Sermon on the Mount Week 7

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Sermon on the Mount Week 7

Matthew 6:19-24

March 7, 2021 • Matthew 6:19–24

Audio Transcript:

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Good morning and welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic, along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy, and if you're new or if you're visiting, welcome. We're so glad you're here. We'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card, either the physical copy you can get in the back or the virtual one you can get either in the app or on the website.

One quick announcement: Back in November, we had evening services focused on a meditation on God's Word for about 20 minutes and then prayer the rest of the time, so we had three weeks like that in November. We're restarting that next week, we'll do three weeks again, so here, 5:00 p.m. It's 5:00 p.m. No one's correcting me, so it's 5:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. starting next Sunday, and that's to focus our time on the coming of Christ, why He came, and the last days of His life on earth, and that'll bring us to Good Friday and Easter.

With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy Word. Heavenly Father, what a great God you are, that you, not forsaking us in our sin though we rebelled against your Kingship, you sent your Son Jesus Christ, who came to serve us. Our Lord came to serve us, humbled Himself to the point of becoming a servant, making Himself nothing to the point of even going to a cross. We thank you, Jesus, that you, the greatest treasure of the universe, God the Father gave you a name that is above all names, that you, the greatest treasure of the universe, you decided to sacrifice yourself in order to redeem us, to make us your own.

I pray today, show us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as you illuminate the Scriptures for us, enlighten our minds, I pray that you show us that, all too often, we give up our greatest treasures: our health, our time, our energy, our passion, our talents. We give it up for lesser treasures, idolatrous treasures that promise us if we serve them, they will save us, save us from mediocrity, save us from insecurity, save us from a lack of control, save us from a lack of comfort. And they never, they never, they never produce, they never give us what they promise, and we just keep sacrificing, keep giving, keep chasing, only to end up more dissatisfied and empty inside.

And, Lord, show us that you came to save us from sin and from dissatisfaction and from an attempt to control our own lives. You came as a Savior to save us, and as you save us, you call us to serve you. And when we serve you, and when we give all of our energy, passion, desire, when we give everything to you, that's when we are most satisfied here in this life, and we get rewards in heaven. Lord, I pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures, convict us where we need to be convicted, encourage us where we need to be encouraged, and we pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

So, we are in a sermon series through the Sermon on the Mount. This is Matthew 5 through 7, in which the greatest preacher who has ever lived, Jesus Christ, preaches the greatest sermon that has ever been preached. And in this sermon, Jesus Christ gives us the greatest paradigm shift that has ever been taught. Before Jesus Christ came, every single world religion, every single philosophy, everything in this world hinged on this paradigm: serve this, serve this god, serve this teacher, serve this politician, serve this rabbi, serve this thing, and it will save you. Serve to be saved. Do good works to be saved; that's every religion. How do you get into heaven in Islam, how do you reach nirvana in Buddhism or Confucianism, how do you get... In terms of politicians, they do this all the time: "Serve us, we will give you a brand new future. Serve us, we will save you from your current lack of salvation."

And Jesus Christ comes in and says, "There's nothing you can do to be saved. Your situation is so hopeless, the world is so hopeless, there's nothing you can do to be saved, to save yourself. Instead, accept the salvation that I offer you freely, the salvation that I earned. And once you're saved, now serve me."

So, the Sermon on the Mount can be misinterpreted to be read as, "This is what you do to get into heaven." Jesus Christ comes in and He says, "No, no, the kingdom of God is at hand, therefore repent. I'm offering you salvation. Repent." He's not denouncing us, He's not condemning us, He's actually inviting us to receive salvation: "The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and receive." So, once we're in the kingdom, now God says, "This is how you serve me. You've seen in me the greatest treasure that there is; now live for this greatest treasure a life to the fullness."

So, Jesus Christ is a loving Lord and a powerful Savior, and what happens is, even as believers, we forget about this paradigm shift, that we serve because we have been saved, we serve because Jesus is already our Savior and Lord, so we need to be reminded that everything else is an overbearing lord and an impotent savior. And in particular, Jesus Christ wants to talk about money today. He wants to talk about treasures, that treasures and money themselves, it works on the old paradigm shift, that if you serve money, it will save you. It will save you from mediocrity, it will save you from discomfort, it will save you from a lack of security. "Serve me, serve me, sacrifice to get me, sacrifice your life, your power, your energy, everything you have. Delight in this treasure, and then, if you delight enough, then you get it." And Jesus Christ wants to show us it's a false idol. It never satisfies, it never delivers on what it promises.

One of the things I say about Christianity is, a lot of people, when they're new to Christianity, they think Christianity is just something you add to your life. So, you tell someone, "Yeah, I'm a Christian, I go to church on Sunday," and they're like, "Oh, cool, you go to church on Sundays, I go to yoga on Sundays. You go to church on Sundays, I go play golf on Sundays. That's great." It's just an addition to your life. And I tell people, Christianity isn't like yoga or golf, where you add it to your life. It's like oxygen or gravity; it affects every part of your life.

And this is why Jesus wants us to focus on money today, and He often focuses on money, because money is just the thing that's always around; it impacts every single aspect of our lives, and in particular, in a city like this, in a region like this, where the prices on everything are ridiculous. Prices on housing are ridiculous, prices... Just to exist here costs like three times more than anywhere else. I look at the housing prices here, and I look at the housing prices in Texas, and I'm like, "Oh my, what in the world is keeping me here?" It's the call of God, that's why we're still here.

