The Heart of Wealth & Worry

If you would locate your seat, grab your bulletin, we'll go over a few announcements.

Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, all of the studies are happening this week, so find one of those to get plugged into. Over in the middle section, a couple of things to pay attention to, actually three things to pay attention to. First of all, the group that's going to be going down to Dallas to work at the Operation Christmas Child Distribution Center down there, they still have four spots available. So if you're interested in going down to Dallas to work at the Distribution Center, talk to Jana Lumbert afterwards, and she can get you connected.

Also, the new Our Daily Devotionals for Winter are available out there on the table in the lobby, because believe it or not, December the 1st is Wednesday. Time is flying. And then the other thing to pay attention to is we have some opportunities to serve here within the church. If you've been attending for a little while, we'd like you to join us for a little bit of a talk.

We'd like you to join us for a little bit of a talk. We'd like you to be here between three and six months. But if you've been here for a little while and you'd like to get plugged in in some way to help serve, we need some folks in the cleaning ministry, the Sunday school ministry, usher sound and video. So we've had a few drop out of some of those, and some of those are just expanding.

So I don't know if you know this or not, but we've had 300 kids born this year. So that's a slight exaggeration, but not really. So those things are expanding. So if you're interested in getting plugged in in one of those ways, come talk to me after the service. Love to get you plugged in. Those are the things that are going on. If you would, make sure that your mobile device is silenced.

And for our unison reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 28. Psalm 28. We'll be looking at the New American Standard just so we all say the same thing relatively at the same time. If you need one, there should be one in your row. So as you're turning to Psalm 28, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

And if you will read along with me, Psalm 28. To you, O Lord, I call. My rock, do not be deaf to me. For if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you for help. When I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary. Amen. Do not drag me away with the wicked and with those who work iniquity,

who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their heart. Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices. Requite them according to the deeds of their hands. Repay them their recompense, because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the deeds of his hands. He will tear them down and not build them up. Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication.

The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Therefore, my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank him. The Lord is their strength, and he is a saving defense to his anointed. Save your people and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever. Father, we come before you, and Lord, I do thank you that you are our shepherd forever,

and that you care for us. We can rest in you and your ability. And so, Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word right now, I just ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would do the work that only you can do. Father, where we need instructed, I pray that you would teach us. Where we need comforted, Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would come alongside us.

Father, where we need convicted, I pray that you would bring that into our lives. And Lord, just continue to fashion in us the hearts of the men and women of God that you've created for us to be. And Lord, may this be a morning where we see you more clearly, where we meet with you. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 6.

Matthew, chapter 6. We'll be picking up in verse 19. As we carry on with our study in the Sermon on the Mount, the title of this morning's message is The Heart of Wealth and Worry. Because he's going to talk about where our treasure is, as well as how not to worry about all of the things that this life brings to us to worry about. As I was trying to come up with a creative, catchy title for my message,

I had an idea, but I chose not to. I was going to call this Mo' Money, Mo' Problems, but it felt wrong to put the title of a notorious B.I.G. song on the front cover of the bulletin, so I went with The Heart of Wealth and Worry. After all, he's always watching. Sorry. Okay, so we pick up in chapter 6, verse 19. It says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy

and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures, treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body, so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate them, or he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. For this reason I say to you, don't be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you, being worried, can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow.

They don't toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat or what will we drink?

Or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So what we see in this section as he talks about both wealth and worry

is we see three things. Number one, he's going to give us the principle. Number two, he's going to give us a warning. And then number three, he's going to give us an exhortation. And so he begins, as he does with many of these subjects, with the principle, where he says, Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth. I love the way that the Kenneth Weiss translation puts this.

It says, Stop accumulating treasures on earth for yourself. We're an accumulating people, are we not? We believe that if a little bit's good, that a lot's better. That's why Sam's Club exists, right? Like if I need one jar of pickles, then I need a jar of pickles large enough for me and 45 of my closest friends. Because if a little bit's good, then a lot's better.

We have bigger garages so that we can put more stuff in them. Rarely the cars, but more stuff in them. We then build out buildings to put even more stuff in. And then because there's still not enough room there, we rent storage lockers so that we can keep stuff that we'll never actually look at because we're accumulators. I remember when we had a storage locker

up on the north end of town and I thought to myself, I don't know what's in that storage locker anymore. You know what I bet? I bet I don't need anything in that storage locker anymore because I don't even know what's there. And yet we as people like to accumulate things. And we usually like to accumulate the wrong things because oftentimes in our lives on this earth,

we very much believe in building our own kingdom, oftentimes at the neglect of the kingdom of God. And so he gives them, he says, do not store up for yourself treasures on earth. Now, with many of these principles that he's presented, I would like to remind you, first of all, what he is not saying. I don't believe that Jesus here is saying that you should not prepare for the future.

I believe that wise preparation is very much a part of the scriptures. As a matter of fact, the Proverbs speak a great deal about being prepared for things that are coming. I don't believe this speaks against the Sami's account. I don't, believe that tomorrow you should go out and clear out your retirement account because there's wisdom in those things. I don't believe that's what he is prohibiting. I think actually what he's

prohibiting is putting your hope in this world and putting all of your joy in the things that you can have here, building your kingdom here instead of building your kingdom in heaven, instead of building the kingdom of God. And so he says, do not store up for yourself treasures on earth. And then he goes on to tell us why. Because the treasures that are stored up here on earth, moth and rust can destroy. Thieves can break in and steal them. Floods can take them away.

