My Dad is Stronger Than Your Dad

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: I'm a collector, if you haven't noticed. I believe that collecting things is part of human nature. must be. So many people have interesting collections. Some are more in control of that human nature than others. And I'm just always fascinated to see what people enjoy collecting. I read about some of these recently. Somebody collects Coleman camping lanterns. Pretty neat. I have one. Back scratchers. Bars of soap. Toenail clippings. This one collector has over 30,000. Can't wait to see that one. Umbrella cover sleeves. So if you're missing that little sleeve that came with your umbrella, somebody collected it. Coca-Cola cans. Celebrity hair locks. Now don't know if they sneak up behind them or how they get these, but... Belly button lint. Sugar packets. Banana stickers. Ooh, I love getting those in my lunchbox. Put it right on your nose. Water bottle labels. Construction nails. Traffic cones. How do you collect those? Stick your hand out the window and grab one as you go by. Airline barf bags. Empty, empty. Erasers. Hotel do not disturb signs. I hope they're not taking them off the doors. Toothbrushes, business cards, napkins, you name it, somebody collects it. The draw for people to watch reality show like American Pickers is to see what people like to collect. When collections get out of hand, we get other reality shows called Storage Locker Wars and Hoarders. Now I'm quite sympathetic to the plight of collectors. Here's some of the things that I've collected over the years. Most of them in my childhood, very few of these are still somewhat active. Rocks, seashells, stamps, coins, foreign paper money, feathers, insects, wildflowers, leaves, books about Africa. I have over 200. I've read most of them. Pocket knives, sheath knives, hot wheels and matchbox cars, those are still active. Sand and dirt from around the world. Odd musical instruments. See, I told you I brought a flute. This is a nose flute. I will not attempt to play it because I would need a tissue. But you literally blow through here, comes out over this little hole, and your mouth acts as you can change the key or whatever with your mouth. Fascinating. No, I don't play it. And this is not something you buy for your children and say, please share with each other. No. I collect yo-yos, motorcycle cards when I was a kid, those were a thing. Postcards, trading pins, belt buckles, key chains, skateboards, that one's still active. Hats, ⁓ I have so many hats. We have a lot of doctors here. I have a doctor's hat. I bet no other doctor has a doctor's hat. No doctor. Let's see, where is it? It's in here. Dr. Seuss. You know, we collect all kinds of strange things. I've forgotten some of my collections. I have a collection of collections. One thing I wanted to collect since I was a little kid was arrowheads. But as I have yet to find one, I do not have an arrowhead collection. ⁓ One of my more recent collections you can see in my office are toy animals. But there always has to be an animal that I had a dealing with. I've been there and dealt with it, I have it. What kind of things do you find valuable? What kind of things do you treasure? At this point, as we have seen on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has spoken of Christian character with the Beatitudes, Christian influence with salt and light, Christian righteousness with what it means to keep the spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law. Christian piety with the way life is lived based on who one believes in, and now Jesus begins to describe Christian goals and priorities. Turn with me to Matthew chapter six as we continue our sermon series on the book of Matthew. If you're visiting with us today, we're going through the book of Matthew. And ⁓ we're gonna be here a while. Fascinating book. But we're still in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter six, verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Have you ever had something stolen from you? Let's see a show of hands that you had something stolen from you. That's almost everybody here. How'd you feel? I don't care if it's just a pencil. Wait a minute, that was mine. And we get incensed. And it's just where thieves break in and steal. When I was in Academy, our house was robbed. Many things were stolen, including my new stereo system in my bedroom. But my room was the typical teenage boy's room. utter disaster. You could not tell it had been ransacked. It always looked like it had been ransacked. My mother gave up and she finally, if anybody showed up at the house, she just shut my door. It would never be presentable. But the thief who came into my bedroom did not look under my bed where my coin collection was because he couldn't get to my bed. I remember saying, see mom, messy rooms have benefits. But after the close call with my coin collection, I no longer wanted it under my bed. So I went to the bank and rented a safe deposit box. Yes, it is now safe. Safe for me enjoying it, safe for me going to visit it, because who wants to go in there and, ⁓ I've got to find my safe deposit key, I've got to go there, I've got to talk to the person at the bank, they've got to let me in the vault, then they've got to use their key and my key and get it up in their night. So it sat there for years, unlooked at as I rented the box. I no longer enjoyed it. It had, like other treasures, become worthless to me. Verse 20. But lay up yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. In a town where we once lived was a wealthy man. And if I was a wealthy man, I'd probably have done what he did, collect real cars. And wow, what a collection. Beauties, exotics. My favorite was a black Lamborghini Countach. I love that car. That car was on the poster of almost every teenage boy's bedroom right next to Fairfax, if mom didn't find out. When he was asked what it was like to have and drive such a car, his reply was, it's not as much fun as it looks. I don't really enjoy it because I'm