So, Jesus Christ talked about money more than faith, more than He talked about prayer, more than He talked about heaven or hell combined. That's how often He talked about money. Over 25% of the recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels are devoted to money. There's 28 passages. There's over 800 verses in Scripture discussing money. And the big idea of what Jesus wants to say to us today is, we either worship money or we worship with money. We either love money or we love with money and both God and neighbor.

So, today we are in Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:19-24. Would you look at the text with me? "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where your treasure is... "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts.

Three points to frame up our time. Look at the power of money over the heart, the powerlessness of money in satisfying the heart, and the power of the gospel over money by satisfying the heart. So, first, the power of money over the heart. If you read the whole metanarrative of Scripture, the whole council of God, in terms of looking at its teaching about money, one of the things you walk away with is almost the bipolar nature of the teaching on Scripture on money. On the one hand, there's Scriptures that clearly denounce money in terms of its hold on us, it warns about the dangers of wealth. And then you read passages where you become convinced that wealth ought to be pursued. It extols the virtues of wealth.

I'll give you just an example. If you look at Solomon's Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, one of my favorite books in all of Scripture, 10 times, the word "wealth" is used in the Hebrew, 10 times. Half of the uses of the word "wealth" prize it, that we are to pursue it, and then half, the other half, are about how we are not to trust it. The issue isn't money, and this is what Jesus is getting at, the issue is the heart. Where is our heart in terms of wealth and materialism?

Matthew 6:21, He says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Did the treasure follow the heart, or does the heart follow the treasure? The answer is yes. It's interconnected, and that's why it's so dangerous. Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

So, Jesus says money attempts to present itself as a savior on par with Jesus Christ, a savior who is Lord, and He says that's why it's so dangerous. Jesus is saying, "Be careful of money's sway over your heart. Be careful of its siren song, its mesmerizing." When you imagine having wealth... And I think it's funny in a day like this, where people are getting rich off of stonks and off of cryptocurrency, and you're like, "Oh, did I miss the boat?" And then all of a sudden, stock market drops, and then it's back, and it's like, "Oh," and you see people just all over social media, just sharing their wealth, "Oh, yeah, I own this Ferrari outright, yeah, just made in bitcoin last week," and you're like, "Oh, wow." It just so mesmerizes that realities can just change, your life can change so radically if you had X dollars, and so easy to just imagine "If I had this..." It is mesmerizing.

And Jesus here, He's not just talking about money, He's talking about treasure in general. And what does it mean to treasure something? It means to fill your heart with it, fill your imagination with it, that this is of value. This is worthy of me. It's worthy of my life, so I'm going to pursue it, and it is going to add worth to me. It's going to make me somebody.

Now we're getting into identity issues, that this is going to make me human, it's going to make me the person that I want to be, and this is why it's so powerful. And Jesus says, and this is the teaching of Scripture, whatever you ultimately treasure, that this is essential, that this is basic to reality, that this is the core of why I exist, whatever you treasure more than anything, you'll be enslaved by. Whatever you serve more than anything because it promises you salvation, it becomes a master over your life. So, you're willing to pay whatever price it takes to get X, Y, and Z, and you're willing to sacrifice whatever needs to be sacrificed, even if that means a relationship with God, even if that means a relationship with family, a relationship with friends, et cetera.

And you might say, "Money's not really an issue. I have defeated greed in my life." Okay, first of all, you're probably struggling with pride and lying, that's number one. Number two, look at where your money goes freely, because it exposes your other idols. This is what money is so... It has such a powerful effect on us, because it promises other things. It promises experiences, perhaps sinful experiences. It promises a lifestyle, it promises significance and comfort and security, like, "If I have this, then I can control everything." It promises freedom. Freedom to do with my time whatever I want.

This is what you've got to be careful of. That's why it's a parallel lord, it's a competing lord, because Jesus Christ, He offers us freedom, He offers us salvation, He offers us the most important things in life. So, look at your money, where it goes most freely, because often, we spend effortlessly and easily on things that are truly at the center of our existence. It might be clothing, it might be experiences, it might be an image that you want to create on social media, et cetera. It might be having people view you as having achieved things, et cetera. Now you're getting into acceptance. So, these are all the heart issues. For some people, they want money to control their world; therefore, they don't spend. Other people want money to get things that give them acceptance from people; therefore, they do spend, perhaps, on clothing or on their beauty or on attractiveness, et cetera.

What is it about money that makes it so dangerous? Well, it's because it promises us things at the heart level that are so seductive, like security, power, comfort, and approval, beauty, purpose. It has a power to seduce the human heart because it has a power to seduce our desires, our dreams, our imagination. So, Jesus doesn't treat money as just neutral, though it is. Money is just neutral. But He knows that the power is so powerful over us, He treats it as benign so that we start asking ourselves not just "Am I greedy?" or "Am I materialistic?" but we are to ask ourselves, "How greedy am I? How materialistic am I?" That's the position from where Jesus starts.

So, Matthew 5:22 and 23, there's kind of two verses that seem like they're out of context. He's talking about "Don't lay up treasures on earth, lay up treasures in heaven, you can't serve two masters, God and mammon," but in the center, He says this: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, 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 in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

What's the connection between eyes and light and your body and money and treasures? What's going on here? He's saying, in the same way that eye health helps you understand the world around you, helps you understand the reality around you, He says in the same way, there's an eye of your heart that, if it is darkened, you begin to misunderstand life and the reality of life. And you can call that heart eye, you can call it devotion, or you can call it ambition. In the same way that our eyes help us see through vision and perspective everything around us, so ambition affects our entire life.