Fires can destroy them. The government can come after them. You name it, whatever it is, the things of this earth are both temporary and insecure. As I think about the market volatility that's going on in the world, I think about the market volatility that's going on in the world. It's taken place over the past couple of years within the stock market. I'm not really one that

plays the stock market, nor do I understand the stock market. I don't understand how any of that sort of thing works, but I do know this. Some people get really excited when it goes really high, and some people get really sad when it goes really low. They're like, oh, today I have this much in my retirement account. Now I don't have this much in my retirement account because of what

the market has done. But as I've watched the market go up and down, according to the reports that I've read, do you know what I've realized? There's nothing wrong with the market. There's nothing really all that secure in this world. And it's amazing how cyclical it is. I remember when the economy crashed here a couple of years ago with all the COVID stuff, and everybody went, oh my

gosh, what are we going to do? And then we started giving everybody free money. I remember back in 2008 when the economy crashed because of the housing bubble that took place, and everybody was like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do? I've read stories about what happened back in the 30s when the economy crashed and the stock market fell apart, and everyone, oh my gosh, what are we going to do?

Isn't it interesting that we can just keep talking about other times that the economy crashed? You know why? Because the treasures on this earth are both temporary and insecure. You can't put your faith in them. You can't put your hope in them. You can't put your trust in them. And quite frankly, they can't be what our lives should be focused on because they're temporary and they're

insecure. It's been kind of fascinating to read some commentators that wrote 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago and how they talk about some of these same kinds of things. I was reading Chuck Smith's series, which is the series that most of us have listened to if you've gone to Bible college or anything, and those came out in the late 70s, early 80s, and he was talking about the economy. And he goes, oh, several years ago, everybody said, buy gold because the economy is about to crash and you need to have your money invested in gold. He said, now gold's worth a fraction of what it was two

years ago. And I thought that was kind of funny. You know why? Because every commercial that I hear on the radio right now, because I'm old and I'm boring and I listen to talk radio, every commercial right now is like, invest in gold. And you know what's going to happen in a couple of years? Your gold will be worth a fraction of what it is right now because the treasures of this world are

temporary and insecure because they can fluctuate with the emotions of some 29-year-old kid that's a day trader on the stock market in New York City. So we don't put our trust in those things, nor do we put our treasure in those things, which is why he says, don't store up for yourselves. on earth. Instead, he says, verse 20, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. He says, instead, what you

should do is you should begin to store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. We'll talk in just a moment about what those look like, because there's three ideas of, I think, what that means to store up treasures in heaven. But he says, do so because those are eternal and they're absolutely secure. It's interesting how when we look at those treasures in heaven, we see that they're not just the things of heaven. We realize the eternal nature of those things. One of the most fascinating

things to do is to read Genesis chapter one, verse one. It's a very short little verse. Just take a second to read. But you'll take note in that verse of the fact that God is eternal because it says in the beginning, God. And you think about the eternal nature of God and that when God creates things, he intends them to be forever. The only reason this earth is now intended to last forever

is because sin came in. Therefore, this earth is temporary. Because sin crept in and along with sin came death. Therefore, this world we live in is now temporary. But the things that we invest in eternity, those things last forever. They're both eternal and secure. And so I started asking myself, what does that look like? What does it look like to store up for yourself treasures in heaven? Because I don't like to tell you to do something without

putting a certain amount of tennis shoes on them so you can walk it out yourself. And so I have that I think that it means to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Number one, we store up for ourselves treasures in heaven by investing our wealth in eternal things. I promise I don't like talking about money. I feel like over the last six months, that's come up a lot in

scripture. The only time I talk about it is when it comes up in scripture. I just can't help that it's come up in scripture a bunch of times. I was actually thinking about this last night. I'm like, man, people are going to think I'm that pastor, right? Like all you're waiting for me now to do is be like, and now this church needs all this money. And I'm like, well, I don't know. I don't

know. I'm not going to do that. I'm not that kind of guy. God is not going to go broke. So when I say invest your money in eternal things, I'm not even talking about the church. I'm talking about what are you doing with your money that has eternal impact? Because there are things that you can do with your money that have incredibly high returns as far as eternity is concerned. You could invest

your money in a missionary. Do you know for $30 a month, you can invest your money in a missionary and that missionary will take the gospel of Jesus Christ and we'll carry it to places that you could never in your life dream of going, nor be accepted because you don't look like everybody else in that village. But that money that you invest in that missionary can yield eternal rewards because as that missionary goes into a village and shares the gospel of Jesus Christ and one young boy gets saved, that adds eternal value to the wealth that you just spent. And now you're no longer building a kingdom for yourself on this earth. You're investing in the kingdom of God and you're

investing in the souls of men. Do you know that you could use the wealth that you have and you could support your neighbor who's a little down on his luck right now because of what's going on in the world? Maybe they've had to make a hard decision and take a hard stand and because of it, they've lost their job and you see there's a distinct need in their life and you can use your money and you can help them out by providing them a little bit of your money. And you can do a little bit better of a Christmas for their family or perhaps some groceries on the table to get through another week. And in your mind, it's just a bunch of groceries on the table or just a

couple of gifts, but you just showed them in a very tangible way the love of Jesus Christ. And you've taken your money and instead of building your own kingdom, you have invested in the kingdom of God. What does it look like to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven? Well, first of all, it means we use our wealth, we use our money to invest in the kingdom of God. And that's what we're doing. We're investing in the kingdom of God.