always afraid I'm going to get it scratched. I'm always afraid a rock's gonna fly and hit the windshield. I'm always afraid that a bird's gonna mess on it and it's gonna destroy part of the paint. I'm always afraid to park it anywhere because it gathers a crowd and people might touch it or lean on it and the skin of this thing is very thin. It'll dent, nothing. And then they're all gonna ask for a ride. So my Lamborghini sits here in my garage. Gathering dust. We can easily be distracted by the things around us, all the nice things that we're encouraged to aspire to. Big houses, cars, the latest gadgets that seem so important. Career goals, climbing the ladder of success. But these easily take our mind away from what is truly. Anybody remember their mom dropping them off for first grade, first day? Wow, I do. She said, choose your friends wisely. They didn't. And she said, she told me something about report cards. She had been a school teacher at one time, and she explained what a report card was, and that I'd be graded on things. And she said, I hope you will do your best. I don't think she had a lot of confidence. But on that report card, there's a section about behavior. There better not be any marks in that section. Well, I disappointed her once again, but because I didn't choose my friends wisely. But I did know what was valuable to my mom was that I behaved. The things that Jesus is saying are indestructible and of eternal value are the virtuous living standards that he has just been describing in his sermon on the mount. The things of earth can end up giving us a hollow feeling inside because they're not what truly fills us. I was looking out the window one day and I saw a mockingbird swoop down onto the front porch. And now what's he after? And then I saw it, I hadn't noticed it before, but there was a moth wing traveling across the porch. I looked closer, how's that wing moving? And an ant had the wing. And it's moving, it's very iridescent, it's very pretty, and it's moving, and it caught the attention of the mockingbird. And the mockingbird swooped down, sat there and looked at it, stole it from the ant. flew up into a nearby branch and quickly spit it out. Can you imagine a moth wing on your tongue? Eww, dusty, eww. There was no meat there. He thought it was a real moth, a whole moth, but no, just a dusty wing. And that's what happens with us on this earth. We often are attracted to something only find it leaves a bad taste in our mouth. Just dust and emptiness. Something that does not satisfy for long or even we regret altogether. Anybody have stink bugs invading their houses now? Yeah, we got stink bugs. I don't know what's with this place. Stink bugs and those fake lady bugs. Have you ever been tempted to put one on your tongue? No. Why would you do that? Why would we do the things the world has to offer? but we still do. But then Jesus continues in verse 22, the lamp of the body is the eye, if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. Right, Dr. Imde? If your eye is good. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great. is that darkness. Just as the physical eye determines whether we live in physical light or darkness, the condition of our spiritual eye determines whether we dwell in spiritual light or darkness. Thus it's crucial that we have a correct view of our priorities and values. We don't often hear of someone waking up one day and finding out that they're blind. It usually happens gradually, almost imperceptibly, over time. Years ago, I was sitting in about the fanciest restaurant I go to called Taco Bell. Have you ever seen one of those? We have some. And I was sitting there and the meal that I ordered did not satisfy. I was still hungry so I looked up at the menu from my table that's above the counter there and I realized I couldn't read it anymore. I said, wait a minute, I used to sit here and just think about what I wanted up there. And I went to my eye doctor and she said, you need glasses. I got my first pair of glasses and what a difference. Wow, now I could order from Taco Bell freely. Huge difference in my life. We don't often perceive that our spiritual sight is growing dim. And then sometimes, then we can meet somebody that's on fire for the Lord and they're like, wait a minute, I used to be on fire for the Lord. What happened, where did I go? We may not realize how skewed our spiritual eyesight is until we begin to look through God's lenses, how he sees things. Jesus continues in verse 24. No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So, we either serve God or the world. Jesus leaves zero middle ground, one or the other. Yes, we do have to live in this world and move around in it just as Jesus did while he lived among us. But the world did not dictate who he was or how he was to live. We are faced with a choice. What motivates our lives, God or the things of this earth? So in verses 19 to 24, Jesus presents us with three sets of choices. Earth versus heaven, darkness versus light, money versus God. The first presents us with two treasures, the second presents us with two eyes, the third presents us with two lords. All three deal with a person's goals and priorities. Do we seek the Father's praise or the world's? We can't have both. If you think you're having both, you have the worlds. God's is just an illusion to you. Jesus then brings a section of his sermon to a close with one of the most comforting discourses in the whole Bible. Would you like a little comfort? God provides it. Verse 25, therefore, okay, again, when therefore is used in the Bible you have to ask your question what is the therefore therefore? That means what is being said now has to do with what was just being said. So this is all in context. Because of all this that we just talked about, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life. Easy for you to say, right? Wow. Is that possible? Do not worry 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. Yeah, I was talking to one of my students in Kenya one day and she was drawing a