And what He's saying is, a single-minded ambition to God helps us really see the world as it is, helps us see what really matters, helps us see what to devote our life to. And a single-minded ambition to serve self with money, all of a sudden, it blinds us, it distorts the way reality is, it distorts our understanding of the things around us.

We know at the end, anybody at the end of their life on the hospital bed, they never say, "I wish I had earned more money. I wish I had spent more time on my career." What do they always say? "I wish I had spent more on my relationships and invested more." It's like, at the end of their life, they begin to see life clearly, but during your life, you did not. And this is really the eye and the vision, the spiritual vision that Jesus Christ is talking about, and the reason why the mind's eye gets clouded, gets fogged up is because of pride.

And this is really why money is so dangerous and nefarious. What made Satan Satan? What made Satan Satan was pride. He all of a sudden thought that he was so great that God should worship him, that God should serve him. It was pride. So, Satan then tempts Adam and Eve with the same thing, with pride: "You will be as gods." And then Satan comes to us with money, and this is the temptation that every single one of us is susceptible to. He says, "If you have money, you will be like a god. You will have everything. You will have control, you will have security, you will live the life that you want to live. You will be in charge of your own destiny."

And when you get money, the pride is fed, and you think, all of a sudden, "You know what, I am self-reliant, I am independent of God," perhaps, and you become overconfident in your own powers. Bernard of Clairvaux said, "To see a man humble in the midst of prosperity is the greatest rarity in the world." New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg calls stewardship of material possessions "the most important test case of one's profession of discipleship." He says, "Materialism is the single biggest competitor with authentic Christianity for the hearts and souls of millions in our world today."

So, we talked about the power of money over the heart, and now I want to talk about the powerlessness of money in satisfying the heart. Everyone knows that the love of money is the root of all evil. There's even memes out there like, "No, it's not money that's the root of all evil, it's the love of money." We all know that. Everyone will say that money can't buy true happiness. Every religion teaches its adherents that you can't buy with money what you're really looking for. Every philosophy of any consequence taught the same thing. Seneca in the first century, a Stoic philosopher and moralist, he said, "It's not the one who has too little but the one who desires more who is poor."

In Luke 16:14, talking about the Pharisees, it says, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him," Jesus. The Son of God is before them, and the Son of God is teaching about the way of life, and they're so blinded by their love of money that they ridicule Him. Does money satisfy, does it give peace and tranquility? No, of course not, because you always think about, like, "I just need a little more, a little more, a little more." And then, if you start getting into investing, and then you start thinking about opportunity costs, like, "If I buy this thing, then I can't invest the money, and I can't make interest on the money," so then, all of a sudden, you're like, "No..." And you're just thinking about more, more, more, "I could make more"; it has power over you.

Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So, now Jesus is giving us two perspectives on life. The first perspective is that the material is all there is, this life is all there is, and life is short, so you should make the most of it and get the most out of life. And Jesus says, "No, no, no, this life isn't all there is. There's an eternity before us in two places, either heaven or hell, and what we do here in this life impacts our eternity, and not just our eternity but the eternity of others, so we should lay up treasures there, not on earth."

The pronouns in verses 19 and 20, where He says "for yourselves" and "you" and "your," those are plural, so, we as a community need to remind ourselves of this truth. And then, in verse 21, it's singular: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." It's very direct, it's very personal. He's just asking, "What about you? Is your heart wrapped up in earthly treasure and the pursuit of it and laying it up," that's the emphasis here, "and storing it up and gathering and hoarding? And how do you know that this is a problem? Because you just want to accumulate more and more and more for this life and for yourself." That's the emphasis here.

He talked about moth and rust, that they impact our treasures, and He is talking about the impermanence of wealth, it comes and goes, the insecurity of it. The rust, it's not the ordinary word for rust, it's more like decay or rot. If it's not used, it rots, and there's all kinds of examples of this now. Apparently we're printing another $1.9 trillion, and we just printed $1.9 trillion; I think we're up to around four, so what's that going to do to inflation? I don't know. Gas prices are up, grocery prices are up, real estate prices are... I have no idea. That's moth and rust.

And thieves from the government, that's the other thing here. It's in the Greek. Back then, there weren't banks, there was no FDIC, so the way you stored money was in strongboxes you bury in your floor in the ground of your home. Excavation of large homes in Pompeii uncovered strongboxes, small fortunes. But what Jesus here is saying is, when you put your trust in impermanent things, that trust is fickle, it's not going to deliver.

That's what Jesus is saying; what Jesus isn't saying, He isn't saying "Don't work and don't save." He's not saying that. We see in other passages that if you don't work, you shouldn't eat, and that if we are to work... So, there's a passage in Thessalonians that a thief comes to salvation, and St. Paul writes to him and says, "Hey, let the thief no longer steal. Let him work so that he may share with others." So, we are called not just to provide for our own needs, but work in such a way where we have an excess to be generous with others.

And Jesus isn't forbidding accumulation of wealth; Deuteronomy 8:10, "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day." And Christ also isn't forbidding saving for the future of you and your family. St. Paul talks about, it's parents that need to save for their children. Proverbs talks about, the wise man doesn't just save for his children but his children's children. Proverbs 6:6-8 says, "Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest."

