Do Not Worry (Matthew 6:31-33)

And we'll read our text today.

We'll be in Matthew chapter 6, and we're actually just doing verses 31 through 33.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Therefore, do not worry saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

For after these things the Gentiles seek.

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things will be added to you.

Father God, we thank you for this morning.

We thank you for the fellowship of believers together.

You've called us not to live on an island upon ourselves, but you've called us to live in community to be brothers and sisters in Christ and in the joining of us together in Christ.

We can be from different churches.

We can even have some theologically different ideas.

But believing in the sinless life, the death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ puts us in the same family.

We're all brothers and sisters, and then we can be together and do this time together, and not just now, but out in the world, um, and just being believers is a community and it's an amazing thing.

And we thank you for that.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here.

Thank you for this privilege to open your word and teach it.

It is a serious thing, saying, Thus saith the Lord.

So bless our time.

Lord, I pray that we would leave here changed, that every time we encounter the word of God, we're different.

And Lord, I pray that everybody here wouldn't hear my words.

Lord, not that I'm speaking necessarily for you in that sense, but I want them to hear your truth from your scriptures.

I want them to hear your words.

I don't want them to think about the pithy sayings and the funny stories or even my squeaky voice.

I want them to think about the God of creation who gave us his word and didn't leave us to our own vices, but has given us his word to guide us, to instruct us, to teach us, and to lead us in righteousness, to lead us in holiness, to lead us in joy, to bring glory to his name.

So, Father God, we thank you and we praise you.

And we ask his things in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So our main idea today is this concept of not worrying.

God does not want us to worry, but instead to seek his kingdom and his righteousness.

And we're going to accomplish this in three ways today.

To shun worry, to shun worldly thinking, and to seek godly thinking and living.

So shun worrying, shun worldly thinking, I mean, yeah, shun worldly thinking, seek godly thinking and uh living.

Do you worry?

Yeah.

Yeah, of course.

Um do you think of the future and worry?

Do you worry about your job or future job?

Do you worry about family, marriage, children, our nation, elected officials?

Worry about the church, the lost end times.

Do you worry about food, drink, and clothing, and health?

There are health.

There are lots of studies about worry.

Some say on average, about 20% of Americans suffer with anxiety or worry.

We're going to use those words intermingled.

I know they're not exactly the same, but this idea of anxiety or worry, 20%.

And I feel that number is a bit low.

With current events, our fallen world, news, social media, it seems to me that propagating worry is a business and business is good.

We are not unique.

We are not the first generation to worry.

Some 2,000 years ago, Jesus specifically tackles this subject of worry.

And Jesus has instruction for us when it comes to worry.

And so our first point is to shun worry.

I sometimes love that the Bible just gives us a simple command.

If we look at the beginning of verse 31 of Matthew, it says, therefore do not worry.

Jesus is saying in very simple terms, stop it.

Don't do it.

Quit it.

I mean, sometimes in life we need someone to say, stop it.

We need to exercise some self-control and stop.

I'm definitely going to give you some practical tips to shun worry.

But first and foremost, if possible, just stop.

I can be kind of high energy.

And with that, I can be a bit much for my wife at times.

So sometimes in great love and great mercy, she will say, stop it.

And you know what?

I miraculously stop.

I don't need a reason.

I don't need four steps on how to stop doing something that irritates others and makes you feel better.

I just need to stop.

It can be that simple.

But maybe you need more.

I need more sometimes.

Well, there are two ways I think that scripture tells us on how we can stop worrying, and it's backed by scripture.

And again, we have nine pages, so those are not exhaustive.

There are probably countless ways, but there are two ways that I found that scripture backs up that help me when it comes to stop worrying.

They are practice thankfulness and practice prayer.

You guys know the concept of repentance is not that we just stop sinning, but that we turn from sin and we turn to Christ.

We're doing a one-eating.

We're turning from one to the another.

When that same thought process, in turning from worry, we can turn to thankfulness.

I'm sure you guys all know Philippians 4, verses 6 through 7.

Philippians 4:6–7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving.

Let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I'm not going to pretend to know your lives, to know your upbringing, to know your socioeconomic status, to know your health, but I know we live in America.

We have freedoms and opportunities that many others do not have.

You have areas in your life that you can and should be thankful for.

So instead of worrying about what you don't have, be thankful what you do have.

And you know what?

That can be as simple as knowing you're a child of the living God.

It's a pretty big deal.

If you've accepted the gift of salvation through the sinless life of Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection.

That's something to be thankful for every day.

Be thankful for creation, for family, for jobs, for friends, for hobbies, for opportunities, for open doors and even closed doors.

Don't just be thankful for blessings, but be thankful for trials, which in reality are blessings as well.

Trials grow us, they challenge us, they make us better.

I know trials are not fun.

I don't like them, but I know they're good for growth.

And for that we need to be thankful.

It's okay to ask God to deliver us from our trials, but it's good in them to thank God for them.

There's the old cliche if God brings you to it, he will bring you through it.

So in everything, be thankful.

The very first sermon I ever gave was uh at First Baptist Church here in Atascadero.

This was in the late 90s, which is now Echo, I believe, or by the high school.

And uh I don't even remember the text, but I remember um talking about evangelism.

I remember talking about how to attract people to Christ.

And and my kids were little at the time.