We're investing in eternal things, not just temporary things. See, I think it means more than that. The second thing I think that it means, I think it means investing our time in eternal things. You know, money's not the only thing that we invest. Every day you invest the most precious commodity that you own. And the most precious commodity that you own can't be gauged by dollars. It's gauged by a clock because the most precious commodity that

you own is time. What will you do with your time? What will you do with your time? And that's what your time. As a matter of fact, the Bible says time is so important that you should redeem it. We're told in the book of, I believe it's in the book of Ephesians, that we are to redeem the time for the days are evil. What does that mean? It means use your time in the best

way possible to further the kingdom of God, to do the work of the ministry for the people that are around you. I think time is one of the greatest things that we waste. I think time is one of the greatest excuses that we have for not doing what God has called for us to do. I understand this because I can be a pretty busy guy. I have a lot going on on a daily week

or on a weekly schedule. But what I found is if I tell you I'm busy, you don't call me when things are going on in your life. And because of that, I miss out on the opportunity to invest my time in you. So is my life busy? Yes. Does that matter? No. Because my job is to invest my time, the most precious commodity I have, in people. And the same is true for you. You can

take time and invest it in people, and as you do so, you are contributing to the kingdom of God. You are building the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, I think that love is oftentimes best spelled time. Because if you really care about somebody, you give them the time of day. So not only do we invest our wealth in eternal things, we invest our time in eternal things,

but we also invest our talents in eternal things. We invest our talents in eternal things. Many of you are very talented people. A few of you, whatever. No, I'm just kidding. You're all very talented people. God has given you talents that nobody else has. Only you have those talents. Perhaps you're saying to yourself, Ryan, I don't see them yet. We don't either, but that's okay. You're going to figure that out. God has great talents invested

in you, and He wants you to use them. You can either take the talent that God has given you and only use it for yourself and build your kingdom. Perhaps you have the talent of being able to build things, and you can go and you can make a lot of money building things for people, and that's a wonderful thing. There's nothing wrong with that. Everybody should work. As a matter of fact,

it tells us in the book of, I believe, 2 Thessalonians, if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat. Working is an important thing to do. But what if you also took that talent that God gave you, and you began to use it for the kingdom? That's wonderful that you can go build things. It's wonderful that you can do what I consider the most magical talent of all, work on cars. It's wonderful that you can take those

kinds of talents and then also contribute to the kingdom of God. Because God has wonderful things that He can do with your talents, not just storing up treasures for yourself with them. So what does it look like to store up treasures for the kingdom? It means we take our wealth, our time, and our talents, and we invest them in eternal things. Things that will

yield an eternal reward that we'll maybe never see on topside of planet Earth, but God very much is taking note of in the big scheme of eternity. He says, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, because there neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves don't break in and steal. And then he caps off this principle with verse 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now I think this is one of those verses that I would call a testing verse, because it really tests what goes on inside of us. Because think about what you invest most of your time, energy, thoughts, and imagination into. I would venture to say that's where your heart is. Perhaps there's something that you really enjoy doing. Nobody has to encourage you to wake up early to do that,

because you're excited to get up and do that. When I was a kid, I hated school. I did not enjoy being at school. And of course, now I teach at a school. Isn't God funny? But every morning, especially me not being a morning person, I had to be drug out of bed, sometimes physically and very literally, because I did not like to get up in the morning, because I wasn't

excited to go to school. You know why? Because my treasure was not at school. Therefore, my heart was not at school. You know what day nobody had to wake me up? Christmas morning. Christmas morning, I was like 4.30 in the morning. Mom, Dad, time to get up. There's presents down there. You know, why? Because my treasure was under the tree. Therefore, where was my heart? Under the

tree. The same is true for us as adults, as grown people. Nobody has to tell you to do the things that are in your heart because that's where your heart is. And so here's my question for you, a little bit of a challenging question for you. What occupies most of your mental space? What occupies most of your heart space? What does nobody have to tell you to do because it's already there?

If it's not Jesus, then you need to start asking yourself, so what's going on in my heart? Because where your treasure is, that's where your heart is also. Let me give you a little bit of an illustration that goes along with this. You see, there's a story in the Old Testament, and it's the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's a familiar story. Most of us know it. Lot and his family

were living in Sodom and Gomorrah, and because of the great evil that was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah, God decided to judge that place. He said, it's too far gone. I've got to deal with it. So he went down there to judge Sodom and Gomorrah. He got a hold of Lot and Lot's family. He told them that they needed to flee. And so Lot and his wife and his two daughters fled

the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. But as they were fleeing, the angel told them one thing. Do not look back. Don't look back. You just run until you can't run no more. And so Lot and his family were fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah. And as they were fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's wife looks back. And as soon as she looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt. Now why was it a big deal that she looked

back? Because you see, her treasure was in Sodom. And because her treasure was in Sodom, her heart was in Sodom. And because her heart was in Sodom, she became as hard as stone. If our heart is too focused on the things of this earth, then we begin to become too attached to the things of this earth. And when we become attached to the things of this earth, you know what happens to our hearts?