So, He's talking about this industrious nature that every single person should have, every single Christ in particular, where we wake up to work, not because of our manager or our boss, we wake up to work because we have a greater boss, and we're going to work for Him from the heart, not as for men. So, we're taught to provide for self, for others, we're taught to provide for relatives. So, if you start a family, or even before marriage and children, parents and extended family, Scripture says whoever doesn't provide for his relatives is worse than an unbeliever. They're saying, "How can you say you love God and you love neighbor when you aren't caring for your closest neighbor?" And our closest neighbor is our family members.

And Jesus isn't condemning enjoying things. He's not calling us to asceticism, as was taught in the early church and the Catholic Church as well. 1 Timothy 6:7, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy." So God is a good God, and He's a Father, and He does give good gives to His children, sometimes just because. "Just because you're my kids."

Yesterday, my wife and my daughters and I, we went to Crane Beach, one of my favorite places in all of New England, if you haven't been, you got to go, and then walked to the mansion. And then after, you know what, we stopped at Nick's Pizza and Subs in Beverly. Why? Because they have the best calzone in the North Shore. It's not even up for debate. Why do we like calzones? I don't know they're just... It's a glorious food. It's terrible for you. But we talked about fasting last week, so you fast, and then you go to Nick's. But why did I buy them calzones? Just because. Because I like watching their little pudgy... My youngest I can say that about. Little pudgy face down a calzone, because it brings me joy, that's why. God loves to give good gifts to His children. You see that all throughout holy Scripture.

So, it's not about... He's not condemning work, He's not condemning making money, He's not condemning wealth, He's not condemning savings. He's condemning trusting in those things. He's condemning making those things central, because the core of why you exist, the basic reason of why you do everything you do, it's not about wealth, it's about loyalty. It's about devotion. And a wealthy person can be devoted to the Lord's cause, while a poor man can be utterly indifferent. It's not about money, it's about our heart.

And Proverbs 30:7-9 says, "Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' and lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." The question is, "Does this pull me away from God," and that could be either poverty or riches that pull you away from God, "or does this life situation I'm given to steward by the Lord, do I use that in order to deepen my affections for God?"

Sometimes when you have wealth and you give to the Lord, to the Lord's work, you give to the needy, there's such a blessing that fills your heart, and that's why Jesus Christ said it's more blessed to give than to receive. Just thankfulness, Lord, thank you for giving me this opportunity to give, and thank you for giving me this opportunity to bless another person, and it just reminds me of how much you have blessed me.

Psalm 62:10, "Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them." Scripture does not forbid that we seek the kingdom of God. We are to seek the kingdom of God. It does forbid that we seek the kingdom of us, where we build a kingdom for ourselves, where we are the king and we do as we please.

Ecclesiastes 5:10, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity." So, money's value, it's limited. It can't stop death, it can't stop tragedy, it can't stop heartache. It's not God. Money can't buy... It can buy medicine, but it can't buy health. It can buy a house but not a home. It can buy companionship but not friends. It can buy entertainment but not happiness, it can buy food but not an appetite, it can buy a bed but not sleep, it can buy a crucifix but not a Savior. Money can buy the good life but not eternal life.

And Jesus is speaking about treasure from this perspective. Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth primarily, but use your treasures on earth to lay up treasures in heaven, either financially or other treasures that we have, like health and time and our talents, for the kingdom of God, because ultimately, that's what lasts. Jesus is saying, in view of eternity, in view of judgment day, in view of two different destinies in the world to come, view Scripture, view treasure like that.

Bernard of Clairvaux, who spent a lot of time meditating on riches and treasure, he said, "There are no greater miseries than false joys." And what he's talking about is loving things that aren't going to love you back, and giving your life to temporal things of no ultimate consequence. Joys that don't last and also distract you from eternity are the most false joys of all. The greater problem isn't that you can't take your money with you. That's what a lot of people say: "Invest in relationship because you can't take your money with you." That's not the greatest problem. The greatest problem is, when you devote yourself to money and to the things that are temporary, the material, without repenting of the sin of making that central, you are incurring the wrath of God. That's really the biggest danger of money, is that it sets you on a path away from God, and that path leads to an eternity away from God, a place called hell.

That's why Jesus, in a parallel passage on treasures, Luke 12:15-23, talks about the rich fool. "And he," Jesus, "said to them, 'Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.' And he told them a parable, saying, 'The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, "What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?" And he said, "I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'" But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.' And he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.'"

He was rich toward himself but not rich to God. God blesses him with an abundant harvest, and instead of building greater barns, destroying the old ones, building greater barns, he should've thought, "What can I do to further the cause of God, the kingdom of God? With whom can I be generous with this excess that I do not need?" That's what it means to be generous toward God, rich toward God, by taking surplus that God gives us and just knowing that God gives us not just for ourselves, not just to increase our standard of living, but to increase our standard of giving.

1 Timothy 6:9-10, "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6... And by the way, this is a test of... Many of you are very successful in our careers, and you will only become more successful in your careers. So, really, the question here is, "How does this impact, how does my career, how does my job, how does my wealth impact my relationship with God? Does it draw me closer to Him? Does it make me more devoted to Him? Do I want to participate even more wholeheartedly in what He is doing, in the building of His kingdom, and furthering the common good?" That's the emphasis there in verse 10, that they walked away, wandered away.

1 Timothy 6:17-19, "As for the rich in the present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." So, money is temporary, vulnerable, it rots and rusts and disappears; it doesn't satisfy the heart.

And then, point three is the power of the gospel over money by satisfying the heart. So, when God does bless us with wealth, how can we make sure that that is a blessing to us and blessing to those around us? It's by seeking heart satisfaction in the gospel, in the Lord. Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Doesn't say "Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for blessing." It doesn't say "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for satisfaction." It doesn't say "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for money or wealth." "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." So, when we hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Jesus Christ that He gives freely, and then hunger and thirst to live out that righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's where satisfaction comes.