Uh I think I only had actually we only had one at the time, and they liked winning the poo.

So I had Tigger is my favorite, obviously.

And uh and Eeyore is my least favorite, and I put a Tigger and I put it in Eeyore, and I said, we want to be Tiggers, we want to be Eeyore's, and how are we gonna attract people to Christ?

Like and I'll be honest with you.

Tigger was thankful, Tigger was joyful.

Eeyore wasn't so much.

If it didn't rain, the wind was gonna blow.

Be a thankful person.

Don't focus on the negative things, don't focus on the things that aren't happening or aren't working right.

Focus on the positive things.

Um and and honestly, you guys, I don't I don't want to, I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but when I'm around people who are not thankful, it's draining.

It's it's so, and and that's not a good way for us to share Christ or make Christmas.

I mean, hey, how are you?

I'm a Christian.

Okay, this who wants to be on that team?

Who wants to be in that club?

Be thankful.

Be thankful.

Look for little things, be thankful.

Look again at Philippians 4.

Paul says, don't be anxious about anything but in prayer with supplication and thanksgiving.

I want us to notice the the second thing here that Paul says, and it's to pray.

So uh uh uh you know, pray and be thankful, okay?

Turn from our worry and we turn to prayer.

Can I encourage you all to have a vibrant prayer life?

Please.

Spend time in prayer.

Make it a habit to pray for others and be willing to ask others to pray for you.

If reading your Bible is the bread of your spiritual life, then prayer is your water.

You can live about three weeks without food.

You can only live about three days without water.

Water is pretty important, and so is prayer.

So if we're gonna practice thankfulness and we're gonna practice prayer, start making prayer a habit.

It's a practice like drinking water.

Set aside time and pray.

You guys, Nehemiah is such a great book.

And I love the beginning of Nehemiah, actually in chapter two.

Um, chapter two, verses two through four.

Uh Nehemiah Sakhi says, Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad?

Now Nehemiah was the cupbearer for the king.

He was giving him stuff.

Now, he was an exile from Israel, he was uh a long way away, and he heard news in Nehemiah 1 about uh Israel and what was happening over there.

And so now he's standing before the king, and he's he's the cupbearer, and the king asked him, Why is your face sad?

There's nothing but sorrow of heart.

So Nehemiah became dreadfully afraid, and he said to the king, May the king live forever.

Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste?

And its gates are burned with fire.

Then the king said to me, What do you request?

So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Notice Nehemiah offers up a quick prayer, probably in his own mind, and then makes the request of the king.

You guys, uh, you're some of you are probably old enough to remember then when when prayer was taken out of school and stuff like that, right?

You know, they said, If if prayer will never leave the schools, because whenever there's tests, there will always be prayer in school, right?

You know, like people are gonna pray before they take tests.

Uh, and they don't do it out loud, obviously, they do it in their mind.

But it's that same thing.

Nehemiah makes this quick request in his mind.

And sometimes prayer can be that simple and that quick.

Something like, God help me now.

But let me say this about Nehemiah, and this is this is one thing uh that it he didn't just pray to pray at spontaneity, he was prepared to pray.

He knew how to pray.

Nehemiah was a man of prayer.

If you go back to Nehemiah 1, verses 3 and 5, Nehemiah is getting word from others about what Israel looks like.

Nehemiah 1:3

And he goes on to say, He said, They said to me, The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, its gates are burned with fire.

And so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and I mourned for many days.

I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

And I said, I pray, Lord God of heaven, and Nehemiah goes on to pray.

I want you to notice that Nehemiah was a man of prayer.

This prayer in chapter 2 was a result of his prayers in chapter 1 and probably his prayers in his life.

He was a man prepared to pray.

Jesus often went and prayed.

The disciples prayed.

At the beginning of Matthew 6, Jesus says, And when you pray, this is a command and a prophecy that disciples will pray.

We should pray, and we will pray.

Again, this is our spiritual water in one sense.

If you don't pray, you'll be dry and barren.

I love to pray.

I do it a lot.

I think I told you guys last time I have a 40-minute commute to work, and I always pray on my way to work the whole way.

I don't turn my radio on, I don't listen to anything, I just pray.

I go by certain landmarks or something like that, and I'll note something there, and I'll spark something, and I'll pray for them.

And I I have a little uh um, I don't know, a cross-tick kind of thing uh that I pray through, and I kind of it's like faith, family, friends, fitness, uh, finances.

So that's kind of helps me keep it simple and stuff like that, you know what I mean?

And I'll pray and I don't get through it all on my way to work, but I pray and I do that all the time.

If I've had a bad day at work, I pray on the way home too.

So normally I listen to the rain on the way home, but if it's bad, I pray on my way home.

I love to ride my bike.

I'm a big bike guy, and I love to ride in the country and just go out there and enjoy creation.

That's a good way to be thankful.

Go enjoy creation, you know, see a hawk, see something cool, you know what I mean, or something like that.

See some roadkill and try and figure out what it is.

It's fun and be thankful.

But um, but I pray when I'm riding.

I pray when I'm riding.

I love to.

I hate I I have a but like nowadays in the cycling world, our computers on the bike talks to our phones.

I have all that stuff turned off.

I just want to focus on my bike ride and focus on creation and enjoying being out there.

But pray.

Pray when you before you get out of bed.

I make it a habit before my feet hit the ground.