They start to become as hard as stone. And I get concerned for all of us, myself included, as believers in Jesus Christ, living in this 21st century, where all of the treasures of the world look so enticing to us on an everyday, consistent, moment-by-moment basis. That our hearts can be so drawn to this earth that just like Lot's wife, looking back. You see, that word, look back, is not just the idea that she looked back and thought, shoot, did I leave the coffee pot on? That's not the idea.

The idea of her looking back is that she looked back with longing. And I'm afraid that many of us as believers in Jesus Christ, though we know the truth and though we want to serve God, we view this earth with great longing. And we say, all of the things here, this is what I want. And if the decision came, we might struggle to cut off the things of this earth in order to hold on to the things of this earth.

And we will wholeheartedly follow our Father. Because He says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So He's given us the principle. Now He goes on to give us a warning. Verse 22. He says, The eye of the lamp is the body. So that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is

darkness, how great is the darkness. The warning He's going to give us very much goes along with the idea that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Therefore, you must have a singular focus. Which is why He now uses this first illustration. And that's the illustration of the eye. Now if you read this without really any understanding of what He intended, you would kind of be like, gosh, that doesn't seem to fit

in everything else that's being said. I don't know how many years I read this and thought, this just seems like an odd place to put this particular set of verses. Well, it's because I didn't understand the full context of the understanding. And so what He says here is, In other words, the eye is what it lets in the light. Not only physically, but spiritually. The eye is the lamp of the body. So then, if your eye

is clear. What does He mean by clear? Well, that word clear can also be translated singular in focus and purpose. You see, that's the heart behind what He's saying here. He says, The lamp of the body is the eye. All of the light that you let into your body comes through your eyes. And if your eye is singular in focus, which in other places is also translated generous,

if your eye is singular in focus, then your whole body will be full of light. You see, God wants a singular focus in our lives. And the singular focus in our lives is the kingdom of God. Not the kingdom of God and the kingdom of earth. Not the kingdom of God and my own personal kingdom down here on earth. But my singular focus should be my eternal home. The kingdom that God has prepared for me.

The kingdom that God has established. That's where my focus needs to be. He says, and if that's where your focus is, if you have that singularity of focus, then your whole body will be full of light. In other words, it will shine through in every part of what you do. Because that focus will then begin to affect the way that you spend your wealth, the way that you spend your time, and the way

that you spend your talents. Because your focus will be on the kingdom, and you will be investing those three things in the kingdom of God. And that's where my focus needs to be. In the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. And you will yield eternal rewards. You will be storing up your treasure in heaven. However, if your eye, verse 23, is bad, then your whole body is full of darkness.

He says, if your eye is bad. In other words, if your eye is evil through a divided heart. John Corson in his commentary put it this way. He said, an evil eye is the eye that is clouded by light. Envy and covetousness. Well, nobody likes any of those words. But you see, when our eye begins to be divided, when we start trying to say, I can pursue God and my own kingdom here on earth, then all of a sudden

that shows up in the rest of our life. Because listen, the focus you have in your life will show up in every other part of your life. Right? Think about what your hobby is. When you think about what your hobby is, those are the things that tend to pop up. As a matter of fact, if you're on any form of social media, the things that your hobby is begins to show up on your social media page. Have you ever noticed that?

That's what the advertisements are for. I like to run. I like shoes. I shop for running shoes. Way too much, right? This particular section is just nailing a guy like me that loves to shop for new running shoes all the time. But what shows up in my news feed all the time? Advertisements for running shoes. Why? Because that's what's going on. That's what I'm searching for all the time.

It shows up in all of my things on my social media page. The same is true in our lives. You see, when I have that divided heart, when my eye is evil, it affects everything else. And if you will, the advertisements on the social media page of my mind, those all go along with that thing. And it begins to show itself in every other part of my life. He says, if your eye is bad, then the light that's in you is darkness.

And if that light, verse 23, is darkness, then how great is that darkness? He goes on from here to give a second warning in verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. He says, no one, no one can serve two masters. Now remember, when Jesus is giving this,

he's speaking to a generation that absolutely understands what slavery looks like. Because slavery was a major portion of the Roman Empire at that point in time. And so when he says no man can serve two masters, he's talking about the obedience of a slave. A slave could only have one master. He wasn't owned by two different people. But let me put it on a level that you understand. Because we don't understand the slave culture here.

Let's talk about dogs. Dogs can only have one master. Right? I've only actually owned. one dog in my entire life. Now, I have purchased other dogs. Other dogs have dwelt in my house. I have fed and watered and taken outside to go potty other dogs. But I've only owned one. I've only ever been the master of one. His name was Beck. Beck was the greatest dog ever. I miss Beck to this day.