Matthew 6:31-33, a text we're going to look at next week, dealing with anxiety, in particular about physical things: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Seek God first, primarily, with everything that you got.

And by the way, this... Practically, seek God with your first fruit of your energy of the day. First thing that you should be doing isn't checking Robinhood or your Coinbase when you wake up, or Twitter, whatever, or your bank account. First thing you should be doing is seeking the face of God. And by that, that just reminds you that God is primary, the kingdom of God is primary, and then you set your heart on God through Scripture and prayer, and you say, "God, how can I seek your kingdom today in everything that I do? In my job, how can I be a blessing to my employer and the people I work with? How can I be a blessing to them? How can I further the common good? How can I do this to the glory of God? How can I be faithful in discipling people? How can I be faithful in evangelism?"

Seek first the kingdom of God, to glorify God and His righteousness, and He says, "All these things will be added to you." What things? The physical things. God knows what you need before you even ask, and God does provide, as a good Father, all of your needs. And by needs, He's talking about our basic needs of food and clothing. In Hebrews, it says, "Keep yourself free from the love of money." "Keep yourself free from the love of money, for God says, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" God the Father will always provide when we rely on Him, seek the kingdom of God first.

And that's really the conversation here, is how do we overcome the love of money? How do we overcome the consuming power of consumption? You do that by recognizing that Jesus is King, and I am not. Jesus is King, and I am not. I cannot build a kingdom here on earth when Jesus calls me to submit to Him and enter His kingdom. So, this is the first thing about becoming a Christian, if you're not a Christian, if this is new. You need to recognize that I have sinned against a holy King, I have sought treasures that are above Him as the greatest treasure. I'm not in the family, I've sinned against Him. I have coveted, I have been greedy. This stuff has consumed me.

And this is what Jesus says: "Accept my salvation. Repent of your sin. The kingdom of God is here. Accept my salvation." We do that by repenting of sin. And then Jesus, once we're saved, He gives us entrance into the kingdom of God, and now He says, "Now serve me," and this service is what gives you the deep satisfaction that you're looking for. This is the way that we enter the family, and Jesus tells us how we are to grow in the family.

Matthew 6:27-30, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" It's about faith. Are we rich in faith? If we're rich in faith, we'll be rich in everything that matters, we'll be rich in satisfaction. If we're poor in faith, then we'll never be content.

So, how do we break the power of money? We worship God, that's how. We worship God, He fills our heart with love for Him, love for people, and now we don't have to use God to get money, we don't have to use people to get money. We use money to love God and to love people, and that's what He gets at in verse 24: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Jesus offers us two options, very categorical. There's one way to heaven; all the other, the rest of the ways lead to hell. One way to have your sins forgiven, to have eternal security; that's by repenting of sin and loving God as your King, as your Savior. Therefore, He says, are you devoted to God, or do you despise Him? And if you're like, "I'm indifferent to God," or you're like, "Yeah, I'm not really sure," then you're in the despising category. It's one or the other; He gives us two options. If you don't love Him, you hate Him; you're either devoted to God or you despise Him. Devotion given to either money, ultimately, or God in this context.

I'll give you two test cases from Scripture, two test cases about the hold of money on people and how that hold can be broken. The first test case is the story of Judas. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, "One of you is going to betray me," and the disciples don't all point to Judas and say, "Yeah, he's the one," although they spent three years with him. You ever find that fascinating, that they had no idea? And Judas, the guy who sold Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, he was the treasurer. You ever find that funny, that Jesus Christ allowed this guy to be the treasurer? Why did Jesus allow that?

I think Jesus allowed that as a test. "Judas, I'm going to test your heart. Do you really love me above treasure? Am I a greater treasure than treasure for you?" Jesus puts a thief in charge of the money bag. He could've put Nathanael in charge of the money bag, Jesus called him "an Israelite indeed in whom there was no deceit"; or John, the disciple whom Jesus loved; or Levi, who had extensive financial experience. It was Judas. He put Judas in charge of it, who then, Judas, after the Last Supper, goes and sells Jesus Christ, betrays Him and shows us the heart-hardening, the heart-blinding, the heartbreaking effect of treasuring the wrong thing. He was in the presence of the Son of God for three years, and the Son of God was less of a treasure for him than what the Son of God could give him, and ended up leading to his destruction and his suicide.

The other example is the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was an arch tax collector. He was a tax collector above all the tax collectors in Israel. Israel was oppressed by the Roman Empire; the Roman Empire siphon off wealth from Israel, tax them heavily, and they did that by selling licenses to be a tax collector to the people of Israel. People in Israel could buy these licenses for an exorbitant amount of money, and then whoever bought this as a tax collector could go and force people of Israel, his own brothers and sisters, his own people, to pay exorbitant taxes, and they had the full power of the military to do it.

And, by the way, it was a business opportunity; they didn't just go and say, "You know, I bought this license to collect taxes for 100 grand; I'm going to get 110 grand." No, he would go and collect 400 grand, four times more than what he paid for. So, Zacchaeus was hated by his people, he wasn't satisfied with what he had, and then he hears about Jesus Christ in Luke 19:1-10.

It says, "He entered Jericho," Jesus entered Jericho, "was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up on a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way." And by the way, this was extremely humbling, humiliating for a man in Israel to climb a tree.

So he climbs a tree, "And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.' So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled," that's the Pharisees, "'He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.' Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.'"