I pray.

I actually say, This is the day the Lord has made, let's rejoice and be glad in it before I hit my feet on the ground, and I pray.

Just simple pray for the day.

If my wife's awake before I leave for work, I I pray for her.

Um, I might pray for you.

You might tell me something, I might pray for you.

Um, prayer requires discipline, requires yourself to be a person of prayer, make it a goal to pray.

Like I said, before you get out of bed, maybe take five minutes a day and schedule it to pray.

Ten minutes a day and schedule, write it on your calendar.

Write it down.

I'm going to pray.

I'm going to do this.

And make it a habit.

And you'll get and you'll get like Nehemiah, you'll get so better, good at it.

If someone asks you to pray, do it right then.

No matter what, do it right then.

I have these friends that are missionaries and I love them to death and they're awesome people.

And I got to serve with them for a few years, and they were leaving to go in the mission field, they were super busy and had lots of family around here, and I ran into a target, and they were late, they were like, hey, how you guys do, blah, blah, blah.

And like, we're leaving tomorrow.

I'm like, what?

Tomorrow?

Like, I thought you guys had more time.

Like, no, we're leaving tomorrow.

And I literally just prayed for them in their target, like in the pharmacy lane, right?

And I didn't think twice about it because I do that.

That's normal for me.

I do it.

Um, after 9-11, my friend Mitch, uh, some of you guys might know Mitch Jansen, he's the head of Youth for Christ.

Mitch and I made this pact that we would start praying for people just like on the street.

And that's kind of not my vibe, to be honest with you.

So I wasn't as good as Mitch was, but my friends would would say something, I'd be like, let me pray for you, and I'll pray for you right now.

So I kind of got in a habit of it.

So I prayed for my friends, they were going, and I didn't even think twice about it until they've been the mission field for 20 years now.

They came home like a couple years ago and we got to hang out, and they're like, we still remember that.

And I'm I didn't even remember it, but I still remember you prayed for us right in the middle of Target, stuff like that.

And hey, it's an opportunity too.

You might be able to share the gospel to somebody afterwards.

You would pray for them, and somebody was like, What are you guys doing?

and stuff like that, you know.

And I'm not, I'm not super like go out and do that kind of stuff, but if somebody asked me, well, I'm gonna tell them, okay, because they asked, so they did it.

But make it a habit to be a person of prayer.

Ask people to pray for you.

Just like Nehemiah was prepared to pray before the king, because he cultivated practice of prayer.

If you want to worry less, pray.

I love our Philippian verse because it says prayer.

If you get it says, with prayer supplication, with thanksgiving, that request being given to God.

And then it goes on to say, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

There's a result of our thankfulness and our prayer, and it's peace.

You don't want to worry, you don't want to stress, then you need peace.

So practice thankfulness.

Practice prayer.

Go back to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Therefore, do not worry.

What shall we eat?

What shall we drink?

What shall we wear?

For after these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

So our first point was to shun worry, and we do that through practicing prayer and practicing thankfulness.

And now our second point is to shun worldly thinking.

Again, we're told not to worry, do not be anxious.

But what are we not to be anxious for?

Well, our text says quite simply the things the Gentiles seek after.

Worldly thinking.

What are those things?

Well, our text specifically says food, drink, and clothing.

I'm not going to spiritualize and say that the food means this, the drink means this, the health means this.

I think they mean what they mean.

However, I will venture to say that these are but examples of a worldly way of thinking, of focusing on earthly things, not heavenly, and that food, beverage, and clothing are only examples of a mindset on the things of earth, not on the things of God.

Colossians 3 says, set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth.

Gentiles' minds are focused on the things of this world, while the Christians should not have their minds focused, while the Christians should have their minds focused on heavenly things.

And Jesus is telling us to not think like they think.

Do not seek what they seek.

Quite the opposite, actually, but to seek his kingdom and his righteousness instead of and doing, and so we'll not worry.

So what does the world think about?

Well, let's look at some of the things they give us here.

Food.

And I think if we just focus on America, I would say we think a lot about food.

Several studies have reported that roughly 70% of Americans are overweight.

I'm not a math expert.

I I you know 70% of Americans is a lot.

I think we think a lot about food.

And this isn't a message about being overweight or underweight.

It's not that.

It's about not thinking like the world.

And apparently, at least in our world, people think a lot about food.

I I watch some of those shows where they make the little food and they're sorry.

And you can't, it's fine.

I'm okay if you like it.

It's fine.

But and they like they like just shake it on there.

It's not, you're not Van Gogh, it's food.

You're gonna consume it.

You're not gonna hang it.

I don't I don't get it.

I don't get it.

But but and again, if you love it, that's fine.

I I I it's okay.

We can enjoy food and we should.

It's a gift, but it shouldn't be a priority.

I mean, there's TV shows, there's the food network.

I'm not against the consumption of food, but I feel the world we worry a lot about food.

And the world is telling us to worry and consume a lot.

And maybe instead of consuming too much, we should be contributing.

In some geographic areas, people rightly worry about food.

Third world countries, areas of conflict where food is scarce, natural disasters that put a strain on food supplies.

I mean, it seems there are places that people who legitimately worry about food, yet Jesus tells us not to worry, not to think like the world.

God knows what we need, when we need, and how much we need.

Matthew goes on to say, For your heavenly father knows that you need all these things.