When Beck died, I couldn't talk about it for about three months. Because it made me so sad when he was gone. Beck was my dog. Now, my wife was the one who originally wanted to purchase this dog. It was the We want a kid, but we're not responsible enough for a kid. Let's get a dog part of marriage. Right? Many of us that are married, we know what we're talking about here. It was that part of

marriage. And so we got this dog. And we brought this dog home. And I just really liked Beck. Beck was a great dog. Beck lost his hair. He was shedding all the time. We understood each other. Right? He nervously shed. Me too. But Beck was my dog. He went everywhere I went. He listened to my voice over anyone else. As a matter of fact, when my wife and I would be sitting there.

Watching TV. He'd be laying on the rug in front of us. He was so spoiled. He'd look back and he'd go. He'd look back at me. And then lay his head down. And I knew what that meant. Will you please come sit by me? And so I'd go down there and sit by him. He'd lay his head on my lap like, that's right, buddy. He only had one master. Anybody else tells him what to do. He won't do what they tell him to do. Because he's used to my voice. Only one

master. Now I've got these two. They're my dogs. And I feed them. And I water them. They're cute and fluffy and everything. And I take them outside all the time. But they're not my dogs. They are my wife's dogs. Right? Like I get up in the morning. And I take care of them and all that kind of fun stuff. But when my wife gets up, they run to wherever she is. A little rear end wagging. Tail along with it. Their whole body's just like.

Because they're so excited to see her. And they will completely abandon me to go see her. Why? Because they're her dogs. They, she is their master. That's the way we are. We can only serve one master. And you see many of us want to multitask, don't we? We're like, oh, I can serve God and fill in blank here. Whether it's wealth, time, talent, whatever it is. I can serve God

and this. And God's going, nah. I either want all of you or I don't want any of you. Because that's who God is. He's a jealous God. He says, no man can serve two masters. Because eventually you'll make a choice. And I've watched this happen to people. I've known people in the past. Because I've walked long enough with Jesus now. To see people who have made decisions. They've made decisions as to who

they're truly going to follow. And they found themselves at one point in time in their life saying, I can do both. I can follow God and I can pursue wealth. And you know what they end up doing? Pursuing wealth. You know why? Because you can't serve two masters. Eventually you'll have to make a choice. And unfortunately, because we're bent on sin, that choice is sin. That's why you must decide

before it becomes a hard choice what you're going to do. He closes off by saying, you cannot serve God in wealth. And again, I appreciate the way Kenneth Wiest translates this. He says, you cannot render a slave's obedience to God and a passion for accumulating wealth. Does that put it as clear as possible or what? You cannot render a slave's obedience to God, which is what we're called to do in the book of Romans.

No longer present yourself as slaves to unrighteousness leading to sin or to sin leading to unrighteousness. But now present yourselves to God leading to righteousness. You can't present a slave's obedience to God and accumulating wealth. The two are mutually exclusive. So he's given us this warning. We see the principle not to store treasures on earth. We see the warning about having

a singular focus. And our pursuit of God. And now he gives us the exhortation. Notice what he says in verse 25. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? You know what, before we attack that

entire verse, let's just look at that very first line. Don't even worry about the punctuation. Just read what it says. Therefore, do not be worried. I think that's a great line. Because I think if I could encapsulate the last year and a half, we could do so very easily by calling it worry. We've worried about so many things. Now, I like to think of myself as having a master's degree

in worry. I'm working on my doctorate right now. Because I'm really good at it. And I do it a lot. And I try not to. And I'm in the process of being set free. And I'm much further along in the process than I used to be. And so, if you worry, just know you're in good company. Don't worry about that. Because we're all right there together. Because it's an easy thing

to do. But he says, don't be worried. But do you know what worry does to us? First of all, the word worry means anxious thought. That's the idea of worry. You start thinking about something and you can't stop thinking about it. Because you obsess over it. And it starts to take up all of your mental processes. I used to always be somebody that could lay my head down on the pillow. Well, from my mid-20s

through my late 30s, I was somebody who could lay my head down on the pillow. And I was busy enough in life. And I worked hard enough in life that once my head hit the pillow, gone. Right? It was a glorious thing. My wife would try talking to me. I don't even know what she said. Because I'm asleep already. She's like, how do you fall asleep so fast? I'm like, it's a gift.

Only you know what I do now? So I do that on the couch. Right? Watching Monk fall asleep. So I go lay down in bed. You know what happens when I lay down in bed? I start thinking. Terrible thing to do. I just start thinking about stuff. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Next thing I know, it's 1 o'clock in the morning and I haven't gotten any sleep. Why? Anxious thoughts. That care

of what's going on in the world starts taking over my mind. I start thinking about the things that I need to do and I start worrying about it. That's why he says don't be worried. Because what does worry do to us? Worry chokes out our lives. Worry chokes out our life. It makes it to where the rest of life is not awesome. I was reading John Corson in his commentary. I should have written the

numbers down. I didn't because that's what I do. But I'll give you the idea of what he said. He said, think about an entire fog. A fog over an airport that's enough to shut down an entire airport because it's so dense. He said, think of the largest airport you can imagine. And scientifically speaking, the amount of water droplets it would take to form the fog.

