorrow?”

Jesus knew our desire to control our lives. He also knew that the uncertainties of life would cause extreme stress in our lives, with all the health problems that would result. What was Jesus’ answer to avoid the problems of worry?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Jesus’ word for “anxious” accurately describes the problem. This word for “anxious” precisely involves worrying about the future. We’re not talking about worrying about what we can control; Jesus exactly addresses our worrying about the future.

Jesus further addressed the greatest worries of our lives: Food and shelter. In first-century Palestine, most of the citizens were paid a daily wage. If they didn’t work for a day, they didn’t eat the next day. Worrying about hunger was a frequent occurrence in Jesus’ time.

Jesus pointed out the root of the problem: Our fear of the future. Nothing else in nature — no animal or plant — ever worries about the future. They simply live.

Lest we think that birds or plants can afford to not think about the future, Jesus pointed out that God cares infinitely more about us than anything else in Creation. Of all creatures, God created us alone in His image. Of all creatures, He grants us alone the blessing of eternal life in a new creation. When it comes to the needs of our lives, Jesus confidently asserted, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

Therefore, we must seek the kingdom of God. Only by seeking the kingdom of God will we find peace about our lives and the future. If this is the case, how do we find the kingdom of God?

First, we need to realize that Jesus wouldn’t send us looking for something we can’t find. We must understand that the kingdom exists and that finding it should be our greatest priority in life.

Recall for a moment the prayer we all prayed earlier in the service, The Lord’s Prayer (or “Our Father”). Can you recall the third phrase in the prayer? “Thy Kingdom Come.” Every week here at New Hope, we pray for the kingdom of God to make its appearance, in the world and in our lives.

We pray this prayer knowing that, in some way, the kingdom arrived with the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. God’s creation involved new life. Jesus’ resurrection brought new life to everyone who believes in Him and confesses Him as Lord of our lives. Therefore, everyone who is born again through our confession of Jesus as Lord already lives in the kingdom. In some mystical way that we rarely understand, we already live in the eternity God has prepared for us.

I’m beginning to understand that I cannot worry about the future if I’m working to display the kingdom of God to the people in my life. I cannot worry about my life if I’m working to show godly love to someone else. Every time we love others as Jesus loves us, we show them the kingdom of God.

This brings us to the last part of the seeking: “and His righteousness.” “Righteousness” implies right living. Jesus addressed right living in the Sermon on the Mount, too. We must live according to a higher standard, the standard of Christ. Living rightly before others demonstrates we are members of the kingdom of God.

We also demonstrate the kingdom of God when we come to worship. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ every Sunday. As I said, the resurrection changed everything in Creation; the resurrection signaled the coming of the kingdom of God. If you want to find the kingdom of God, attending worship with other believers is a wonderful place to find it. Participating in worship helps us understand that God cares for us and provides for His people. Investing in the lives of other believers in worship gives us opportunities to hear their tales of trial and deliverance, giving us hope that God will work in our lives as well.

Reading Scripture gives us hope as well. Scripture tells us the stories of other believers who have experienced both the trials of life and the deliverance of God from those troubles. Going beyond Scripture, we can read the history of the Church and see where God’s deliverance goes beyond the history of Scripture into our present time.

This brings us to a major point of this passage. God loves us enough to send Jesus to die for us and rise again for our salvation. He has prepared an eternity for us beyond our understanding. Do you really think He’ll give you up to uncertainty now?

What worries did you bring to this time of worship? Money? God knows your need. Health? God continues to heal, going further than healing these physical bodies to promising us eternal bodies that will last forever with no sickness, aging, or death. Anxiety about your eternity? Confess Jesus as Lord; come into the kingdom of God; and live boldly in this life and the life to come.