I may want a double-double, but God may say, you need a can of tuna, and that'll suffice.

I want pepperina pizza, and God may say, you get mac and cheese, because it's cheap.

I may want a brownie, and God may say, no.

You're getting where I'm going.

Just because we want it doesn't mean we need it.

And God is good to us.

And listen to this.

And sometimes, many times, we don't get what we want.

And that's good.

This is the point of this again, is not to think like the world.

We don't need all that the world has to offer.

We only need what God provides.

You want to know good exercise when it comes to focusing on God and it directly relates to food?

Fasting.

Now I know we can fast in other ways, but biblically fasting was generally speaking of not eating.

And you know what normally goes along with fasting?

Prayer.

Yeah, yeah.

And it wasn't prayer to not be hungry.

It wasn't prayer for food.

You could, I get it, but that wasn't the point.

The point was to focus on prayer.

Again, back in Nehemiah chapter 1, so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned many days.

Nehemiah 1 · chapter mention

I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Matthew 17, Jesus said, however, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

The whole point of this is this idea of prayer and not thinking like the world.

And I get that you can't, nobody, not everybody can fast.

I get some people have health issues and things like that, stuff like that.

That's fine.

I mean, you can't fast from other things.

But if we don't want to think like the world, sometimes we need to focus on something like prayer and not other stuff.

My younger son, uh, he was a pretty big gamer when he was a kid, and uh he would literally forget to eat, drink, or even blink.

I mean, literally, he would just play and play and play.

And I know video games are bad, but he's in the Air Force and he's kind of awesome in the Air Force, and I think video games prepared him for that, so I'm just saying, okay.

But uh but I would go watch him play, sit there and watch him play, it was great.

But he would just be so focused on the game.

Well, I think if we could just be so focused on prayer, and maybe we would be like that.

We wouldn't be thinking about food, we wouldn't be thinking about other things, we'd be so So intently focused on prayer and what it meant.

Let me say this very careful about getting sucked into the worldly thinking of confusing needs and wants and consuming instead of contributing.

Social media will lie to you and tell you that you need certain things that are absolutely unnecessary.

Our text goes on to say, so we're focused on food there, so don't worry about food.

Drink.

Drink's kind of similar, I think, to food.

You know, I mean, there can be differences with adult drinks and stuff like that.

We have to be very careful here.

Proverbs 23 says, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe the man with rags again.

Here we have drunkenness and gluttony, which is food, right?

To sin.

Galatians 19 or 5.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.

And it goes on to say, again, we're to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness, not the world.

Ephesians 5.18 says, and do not be drunk with wine, and which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, I love how this passage points us to seeking his kingdom and his righteousness.

And again, I love how it encourages us to be thankful.

Don't think like the world when it comes to drink.

Yes, we need water, but really we don't need everything else.

Again, there's this idea of consuming versus contributing.

The world says drink and then drink more and more.

I don't personally drink, it's just my thing, not a thing.

I want to say that, you know, it's your choice.

In the Bible, we have, you know, there's I I stand in one camp and you don't have to on this other camp, but Jesus' first miracle was he made water into wine.

The disciples probably consumed wine at the Last Supper.

Paul told Timothy to have wine because it was good for his stomach.

So I'm not opposed to it.

My wife uh has wine.

We live in the Central Coast, of course, that's a thing.

Uh but interestingly enough, and again, I'm not putting my thing on you, don't put your thing on me.

It's fine.

In the Bible, I see both arguments and stuff like that.

Obviously, drunkenness is a sin.

But my wife doesn't get wine when you go out to eat because we live in this area, and she sees the price of a glass of wine, and she's like, I could buy the whole bottle.

So I'll have it at home later, okay?

And I just say that because that's one of those things when it comes to this worry, you know, like the world says, have this, have this, have this.

But again, then we're consuming and not contributing, and then we'll be broke because we'll spend all our money on liquor and stuff like that.

So be careful.

And again, one last little thing.

If you're under 21, Romans 13 says to obey the law of the land, so you shouldn't drink or anything like that.

So I want to get into that.

But again, there's this idea that the world says, drink, drink, drink, drink, consume, consume, consume, consume.

And really, I think we should be being honoring to God and be contributing as well.

And finally, Paul, uh uh, I mean, Matthew, I mean, Jesus through Matthew talks about clothing.

Uh, this is what's kind of fun.

Um, don't think like the world when it comes to clothing.

Let's talk about modesty.

1 Timothy 2 9.

In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.

Both men and women, the world tells you to be immodest.

The world says show more than you should.

And this goes for guys and gals.

We used to own a boat, and we spent a lot of time in the lake, and I saw many men who should have had a shirt on at the lake.

Um it's I got I want to aim in on that one there.

I feel like it's gotten to be ridiculous when it comes to what we should what people say or what the world says we should wear.

My wife and I are big football people.

We love the NFL.

Well, we don't want the NFL, we love football.

But there are these programs that they've been doing about quarterbacks and things like that on Netflix, and we watched one recently.

And some of the NFL players on what they wear and their wives wear, oh my, it is just ludicrous, um, comical.

There was one where one of the players was in a fashion show, and there's a connection there somehow, I don't get it.

But he went, he was wearing a suit that had no back on it.

Not not the bottom part, thank goodness, just the top part, you know what I mean?

Just the top part, had no back.