The fog that would shut down an entire airport could all fit inside of half of a glass of water. You ever thought about that? I hadn't until I read that. And I was like, that's a pretty fascinating thought. But you know what? That's what we do with worry, is it not? We take something really small and it fogs our entire life. And it chokes out our entire life and

renders us almost useless. Because that's what worry does to us. The Lord talks about this because we struggle with it so much. And so he says, do not be worried. And then he goes on to explain what he means. Don't be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink. So the first thing he tells us is don't be worried about your life, what you're going to eat or what you're going to drink. Now I have a venture to say since last week was Thanksgiving,

you spent a lot of time last week thinking about what you were going to eat and what you were going to drink, right? We did. A lot of time went into that in our household. We thought about planning our menu and what the snacks were going to be and do you enjoy all that? But we talked about that a lot. It was a major thought process in our house. But you know what? In the United States of America, that doesn't just take place

during Thanksgiving, does it? No. I bet many of you go home on Sunday afternoons, maybe Sunday evening, you start thinking about what your meal plan for the week is going to be like. And you start thinking, okay, what groceries do I need to get? How am I going to plan this out? And that's important stuff to do. You have to have those conversations. Otherwise,

you show up and you're like, what are we going to eat? Good question. And nobody eats anything that night. Eliminates the worry, though, doesn't it? What are we going to eat? I have no idea. Let's just skip. Perfect. Fasting Friday. So you probably have that conversation, but the fascinating thing is just how much time goes into all of that. Now, this is me speaking to a 21st century

Western culture group of people who now are a little concerned about the supply chain, meaning there might only be one flavor of Rice Krispies this year instead of 17 flavors of Rice Krispies this year. This is Jesus speaking to a group of people who knew what it meant to go without food. Speaking to a group of people who knew what it meant that if they don't work that day, they don't get paid that day, they don't buy food that day. Now, that carries a little different connotation to it, does it not? You see, you and I need to hear this

because our lives are too focused on food. Because sometimes we spend way too much time thinking about temporary things, like how am I going to fill my stomach? Jesus was speaking to a group of people who spent way too much time worrying about temporary things like, is there going to be anything to eat today? You don't need to worry about that because God's going to take care of that. Can you

imagine if we were in a place right now where I had to preach this to a group of people who hadn't eaten for three days and I tell them, don't worry about your life, what you're going to eat or what you're going to drink? That gives it a hold of the thought process, doesn't it? Can you imagine preaching this sermon back during the Depression when there were people genuinely worried about what was going to be on the table? And yet the truth of God doesn't change in those times, does it?

I tell you that because I don't know what's coming in this next year. I don't know what's going to happen, but the truth of God won't change. He'll still provide for you. He says, don't worry about your life, what you're going to eat or what you're going to drink. And then he says, and don't worry about your body, what you're going to put on. Oh man. Boy, that just eliminates Black Friday, doesn't it?

There went half the emails I just got over the last four days. Don't worry about what you're going to put on. You know what? None of those people are ever sending out an email that says, don't worry about what you're going to put on because they want you to buy more clothing. He says, don't worry about what you're going to put on. Why? Is not life more than food? The body more than

clothing? I'm not sure that that's not something that we've forgotten in our culture. That my life does not consist in the food that I eat and the clothes that I wear. Well, he goes on to explain. Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? He says, hey, take a look at the birds.

Just look at them right now. Now, I'm going to put a bookmark in this really quickly and address something. So I just got done watching the second season of The Chosen. Okay. Now, the second season of The Chosen, Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount. Can I just go ahead and say without anybody throwing anything at me, I absolutely do. I do not think that's how the Sermon on the Mount went. I do not think Jesus spent

three weeks putting together a sermon. I think this sermon was spoken out of Jesus' heart. You know how I know that? Because it says he gathered his disciples and they sat down and he taught them. I don't think they built some sweet structure that he stood on, nor do I think that when the sermon, this is my favorite part, when the sermon got ready to start, he's like,

comes through the curtain. I'm like, pretty sure Jesus didn't do that. Now, listen, there's been a lot of really wonderful things about the Chosen. I don't want you to think I don't like this show because I have found it fascinating. It has made me think about things I've never thought about before, view things in ways I've never thought about them before, which is good, but

I don't think that's how that thing went. Because Jesus was incredibly simple in everything that he did in his life. I'm pretty sure that Jesus, who said, I don't even have a place to lay down my head, probably didn't have his disciples build him a stage. Just throwing that out there. Okay, I'll take the bookmark out. You can hate me later for what I said about the Chosen. I still love the show. Still going to watch the next season when it comes out. So

whatever. But as Jesus is presenting these things, I think he was literally on a hillside and he's teaching and he's just off the cuff sharing the word of God that's in his heart because he knew the word of God so well, not only because he was fully God, but also because he was fully man and studied what the word of God had to say. And he was just speaking. And you can imagine it, right?