Zacchaeus was lost. He was lost because he had followed the siren song of wealth, and he was willing to sin in any way possible to get as much as possible, realized that he did not get from wealth what it promised. Wealth told him, "Serve me and I'll save you." Zacchaeus realized it did not save him. Jesus Christ comes and says, "I'm offering you salvation. I came to seek and save that which was lost." He offers him salvation, offers him forgiveness of all sins. That changes Zacchaeus' live, it changes his heart, and now he becomes generous, exorbitantly generous, promised to give away 50% of his income, four times what he had stolen, incredible generosity. Zacchaeus did not... He wasn't generous to get salvation. This isn't how he earned salvation. Jesus comes into Zacchaeus' life, He says, "Now you're saved. I've forgiven you. I see your heart, I see your repentance," and that leads to service of Jesus Christ.

How can Jesus just save us? How can He just forgive our sins? Well, you can't just do that. This is why Jesus Christ came, and He died on the cross for our sins. The greatest treasure of heaven comes down, and He dies for us because He treasured us. He realized that there is one sure investment. There's one sure investment, and that investment is into eternity, and Jesus invested all of Himself into eternity in order to give us access to eternity by dying on the cross for our sins.

If you make anything other than Jesus your greatest treasure, it will drive you, it will control you, it will demand that you sacrifice and die for it. But Jesus is the only treasure that dies for you. He died to get you, and when you see that, you will be transformed, and He becomes the greatest treasure in your life.

Romans 8:31-32, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" And 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." Jesus Christ's grace breaks our love for the material world, for things, so money can be a vehicle to love God, to build His kingdom, and love the people around us.

That said, we are going to transition to celebrating Communion. We celebrate Communion at Mosaic the first Sunday of every month. For whom is Communion? Communion is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. So, if you are not a Christian, if you have not repented of your sins and trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service; it'll do nothing for you. Unless you do today repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ and follow Him, then you're welcome to partake. And then, repentant Christians, so if you are a Christian who is repentant of sin, you're welcome to partake. If there's sin in your life that you have not repented of, that you have not decided to leave, that you're still clinging on to, we ask that you refrain from Communion; instead, focus on repentance. But if you do repent, you're welcome to partake.

The way that we take part in Communion is we have this little cup with the little bread on top. If you have not received one and you would like to partake, raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. At this point, as you open up the top, take the bread, and open up the other top, I'll pray, and then we'll partake in Holy Communion.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have loved us so much that you gave your greatest treasure, your Son Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. One of those sins that you died for is our greed and our covetousness, our desire to build our own kingdom, our idolatry, and often when we treasure things above you. We repent of that. We repent of how susceptible we've been to the lie of Satan, that if we pursue finances, we can create a reality where we are free from you, independent from you and gods ourselves. We repent of that.

And we ask, Jesus Christ, that you forgive us, and we thank you for offering us a way of forgiveness by dying on the cross for our sins. You experienced the wrath of God on behalf of us, and this is why you cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus, you were forsaken by the Father so that we would never have to be, because all we have to do is trust in you and our sins are forgiven. You save us. As you save us, you call us to serve you. We don't do it perfectly, and when we fall, you offer us more grace, and you pick us up and say, "Follow me." Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are with us today and bless our time in Holy Communion. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.

On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, and after breaking it, He said, "This is my body, broken for you. Take, eat, and do this in remembrance of me." He then proceeded to take the cup, and He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink, and do this in remembrance of me."

Jesus, we thank you that you are our greatest treasure. We pray that you continue, by the power of the Spirit, to remind us over and over and over that there's nothing in this world that will satisfy other than you. And make our heart's eye focus on you, be devoted to you, so that we take everything that you've given us and every single day, full tilt, live to the glory of God and the joy of all people. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Sermon on the Mount Week 10