And they thought it was cool, and I'm like, uh, I don't, I don't get it, you know what I mean?

It's kind of funny.

Uh most of the the, and I'm sorry to say, but a lot of the the the wives and short shorts and low tops, all the ladies had makeup that like, if they cried, it would have been hazmat area kind of thing.

Hazmat, kind of like bad.

I mean, I don't know, and and I'm not promoting this, but if any of you saw the Hunger Games, District 1 was the main where all the rich people live.

Do you remember how they dressed?

It was ridiculous.

And now I watch that movie and I look down and I'm like, we're not that far off.

We're not.

Uh it's again, it's sad because worldly thinking is to consume, to dress like the world, to think we need things we don't, or that we need more of it.

I hate to go on about this and stuff like this.

When I see and hear how much money is spent on these things, it just sickens me.

Okay, I I'm I'm for capitalism, but I think we need to be good stewards.

We need not worry so much about what we wear.

I think something we need to talk about here, and I kind of hit it on a couple times, it really comes as important when it comes to food and clothing, is this idea of stewardship or contributing.

The world is saying consume all the food, all the drink, and buy all the clothes.

Whereas we should say, I have what I need, how can I contribute?

It's okay to go out for a nice meal, maybe enjoy a nice cocktail, even have a nice dress or a good suit for a man.

But this needs to be done in moderation because we are called to be good stewards.

We are called to be contributors.

Food, fashion, and drink can ruin you financially if you follow the world's way of thinking, and trust me, that will cause worry.

If you pay attention to social media and TV shows on what you should eat or drink or where and let that influence you, then you're thinking like the world, and the world just might consume you.

Worldly thinking wants you to focus on anything but God.

Worldly thinking wants you to pursue excessive things, even to the point of debt or debt when it comes to food and drink.

We have to shun this kind of thinking.

We be good stewards of what God has given us, and just because you have more doesn't mean you get to spend on extravagant clothing, food, or drink.

Maybe God has given you more so you can give more.

I'm not a socialist, I'm not saying you have to share everything, but I'm saying we're called to be good stewards.

And part of that stewardship is helping others in need.

Like fasting when it comes to changing our focus on food.

Maybe when we have excess, we should consider giving to others so they might have food, clothing, or drink.

We have to think differently than the world.

And that might mean instead of consuming, we're contributing.

And this helps us to not worry.

So we look to shun worry.

We've looked at shun worldly thinking.

Now let's look at our final point: seek his kingdom and seek godly living.

Matthew 6 goes on to say, but seek first the kingdom of God in verse 33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

How is it that we seek his kingdom?

Well, I think before we can seek anything, we need to know what we are to seek.

Who's read Pilgrim's Progress?

I'm always going to probably have a Pilgrim's Progress something.

I love that book.

So I read it, I probably don't read every year, but probably every couple of years I read it.

And I do read the more modern version.

I don't read the here, too, therefore of that one.

I don't, I can't I don't do that one, but it's a pretty simple story.

It's an allegory written by John Bunyan.

It's a simple story, which I meant Christian.

It's plagued with fear and worry that the place he lives in, the city of destruction, his worry is rightfully placed if you live in the city of destruction, clearly, that this city is going to be destroyed.

He doesn't know what to do.

Providentially he meets a man named Evangelist who tells him to go to the celestial city, gives him a book or scroll, presumably the Bible.

And you see, Christian was a strop, and he had no idea why.

He lived in a worldly place doing worldly things, and most people there didn't think twice about it.

But Christian was touched in a way where he recognized, or better yet, sought something different.

Something better.

There's a work of God in the world where people are not satisfied with the way or the trappings of this world.

They seek something better.

Or more importantly, they, like Christian, recognize they've sinned and missed the mark.

They don't measure up, for they are sinners.

Romans 623, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In repentance, they turn from their sin, from their worldly thinking, from the world, and turn to Jesus and start heading that direction.

Like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, he head towards the celestial city.

Real quick question.

When Christian doesn't follow the advice of the people leading the way, and he follows the worldly advice, what happens to him?

It goes really bad.

It goes really bad every time.

And then he realizes, and then he likes when he climbs over a wall, like this is easier.

When things go bad, he goes off the path, right?

Then he comes back, I should have stayed here, right?

Just keeps keeps going back.

He realizes that.

Let me implore you now to know what you're seeking, and that is Jesus.

His forgiveness, his peace, his eternity.

Turn from your sin, yourself, and turn to him.

Let me say this when when when when when uh Jesus is saying, but seek first the kingdom of God.

This this seeking here is a present tense continual seeking.

This isn't, yes, when we come to Christ in one sense, we are found and we stop seeking.

It's don't stop seeking.

Continue seeking.

It's like my love for my wife.

I don't just love her at a time of marriage.

I continue to love her and love her and love her.

We continue to seek Jesus.

So how do we seek Jesus?

How do we keep seeking him?

Well, I think first and foremost, we need to trust him.

And we need to put our faith in Jesus for our salvation at the beginning of our faith journey.

Faith is just trust.

And it seems appropriate that we need to continue to trust Jesus as we continue to seek his kingdom.

Continue trusting.

Proverbs 3.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

And all your ways acknowledge him, and he'll make your paths straight.

They're straight your path.

God is going to ask you to go counter culture, to live differently than the world, to think differently than the world.