They're in an open air sort of an area. And he looks and he goes, think about these birds. These birds that are right here. Well, there's a dove right there. It's not a real one. Think about these birds. They don't toil or spin. They're not building barns. They're not purchasing new fields and new equipment to plow their fields. And yet, God totally makes sure that they have enough to eat. None of them

look stressed out about whether or not they're going to eat. Now, as every commentator that I read pointed out, that doesn't mean that the birds just sit in the field and go waiting for God to drop worms in their mouth. They still do what birds do. They hunt for food. They still work. But their trust is in God that he's going to provide for them. And then I love this next part that he says,

Are you not more valuable than they? Are you not more valuable than they? Are you not so much more valuable to God than all of the birds of the air? I think one of the reasons why we fail to rest in who God is is because we don't always understand God. We don't always understand how valuable we are to him. It's because we don't always understand just how important we are to him.

You see, our lives have intrinsic value, first of all, because we were created in the image of God. And when created in the image of God, he did so with his own bare hands because that's the idea that's given to us in the creation of Adam. Well, you, much like Adam, were knit together in your mother's womb. He was intimately and personally involved in the forming of who you are.

So not only do you have intrinsic value because you were created in the image of God, but you have intrinsic value because God actually took time to form you to be exactly who you are. And then that value is even further increased when you understand that God loves you so much that he was willing to come in the form of a man and die on a cross so that he could purchase your soul so that you could spend eternity with him. You, my friend, are of great value to God. And God takes care of those that are valuable to him. And so we can rest in the fact that if anything comes into

our lives, it is first of all then filtered through the hands of that loving God who views us with such great value. And my prayer is that we understand just how valuable we are to God so that we can rest in the ability he has in our lives. I think understanding that can eliminate a lot of worry. He goes on to say in verse 27, can add a single hour to his life.

Verse 28, And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory is not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

The next one, he deals with is the body. He says, and why are you worried about what you're going to wear? Why are you worried about all those kinds of things? If God takes care of the flowers and the grass the way that he does, how much more is he going to take care of you? You know, I've never seen a flower in Nordstrom looking for clothes. I've never seen a flower at the mall.

I've never seen a flower in Walmart. I have, but not looking for clothing. They don't need to. Why? Because God clothes them. Nor have I ever seen a stressed out flower. They all just look pretty happy. Why? Because God takes care of them. Because God does that kind of work for them. And if God clothes the grass of the field and the flowers of the field which are here today

and they burn up tomorrow, and how much more is he not going to take care of you, O you of little faith? And may I say, O you of little faith? Because I worry about these things too. Well, it goes on from there to say, verse 31, I love that this is the second exhortation he gives. The first exhortation was, do not be worried. The second exhortation is, do not worry. It's almost like God

has to repeat himself. It's almost like God says the same thing over and over again. It's almost like God is redundant. See, I did it three times. Why does he do this? Why does Jesus literally say the same thing a second time? Because we're slow. All of us. We're all sheep. Remember the Psalm 23 study? We're all walking off the cliff and Jesus is like, come back. Right? Because we don't get it the first time around

or the second time around. Oftentimes the third time around. That's why, and I mentioned this during first service, I really should have done a strong study to see how many times the phrase do not worry is used in scripture. But I'm pretty sure I'd run out of ink and a pen to write down all of the verses where it says don't worry because he talks about it over and over again. Why? Because we're

slow. One minute we're like, that's right, I'm not going to worry. But then you'll leave church and you'll have something to be worried about. You'll get up in the morning and read your Bible and you're like, I'm not going to be worried. But then you'll get in your car and there's a reason to be worried. He says, do not worry. Saying, what will we eat? Or what will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing?

He sums it all up here with this second exhortation. He says, don't worry about those things. Why? Two reasons. Number one, that's what the Gentiles seek. Verse 32. For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. The Gentiles could also be translated the heathen. The people of this world. The people that don't know Jesus. This is what they're seeking all the time.

You see, our world only knows how to do one thing. They only know how to build up for themselves treasures on earth. They only know how to store up for the here and the now. They don't know anything about eternity or the things of eternal value. And so when we as believers in Jesus Christ start storing up treasures for ourselves on earth and constantly worrying about all of the earthly

things which God has promised to provide for us, we start acting just like the world around us that can only pursue the flesh. That can only please the flesh. He says, don't worry about those things. Why? Because that looks like the world around you. And we are to be different from the world around us. But the second reason why is that your heavenly Father knows that you need all

of those things. This kind of goes with the year of great value. I think the more that we understand that none of the needs that I have in my life came as a surprise to God, the easier it is to rest in the fact that He already has a plan for how to deal with it. I bet there's something that's going to come up in somebody's life over this next week. There's going to be a need that arises that you don't know exists yet. Don't

worry. There'll be plenty of time to worry about that next week when it actually happens. But God already knows it's going to happen. The day before the stock market crash back in the 30s, God already knew that was coming. And He knew that there were going to be a good number of believers in Jesus Christ who lost everything. And yet He still took care of them.