picture of a lady wearing a fancy outfit. I said, what are you gonna do with your life? She says, I wanna be a clothing designer. I said, that's cool, because we all need clothes. But it's a shame you have to base your career on what sin cost. God's the best designer of clothes. He made us how we were supposed to be and covered us with light. And so now we need clothing designers. Is not your life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so closed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? ⁓ you of little what? Faith. Therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things but Satisfy yourself and then worry about the things of God wait wrong version Seek first what? The kingdom of God and his. Don't even seek your own righteousness because filthy rags. Back to that clothing stuff. Filthy rags. Seek His righteousness. What a relief. And all these things that we've been talking about shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. I see a lot of heads nodding. Yeah, I enough trouble today and I'm worried about what's happening next week. ⁓ my. A years ago, I was sitting in my mother's living room where my office away from home had been set up. The morning sun was coming in through the windows and I know that many of you have faced this kind of thing and some of you are facing it now. And others, you've talked to me. I see this in my near future. Because in another room, was my mother in a hospital bed provided by hospice. I had spent the night checking on her to see if she was still with us. And I was giving her sips of water with a little sponge. And I was trying to be honest with myself while asking hard questions. Questions like, am I worried about my And the answer that I came up with as honestly as I could was no, she's ready to go. There's no fear in her eyes. She and God have been close. With sons like she had, she had to be close. I was experiencing other emotions though, sadness and joy at the same time, sad that my mom was going to leave us and joy that this was not the end. But I did find that I was worried about things like, am I making her as comfortable as I can since I can't understand what she's asking for? What happens afterwards? There's so much to take care of. I don't know how to do this. Will I do it right? Then I found comfort in these words from Jesus. Jesus' teaching on worry is the climax to his teaching on priorities, goals, and true wealth. The point of his counsel is found in verses 32 and 33. Here he tells his followers that they should not act like pagan Gentiles who don't know the Father, and as a result, spend their lives running after material goods. only to worry about them once they've been acquired. Rather than acting like money-worshipping pagans, Christians are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And in the end, all those other things will be taken care of. That promise lines up with the promise in the Beatitudes in which Jesus said the meek will inherit the earth. A Christian's goals are kingdom of heaven goals rather than earthly goals. In the process of reaching this conclusion, Jesus gives some helpful counsel related to related to worry that enables Christians to navigate through the trials of daily existence. Jesus provides at least three arguments against worry. Number one, worry is useless. He illustrates the uselessness of worry by pointing out that people cannot add a single hour to their lives through worry, nor can they add to their height, as some translations put it. And scholars debate over the exact way it means, but basically it's the same. Worry can't change things. Is your teenager out too late tonight? Well, worrying about it won't bring him home soon. They might get worried when they get home. But what if they were an accident? Well, worry doesn't stop the accident. Yeah, we're concerned about those that we love, but worry can't change what goes on. Secondly, life itself is based on trust in and dependence on God. After all, our lives and bodies are gifts of a loving creator. The God who created us is capable and willing to supply all our needs without us ever fretting over every detail. Those of you who've had children, ⁓ Are they running around naked today? I hope not. You made sure they had clothes on. And most likely, the nicest ones you could find were the best hand-me-downs. Did they go hungry? No. You might have worked three jobs to keep them from going hungry, but they didn't go hungry. They might have said they were hungry, but no. You can't have a snack right now. No, and God cares for us more than we care for our own kids. The birds and the plants, they don't worry. And people are far more valuable than they. So worries are useless, and life is built on trust in our heavenly Father. Third, to worry is pagan. And I've been a pagan a lot of my life, because I've spent a lot of time to worry. It's pagan, if not plain atheistic. To worry is to act like those who have no faith or trust. Worry is distrust in God. The worried Christian is a contradiction. And I've spent a lot of times contradicting. Citizens of the kingdom cannot be overcome by worry because they know and believe in a God who loves and cares about all their needs. Some have said that the command, fear not, is given more than any other command in the Bible. Some have even counted it and said it comes out to 365 times. That's once for every day of the year. I can't vouch for that, but I do know that God doesn't want his people to live in fear. With what is going on in the world, how can you not be afraid? Well, we were told this was gonna happen and that we are to keep our trust in God. I've seen a lot of fear lately. ⁓ this is going to happen and that's going to happen and ⁓ dear, will I get through? ⁓ I find myself envying my parents. Okay, they disappeared before the time of trouble. Okay, they're at rest. You know, will I make it? Will my kids make it? What will they face? We're told these things are gonna happen. And we're told that God's in charge. We have no need for fear. Where can God still