And it may seem weird and it may seem counterintuitive to the worldly thinking.

But we're called to trust in the Lord.

And it may mean just throwing up your arms and saying, okay, I'll do this because you said so.

Think about the disciples when feeding the 5,000.

They had five loaves and two fish.

He said, feed them.

This is all we got.

And he blessed it.

And they went.

And they kept coming back, and there was more and there was more.

They had 12 bundles left over, right?

Think about poor Joshua at Jericho.

You want me to do what?

Walk around the walls?

Shout?

That doesn't seem like the right way to go to battle.

But it was what God said.

And he did it.

We have to trust him.

And that may mean that instead of seeking the world, we're seeking him.

And that may mean when he says, hey, go to the mission field.

Go.

Go back to school.

Go.

Quit this ungodly job you're in, and I'll provide for you.

Do it.

Don't take that or do this or do that.

We seem like I have to.

Maybe you don't.

Maybe you don't need to do that.

We have to trust him.

So I think the first way we seek him is by just putting our trust in him, continuing to trust him.

And let me warn you.

When you begin to trust the Lord and he begins, things start to happen, he's going to ask you to trust him more.

Sorry.

So just warning.

Yeah, it could get a little more hairy as it goes, okay?

But that's okay.

Because he's with you.

He knows what you need, he'll provide for you.

So first and foremost, we trust him.

Secondly, we need to continue to seek him through his word.

We should always be seeking God through his word.

God speaks to us through his word and we should listen.

Imagine a relationship where one of the parties doesn't speak to the other one.

I'm not meaning they're mute.

I don't mean that there's some weird thing.

I mean they don't share their feelings, their desires, their dreams, their goals.

That would be weird, right?

You would never know what they were thinking, literally.

God hasn't left us that way.

God speaks to us.

If you look at Ephesians, you can see this is a long passage, I'm sorry.

But I want to get the whole thing because it's so important to see how God speaks to us and he shares with us on how we should live.

And this is that seeking the Lord, seeking godly wisdom and godly living.

Ephesians 4, 11 through 14.

And God Himself gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

God talks to us through his word.

He has not left us to our own decisions, our own ideas.

The world is every wind of doctrine, trickery of men, cunning, craftiness, deceitful plotting.

God says, look, I've given you apostles and these evangelists and these teachers, pastors to equip you through the word.

It's through the word.

Think about the book of Judges.

And Israel is kind of kind of going on their way and doing things.

And think about the phrase that goes on and on throughout the book of Judges.

And everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

It did not go well for them.

And if you read Judges, it gets worse and worse and worse.

God didn't leave us to our own vices.

If we want to seek godly wisdom and godly living, we have to seek his word.

We have to.

If we seek his word, we won't have to ask the question, what would Jesus do?

We know what he did in his word.

If you want to seek the kingdom of God in his righteousness, you have to read the word of God continually.

You've got to read it.

Just like prayer.

You've got to.

Again, I want to encourage you to pray daily, to read the word of God daily.

Do something daily, a devotional.

Read scripture.

Do so.

I think I told you guys last time.

I read the Bible cover to cover every year.

And I just take a new Bible, whatever Bible I have, I like to read different ones.

I'm reading a New King James Version that's chronological this year.

It's kind of fun.

And I just take the number of pages and divide it by 365.

That's how many pages I read a day.

You know what I mean?

It's that simple.

And it's good.

And I'm not, I'm not, I'm just saying there's ways to do it.

And it doesn't have to be that much.

Read something, you know, Spurgeon, morning and evening.

Amazing.

Get that devotional and read it.

Read something.

Get into the Word of God and pray.

And let me say this godly wisdom and godly living comes from the Word of God.

So we have to do that.

The world tells you, the world tells you, follow your heart.

The heart wants what the heart wants.

Be true to your heart.

The world obviously doesn't know Jeremiah 17, 9.

For heart is deceively wicked.

Who can understand it?

The heart is deceively wicked.

Many a marriage, many a bank account, many a life has been ruined with the idea of following the heart.

It kills me, you guys.

Because I hear Christians, the heart wants what the heart wants.

And I'm like, are you serious?

No, it's bad.

Bad.

Follow the word of God.

Follow the truth.

When Jesus was tempted at the beginning of his ministry in Matthew 4, when the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

But Jesus answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

You want to seek God the wisdom?

Listen to God speaking to you through his word.

And another way we continue to seek God is through prayer.

And again, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.

We covered it.

But again, it's that two-way relationship, right?

So you want to stop worrying, you want to stop having anxiety, we need to pray, you want to seek God, we need to pray.

And it's the same thing, right?

God speaks to us through his word and we speak to him through prayer.

And he wants that relationship.

He wants us to do that, okay?

He wants to hear us.

You know, in Philippians, I didn't cover this.

I just talked about prayer and thankfulness, but it also says supplication.

With prayer, supplication, and thankfulness, let your request be made known to God.

God wants to hear what we need, what we want.

It's okay.

It's okay to say that.

It's okay to say, I wish my air conditioning worked in July and Paso.

That's okay.

It's okay to say, my family's grown, I need a bigger house.

It's okay to say the angel lights on my car.

Help me.

That's okay.

He wants to hear that from us, okay?

When I became a Christian, you guys, in my my my humility, which is disguised as pride, I say, God, I have all that I need.