The day before the housing market crashed in 2008, God already knew that was coming. He knew some people were going to lose their houses, but maybe that was the best thing for them. He already knew it, and He already had a plan for it. Whatever need it is that you're facing in your life, God already knows about it, and He already has a plan for it. All He wants you to do is

well, just read the next verse. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I believe that this is the culmination in this third exhortation of the point that Jesus is trying to get to really in this entire thing about wealth and worry. He says, but seek first the kingdom of God. What does He mean by seek it first? It means

it should take first place both in focus and priority. It should take first place both in focus and priority. It should take first place in our lives both in our focus and in our priority. We are to seek first the kingdom of God. Well, once again, let's put some tennis shoes on that so that it can walk. What does that look like for us? Well, number one, it means that we are going

to put an emphasis and a priority on our relationship with our Creator. The emphasis, the focus, and the priority should be on our relationship with our Creator. We're coming into, we actually came into it already, the holiday season. And you know what happens during the holiday season. We all get really busy. And what is usually the first thing to go in our daily schedule when our lives get really busy? I don't care

who you are or how spiritual you are. Your time with Jesus is always the first thing to go. Because many of us do that first thing in the morning. Well, you know sometimes first thing in the morning, you've got stuff to do to be ready for whatever's coming that day. And so what's the first thing to go out of our lives? Our time with Jesus. And because of that, it begins to show on the people around us. That's why on Thanksgiving

Day, you were probably yelling at your family up until the guest showed up. And then once the guest showed up, you turned into the nice person again. You know why you yelled at your family for that first half of Thanksgiving Day? Because your relationship with Jesus was off. You see, if I don't give that first priority, nothing else in my life can be right. I cannot store up treasures in heaven

if I am not first right in my relationship with Jesus Christ. I cannot spend my time, my money, and my talents correctly if my relationship with Him is not right. You know why? Because that's why I was created. And when all of the other things pass away from this world, you know what will last forever? My relationship with Jesus Christ. Because when I show up to heaven, listen, even the eternal rewards, which I'm super

stoked to earn right now, I think will seem strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Because as I stand there before Him, yes, I may have stored up my treasures in heaven, but what I'll really care about is the fact that He's there. Because what makes it heaven is not the fact that there's rewards there. What makes it heaven is the fact that Jesus is there. And so what does it

look like to seek first the kingdom of God? Well, it's to give my relationship with Jesus priority. And so I have a challenge for you as we come into this holiday season. Make your time with Jesus a priority. Cancel the couple of the events on your calendar. Oh, but I'm expected to be there. Who cares? Cancel the events so you can be with Jesus. Decide it's okay if you miss a couple of things.

In your celebration of Christmas, which, can I remind you what the first portion, the prefix of that word is? Christ. Cancel a couple of things that are the celebration of Christmas so that you can focus on Christ. You have to make that decision yourself. And that's between you and the Holy Spirit. But this Christmas season, give your relationship with Jesus Christ some priority.

Number two, it means that we are going to store up our treasures in heaven. Seeking first the kingdom of God means that exactly that. I begin to put a priority on spending my wealth, my time, and my talents for the furthering of the kingdom. Investing in eternal things and not just spiritual things. But you see, once my relationship here with Jesus, Jesus is right, storing up those treasures in heaven, not a hard thing to do anymore.

Why? Because it's in my heart. Because that's where my treasure is. Therefore, that's where my heart will be also. So it means giving priority to my relationship with Jesus, giving priority to storing up my treasures in heaven. Then number three, giving priority to seeking my true home. Giving priority to seeking my true home. You see, friends, I think the problem that we have

as a church... necessarily just the church here in Ark City, but the church in general right now is we've forgotten that this isn't our home. That's why many times we want our church service to look like a concert that the world will go to. That's why we want our lives to look as close to the world as possible, yet sanctified. Because we have forgotten that this place is not

our home. That it's okay to be strangers and aliens, to be not of this world, to look a little bit different than the other kids because we love Jesus, and that automatically is going to make us look a little odd. You see, as we seek our true home, and that's where our treasure is, therefore that's where our heart will be. As we seek our true home, we can only serve that one master because the master of that house is the only one that we care about.

As we seek our true home, we're completely okay with the fact that everything about our lives looks different than the world around us. The more I look at things going on in the world, the more I look at the things that are taking place around me, the more I just kind of go, I don't fit in here anymore. I don't belong here anymore. And I agree with many of those saints that have gone before me.

I'm just ready to go home. I'm just ready to be where I'm intended to be in my eternal home. In verse 34, he says, So, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Don't worry about tomorrow. We cannot do anything about tomorrow. We can't change what happened yesterday. We can't even begin to anticipate what's going to happen tomorrow.

Let's just focus on seeking God first today. Amen? Let's all stand. Just a reminder that there are those Our Daily Breads out there to grab that will hopefully help you. As you give priority to your relationship with Jesus Christ, would you bow with me? Father, we come before you and I just thank you for the time that we've had in your Word this morning. I pray, God,

that you would do the work that only your Holy Spirit can do through your Word. Father, I pray that as we leave this place that nothing of me would last, but everything of you would remain. And so, Lord, fashion in us those hearts that you want us to have. Overflow us with your Spirit. And Lord, if there's any here this morning that find themselves choked out

by worry, Lord, fogged in with all the worries of this world, I pray that they would slowly but surely, one by one, give those worries to you, trusting in the fact that they are of great value to you and you already know what they need. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

God bless you.