find faith on this earth? How can we be afraid of the dark when we claim to be filled with the light? I'm not saying that we should not be concerned and ignore what's happening. I think it's a wake up call. I think it's an opportunity to say, I need to get busy and share the good news with somebody else. Faith does not mean that I intentionally stepped off a cliff expecting God to catch me. Even Jesus wouldn't throw himself off the high part of the temple to test God. We use common sense without fear. How nice it is not to have to worry about last day events or anything else. Paul, who faced more trials than we could ever imagine, said this in Philippians 4, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. What did we just have? He was talking about this holiday. With thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I pray that prayer more than any other I think. It ranks right up there with creating me a clean heart and renew a right understanding. May the peace of God that passes understanding fill me, because I need it. Sound nice? It is. Jesus not only provides us with arguments against worry in our daily life, but he also gives two ways to overcome it. First, we need to get our priorities straight. Seek first the kingdom of God. His righteousness. Too many of our worries stem from the fact that we are trying to live in two kingdoms at the same time, an impossible task. We are too often worried about the perishable when all the while, Jesus says that we are to be concerned, not to be, let's see, we are to be concerned about anything that should be our relationship with God. I don't need to be concerned about the next mechanics bill I have, the next whatever I have. the next diagnosis I get. It should be, what's my relationship with? How's that going? When we focus on one goal instead of two, we will be less burdened. Beyond that, in God's time and place, all these other things will be given to us as well. Second, Jesus tells us to live one day at a ⁓ Each day has enough trouble of its own. Notice, Jesus recognizes we have troubles. Yeah, we have enough troubles for today, don't worry about tomorrow's troubles, just deal with today, we'll get through this together. But these are not to cause us fear and worry. Why burden ourselves with tomorrow's supposed problems when we can do nothing about them today? Faith and trust involve a day by day, moment by moment relationship with God. Living for his kingdom is living in a constant connection with the God who cares for his children. God's answer to worry can be summed up as trust in our Father who art in With the Thanksgiving holiday in the past and the Christmas holiday approaching, I can tell you what I'm extremely thankful for. For Jesus who came and lived and died for me, not just for my salvation, but for bringing me closer to my heavenly Father who makes it possible for me to live now without words. I heard somebody say, oh, I can't wait to get to heaven and all my worries will be over. We can be in that part of the kingdom. I it sounds easy, and you know it's not. But it takes faith and trust. And Jesus says, in order for this to happen, I must become like a child. A child whose faith in his father is complete. It's funny how young people want to be adults, while adults wish they could be kids again. Kids think that adults have total freedom. You can go anywhere you want, do whatever you want, eat whatever you want, whenever you want. It's all up to you. I wish I could do that. And adults look at it with envy on their kids going, you have so. Why is that? It's because there's someone who takes care of things for them. Usually a parent who looks after all of their needs. Someone who buys the groceries and fixes the meals and provides the clothes that are out of style and pays the bills. A person who takes care of matters that the kid doesn't even know exists. What are you doing at your desk? This is called taxes. ⁓ what's that? You're taking care of stuff they don't even know about. Little kids tend to think that parents are all powerful. Have ever heard a little boy say, my dad's stronger than your dad? I probably said that. I was probably right, my dad moved pianos. But as little boys, we can't imagine anything defeating our dad. Until we get older and realize that our dads are mere humans. And that I can now arm wrestle him and win. But no matter what your earthly father is like, we have a heavenly father that we can always rely on. If we could just remember that. So, I'm announcing the beginning of a new collection. Yeah, you don't have anything to worry about Lance. My wife's rolling her eyes going, where are we gonna put it? No, it will not add to the clutter of my home or my office. It is a collection that I've started many times and failed because I forgot about it. So I want you to start this collection with me. That way when I forget, you can remind me and when you forget, I can remind you. We are told that we have nothing to fear for the future lest we forget the way the Lord has led in the. Let's start a collection of memories. They only take up space here. Memories of how a loving father has led us through the ordeals that we have faced in the Memories that encourage faith in our Heavenly Father to lead us through the future. A Father who is permanent fortress of strength and unfailing love. A Father who makes me feel like a trusting kid again. Do you want to be a kid again? There's only one way that this is possible. Remember that you are a child of your heavenly father. He has this. He's got your back. He's got your front. He's got both sides, your top and the but soles of your feet. He's got you. He can do anything that needs doing if you will let him. My dad is stronger than your dad. Well, that is, unless you and I are brothers and sisters, and your dad's the same dad I Father who is in heaven. Dear Fawzi. Re-negotiate in us clean hearts, renew right spirits, and give us that precious peace that passes understanding because you are so big, so mighty, and so loving. What have we to fear? Amen.