Help that guy, help that person, help that person.

And it was just pride.

It was me making myself feel better about not wanting what other people needed.

But the reality was I got to know scripture and know God more.

He can do anything.

And I had to pray about it.

Now again, I need to not be selfish or greedy or anything like that.

But I can pray.

I can pray, God, help me.

God provide for me.

You know what?

You know what?

Hey, I would like this.

You know, it would be nice to have this.

God, I bet you will provide it.

If not, and I'm not gonna go into debt to get it.

I'm not gonna rob the church to get it by not tithing.

I'm not gonna, you know, consume, consume, consume because I have so much stuff.

But God is okay with us having some nice things, and it's okay to pray for that.

So pray for that.

Pray to God, ask God for things.

Because I had the sad misfortune.

Well, I mean, it was just it's life, but uh, I lost both my parents within six months back in 2022 and 23.

And uh, and by the grace of God and by by how wonderful they were, they were wonderful parents and and they were awesome people, but they provided for my wife and I and their death and uh with a home and with with just took really good care of us, but but we we had to get rid of some of their stuff.

And my parents uh were were children, uh they were boomers, uh not like boomers like you kids think, like us today.

They were actual really boomers, okay?

And uh I'm Gen X, okay?

I can work a cell phone, all right?

But uh but they were depression age, so their parents were depression people, World War II people, and they didn't have anything when they were kids.

Uh both of my parents, they were they were from Arkansas and Oklahoma, and came to California, and they really had very little.

And so my parents went the other way, unfortunately.

My mom and dad both had good jobs, they made lots of money.

We had a estate sale where we made like$7,000 off of their junk.

I mean, literally, there was stuff.

And again, I love them, God bless them.

But we were walking through some of their stuff, we're like, Dad, why did you need eight pairs of brand new Wranglers?

You never left the house, you know, I mean things like that.

So again, again.

It's okay to pray for things.

Don't go crazy, okay?

You have what you need, God provides for you, takes care of you.

Again, prayer, two-way street.

God wants to hear from you.

Pray to him, talk to him, discipline yourself to prayer.

And finally, you guys, that this idea of continuing to seek his kingdom.

I think that we would use uh Christian community.

Again, this lot, this list isn't exhaustive.

I mean, there's so many things.

I just think about some of these things that have helped me grow in faith.

And I liked how you guys talked about your Bible studies and your home groups.

This idea of Christian community.

We need to seek his Christian community.

There's a good finishing point.

God's kingdom will be a community of believers in heaven as it should be here on earth.

And you have put your faith in Jesus, sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection are part of that community.

Be involved in the community somehow, some way.

Proverbs 27, as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

We are better together.

We are not called to a monastic life, but we're called to live in community with one another.

One reason for that call to the community is that we have different gifts.

And those gifts are complimentary to others, but differing gifts.

I love that you guys have invited me to speak here again because I get to be a part of this community, even though we're part of the bigger community.

But I have the church I go to now, and I get to be a part of this one too.

And I get to meet people on the street and talk to my boss, who's a believer, doesn't go to the same church, and we still get to be in communion together.

We're supposed to be in communion together.

And God calls us community because again, we have differing gifts that are complementary to those with different gifts.

Again, my wife and I are football fans, and a football team is a community of like-minded individuals with different gifts but one goal.

Some throw the ball, some catch the ball, some run with the ball, some kick the ball, some protect those with the ball, and there are some who take the ball away.

Without the different gifts, the football team would be very one dimensional.

They'd be very good at one thing but bad at everything else.

It's the same thing with the church.

We need each other to fulfill the call of ministry.

Romans 12 is just one passage that talks about these different gifts, whereas we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function.

So we being many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith.

Or ministry, let us use it in our ministry.

He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, and he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

We are to seek his kingdom through trust, through his word, through prayer, and through communion.

Again, it's not exhaustive, but this idea of seeking the kingdom of God, seeking him, and we won't have worry.

And it finally talks about this idea of righteous living, seeking his kingdom and seeking his righteousness.

This is pointing partly, mostly to Jesus Christ's justification, right?

That we're saved and we're saved.

We have the right standing before God because Jesus has justified us.

And that's kind of what we're really talking about here.

But because of that, because of our righteousness in Christ, we have a responsibility, a responsibility to live a godly life.

We're still sinners.

We're going to make bad decisions at times, but we need to be seeking to make godly decisions.

You guys know the old cliche, you'll never be sinless, but you can sin less.

Saving Private Ryan is one of my favorite movies.

I love that movie.

And if you don't know the okay, it's like 25 years old too, so I'm gonna spoil it.

And too bad, okay?

Sorry, but uh it's it's it's D-Day.

Uh actually, I think we just celebrated actually the invasion just a few weeks ago.

But anyway, it's D-Day, it's the invasion of Europe.

Uh, and uh um one of the soldiers, Private James Ryan, uh, is is he airborne, so he's one of the airborne guys, comes in, and uh he has uh three brothers, and um word comes back to to the headquarters or whatever that three of his brothers were were killed.

So he's the only one left.

Uh it's kind of like Audi Murphy, I think, is that the actual kind of based on that idea.

Uh, it's another kind of real thing that happened, I believe it's what's his name.

Anyway, so the commanders decide, hey, this this mother has lost three sons.

She has one that's still alive that we know of.

We need to go get him and take him home.

He needs to be with his mom.

So we're gonna go get him.

So they send a group of really the Rangers, which is like one of the first time they really had battle, uh, you know, that this group came together, which we know of now, it's kind of at the sharp end of the sphere, but these were the first guys there in or two.

And these guys go to find Private Ryan uh and get him home.

That doesn't go well for the for the soldiers, but they find him uh and they and they're able to get him home.

Uh but at the end of the movie, uh there's a scene where you have an aged private Ryan.

And presumably he's in Arlington, it looks like he's at Arlington Cemetery, and he's at the grave of the captain who was one of the leaders that helped save his life.

And he falls down, and his family comes up to what's going on.

And I get a little emotional saying this guy, so excuse me for a minute.

But uh, and he asks his wife, Have I lived a good life?

Have I lived a good life?

And he's older, of course.

Many men died so he could live.

And that's not just one story.

This this happens all over.

Not that he could just live a good life, but he can live a good life well.

How much more should we, who are saved by the blood of Jesus, have a responsibility to live a life worthy of Christ's sacrifice?

How much more?

We're to live a life worthy.

We're to seek righteous living.

Righteous life does not save us.

We're saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

Living a righteous life is evidence of our salvation.

James 2 says, but someone will say, You have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works.

We have a responsibility to seek to live a righteous life.

Godly living should be a response or an outpouring of what we are putting in.

There's the old saying, garbage in, garbage out.

The idea being if you put bad in, the bad will come out.

Or if you put good in, then good will come out.

Think about diet.

If you eat terrible food all the time, you'll feel bad, perform poorly, and probably die young.

Whereas if you put in good food, you'll feel bad or perform well and live longer.

If we consume the lives of the world, if we consume all the food, if we're drunk with wine, we wear inappropriate clothing, spend a fortune for it, the outpouring is going to be you look like the world.

I would say you're actually part of the world.

But if we still fill ourselves with God's word, trust, prayer, thankfulness, good stewardship, and community, we'll not look like the world.

We will look like the children of the living God.

Let's not forget about the final words of our passage.

And all these things shall be added to us in verse 33 of Matthew.

Our main point was not to worry.

And again, we remind you that God will take care of us.

Some of you may have noticed that our text started with a therefore.

And as I did when I spoke back in February in Colossians, there was a therefore, and we kind of went back and looked at it a little bit.

And I skipped it intentionally this time.

But the therefore points us back.

We always ask, what is the therefore?

Therefore, right?

Points us back.

If you go to Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 30, you'll see why Jesus says, Therefore, do not worry.

Matthew 6:25–30

Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about but your body, what you'll put on, food, drink, clothing.

Is not 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 of more value than they?

Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to a 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 all his boy was not arrayed like one of these.

Now, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

And it goes into verse 31.

Do not worry.

He knows our needs.

God takes care of his creation.

The grass, the birds.

They are not created in the image of God.

And yet God cares for them.

How much more would he care for you, his creation?

He knows your needs before you know them, and he'll provide for you, but you need to lean into him.

1 Peter 5, 6 and 7 says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so at the proper time he may exhaust you and exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

And again, if that's not enough, again, remember Philippians 4.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving, by requesting you known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, regards your hearts and minds of Christ Jesus.

When it comes to wording, I was reminded of a quote I read a while ago.

The presence of anxiety is directly related to the absence of humility.

Lean into the Lord.

Lean into him.

You're not going to be able to do it on your own.

Trust in him.

Pray to him.

Listen to him.

Be in a community.

And I love that saying the presence of anxiety is directly related to the absence of humility.

And then I like Hebrews 13.

Let your conduct be without covetousness.

Be content with such things as you have.

For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Father God, we thank you for this morning.

I thank you again for your word.

I thank you that you give us your word again.

That we are not crossed to and fro by everyone to doctrine.

Lord, I just like I go back to Judges and think about these people and really did what's right in their own eyes.

Oh, just such a bad idea.

Such a bad idea.

And you didn't leave us that way.

You gave us your word.

You gave us brothers and sisters in Christ.

You gave us a chance to talk to you through prayer.

Thank you, Lord.

And Lord, this message, you know, your word was your word, but this message was born out of my heart of anxiety and worry.

This was born after stuff I struggle with and that I still struggle with.

And going back to looking at Philippians and going back to looking at Matthew 6 and reading those in 1 Peter and in Hebrews and thinking about those things that you've said, Lord, I still wrestle, I still struggle.

But then I still rest in you.

I still take a deep breath and go, God, you're in control.

God, you have this.

Even when the world is falling apart, I still trust in you and I still know you're there.

You will never leave us nor forsake us.

Thank you, Father.

May that be the ringing of our hearts, all of us.

For those of us who struggle with anxiety, who struggle with worry, who just can't seem to shut our minds off at times and just think about all these scenarios and all these things that 90% of the time never even happen.

But we still do it.

Let us shift and think about you.

Shift and think about what your word says.

Let us pivot to trusting in you and stop worrying about all the things the world says we need to worry about.

And if we're gonna worry, let's worry about living holy for you.

Let's worry about living in your word.

Let's worry about seeing what we can do to help others come to know the saving knowledge and grace of your Son and the cross.

Thank you again, Lord, for all good you are to us.

We praise you.

I save your name, Jesus.

Amen.