March 28, 2021 • Shane Sikkema • Matthew 7:13–29

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning. Welcome again to Mosaic. It's good to see you this morning. If you're new, welcome, my name is Shane. I am one of the pastors here at Mosaic, and so glad to have you with us. As we mentioned earlier, we would love to connect with you. The way we do that is through a little connection card. You should have gotten one of those with your worship guide on the way in. If you fill that out for us, you can just drop it in the little white box back there at the back of the room on your way out this morning, and we'd love to follow up with you this week and just send a small gift to you in the mail to thank you for being with us. You can also fill that out online or in our app as well. Before we start, happy Palm Sunday to everyone. This is the first day, the beginning of a holy week. We have a couple of special service times coming up just to remind you of before we jump into the sermon. First of all, this Friday we're having a good Friday service at 6:00 PM here at the temple. Childcare will be provided for kids up through fifth grade, and so if you have kids that want to participate in that, just jump on our website and fill out the little registration form, that way we can know how many children to prepare for, but looking forward to that. We'd love to see you back here Friday night for that service. Then Easter Sunday, this is really important. We're having three services, and as we've mentioned in the last couple of weeks, they're all going to be at different times than usual. Our first service is going to be at 8:30. We're going to have a full-blown mini-Mosaic program and Mosaic teens at this service, so families with kids, this will be a great option for you. Second service is going to be at 10:15. This service is also going to have childcare mini-Mosaic up through fifth grade. We're anticipating this is going to be our largest, most popular service. If you're planning to come on this one, you might want to come early to make sure that you get a seat. Really, the reason we're expanding to three services, we just really want to make sure that with all the distancing requirements, that we don't run out of space next week. But our final service is going to be at 12 o'clock noon. Go get brunch, come and join us at 12 o'clock if you want to join us for that third service. Really, whatever service you're able to attend is great and just look forward to celebrating with you next Sunday morning. But with that being said, let's pray before we start the sermon this morning. God, we thank you for this amazing section of scripture and the time that we've been able to spend in the sermon on the mount over the last several weeks, and Lord, we thank you that you have spoken to us through your son, the living word, and Jesus Christ, and you've also spoken to us through your scriptures, the written word. As we look into your word again today, Lord, we ask that you would humble us and give us ears to hear what you have to say, our minds and hearts that are open that are humble to you. God, your word is good, it is perfect, it is without air, and it is authoritative, but also beautiful and beneficial. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and so Holy Spirit, we ask that you would come and illuminate this path for us, so that we can stay on this narrow way that leads to life, following after Christ, following that path that he has blazed on before us. We pray all this in his name, amen. Today we're wrapping up our sermon series on the sermon on the mount. We're going to be looking at Jesus conclusion to the sermon on the mount. If you've ever studied homiletics, if you've ever studied public speaking, you know the importance of your introduction and your conclusion. These are the two most important parts of any address that you make. They're kind of like the takeoff and the landing. In your introduction, really, you're earning the right to be heard by your audience. Right now, you're here. You're about to sit down and hear me talk for the next 40 minutes or so, but I understand that just because you can hear my voice doesn't mean you're actually listening to what I have to say. I got to earn that right to keep your attention. It helps a lot, if in your introduction, you can give people some kind of hook that's going to show them that what you're about to say is worthy of that time and attention. Even before I start preparing for a sermon, I like to keep this phrase in mind, don't preach because you have to say something, preach because you have something to say. A good introduction, it lets people know that you're about to say something that's worth saying, something that is worth hearing. In Jesus' introduction, he gives us this little hook. It's like a bombshell of a statement. You remember what He said when He starts the sermon, He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It's really unexpected, and yet, it's powerful, it's intriguing. It's maybe even a little bit perplexing, but all right, Jesus, you got my attention. I want to see like where you're going to go with this. Not only is it a really good hook, it's really relevant to everything else that he has to say. It's almost like this is the key that unlocks the rest of the sermon on the mount. Now, if you understand what Jesus is saying here, you're going to get the rest of the sermon, but if you don't, a lot of what Jesus is going to say that follows is going to be puzzling. Jesus had a great take off. What about his conclusion? Well, how does Jesus land the plane? That's what we're looking at today. It lands like ... You've probably heard sermons that nose dive and crash and burn on the landing. Not here at mosaic, but at other churches perhaps. Jesus lands, it's like an atomic bomb, just boom explosion, fire everywhere. He walks down the mountain like an action hero. Doesn't even look back at all the minds that he just blew behind him. How does he do this? He does this by turning to his listeners, turning to us, and asking us, how are you going to land the plane? How are you going to land, not the plane of the sermon, how are you going to land the plane of your life? Every single one of us, from the moment we're born, we are on our descent, and we're flying through the turbulence of life, and the runway of death is coming closer and closer with every moment. This is what we need to consider. This is what we need to ponder. When the rubber hits the road, are you going to make a smooth, peaceful landing, or are you about to crash and burn? How much time do you spend thinking about eternity? What do we expect to find on the other side of death? Where do we go when we die? These might sound like cliche questions, but these are the most important questions that anyone could ask, and these are the questions that Jesus wants us to consider today in the conclusion to a sermon. If you have your Bibles, open up to Matthew 7, I'm going to be looking at verses 13 through 29, the end of Jesus' sermon. As we work through this text today, I want us to focus on these three points that Jesus drives home here in His conclusion. First of all, there are only two paths. There are only two directions. Then thirdly, there are only two destinations. Read along with me. If you don't have a Bible, you can follow along and the words will be up here on the screen as well. This is Matthew 7 beginning in verse 13. Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. Healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a disease tree bear good fruit." "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?" And I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness." Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock." "The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock, and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it." When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes." This is the reading of God's Holy word for us this morning. Point number one is that there are only two paths, and Jesus begins by telling us, you need to enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. There are two identical Proverbs in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 14:12, and 16:25, and they both say this, "That there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." What are these two paths that Jesus is talking about? Well, let's start out by what is the path that leads to life? What is Jesus talking about there? If you were here last Sunday night at our prayer service, one of our members, Nathan Young, he brought a great message on this from John 14:6, where Jesus tells His disciples that, "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. Peter and John preached this in Acts 4. They said that, "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone," in verse 12, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved." Jesus is the narrow gate. He is the only path to salvation. What that means is that the broad road to destruction, that is anything and everything else, and we hear that and we say, that's so exclusive, and it is. Jesus acknowledges that. Jesus says the gate is narrow. But before we can begin to object, we have to first ask, what are the alternatives? Romans 3:23 tells us that, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 6:23 says that, "The wages of the sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord, that Jesus being the only way, it sounds exclusive, it is exclusive, but the alternative is that there is no way. No way at all. That we are all sinners, we are all guilty and we are all incapable of saving ourselves. We have all sinned again and infinitely just, and Holy God. The chasm that we need to cross is infinite. Think about this, only Jesus, in his complete perfection and full divinity was worthy and able to pay the penalty that our sin and rebellion deserved, and yet only Jesus, because of his full humanity could stand in humanity's place to be that atoning substitution. There could be no other way. It had to be Jesus. For Jesus to say, I am the way, I am the only way. I'm the truth. I am the life. I am the narrow gate. It excludes any other means of salvation, and yet, at the same time, it is more inclusive of any other alternative because the gate is narrow. But entering through this gate is open to all. It's free. That the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, offered to all, to any who would repent and put their faith in Him and cry out to Christ for salvation. This is what scripture says. We know this, John 3:16, one of the most famous verses in scripture, "That God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Romans 10:11, the scripture say, "Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." You don't have to be born into a certain ethnicity. You don't have to have a spiritual, a pedigree. You don't have to go and achieve self-actualization or enlightenment. You don't have to climb to the peak of some holy mountain to offer sacrifice or maintain a life of perfection to be saved. You simply call on the name of Jesus and you will be saved. Believe, confess, cry out to Christ and say, no matter where you are, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, you will be saved. Look at verse 14 again. It says that, "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." This is important to understand. Jesus acknowledges the gate is narrow, and yes, it is free to enter by that gate, but the road that follows is not going to be easy. Jesus says, it's going to be hard, that the Christian life is hard. If it's not hard, then perhaps you're not actually on the path that you think that you're on. We've heard this phrase, that salvation costs us nothing, and yet discipleship costs us everything. This is Christianity 101, that we are justified freely by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, and yet, the lifelong work of sanctification of putting our flesh to death, it's hard. The lifelong work of engaging and carrying out the mission of God and living our lives as witnesses to the gospel and the kingdom of God, it costs us a lot. Following Jesus comes with trouble, tribulation, persecution. It takes perseverance. It takes patience. It is not a broad easy road. It's a road of self-denial. It's a road of self-discipline. It's a road of laying down your life and picking up your cross daily and following after Jesus. It is all of those things, but it's also worth it. It is the road that leads to life and there is no other way. What this means is that, if we are walking this path as Christians, we should stand out and seem very distinct from the rest of the world around us, as if we are walking in a complete opposite direction against the flow of everything that surrounds us. We live in a world that follows this cultural mantra of like, you only live once, and so have a good time all the time, get the most out of life while you can. In scripture would put it like this, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. We say things, we hear things like, life is about the journey, not the destination. To go with pastor Jan, false. That's a false statement. Not true. If it is true, if life is really only about the journey, then yeah, go spend your life on yourself, get the most out of this life while you can, because this is all you'll ever get. You can do this in a number of ways. You can do this through living a life of rebellion and sin of just seeking self-gratification and earthly pleasure. Or you can do this the way the Pharisees did this through practicing your righteousness before people. Not because you love God, but to be honored and respected by others, that they'll look and say, oh, look at that person. They're so virtuous. They're so right. Jesus would say, to either of these approaches like, great, but you've received your reward in full, that whatever satisfaction you got out of that is all you will ever get, and your best days will now forever be in the past. Jesus calls us, as his followers, to a different kind of journey, a journey that doesn't begin with discovering ourselves, with finding ourselves, but with losing ourselves. It begins with humility. It begins with repentance and faith, and acknowledging that Jesus paid it all. So, all to him I owe. I am not my own, but I belong body and soul to God and to my savior, Jesus Christ, and therefore, my life, my time, my talents, my treasures, these are not mine to be spent on myself in this life. These are mine given as a steward from God to be invested for the sake of the next. Knowing that in Christ, the best is always yet to come. Now, we heard this a few weeks ago. Jesus put it like this in Matthew 6:19. He says, "Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal." Now, if we live this way, apart from faith, this kind of investing in eternity, it doesn't make sense. It seems foolish. Right, you're denying yourself something right now and you're betting your life on something that you can't even see. From the perspective of the world, it seems like folly. Jesus talks about it like this, that the kingdom of God, it is like a treasure, but it's like a treasure that's buried in a field, and not everybody can see it, but once you discover it, once you see what's there, you're willing to go and sell everything you have to acquire that field, because you know what's inside it, and everyone else might look at you and think you're crazy for the price that you're willing to pay, but you know the return on that investment. Imagine like this. Imagine I had a time machine right here and I was willing to sell you a ticket, but it came with some strings attached. First of all, you could only use it to go backwards in time. Secondly, you could only stay there for five minutes. Third, it's only capable of bringing you maximum like 10 years into the past. Then finally, this ticket is going to cost you everything that you have, every penny to your name. You would probably think, well, that sounds very novel, but it's probably not a good investment. Not worth the cost of that. But let me remind you, 10 years ago, you could convince your former self to buy Bitcoin, which was like less than a dollar at the time. If you could scrounge $10,000 $15,000 to go, you would be a billionaire today, and so yes, of course I would make that investment, but this is what I'm getting at, that the kingdom of God is a better investment than that. This is not financial advice. I'm not your financial advisor, but this is spiritual advice. I am a spiritual advisor of sorts. Jesus is talking about eternal stocks here. Don't miss this opportunity to invest in eternity, is a sure bet, and it's hard. It's going to be costly. It may cost everything you have, but you're investing in something that will never tarnish, that will never fail. This is why 2 Corinthians 4:16 sells us that we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to think things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are seen are eternal. There are only two paths. Point number two, there are only two directions. Jesus continues in verse 15. He tells us, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit." "A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a disease tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?" And I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness." In this passage, we see that these two paths results in two very different destinations, and so therefore, Jesus, here in the middle, wants us to be careful that we not lose our sense of direction, that we make sure that we know where we're going, to not only know what the right path is, but to know how to know when we are on that right path. Some of you might be too young to remember this, but way back in the day, before smartphones, before Google Maps, before big tech was tracking our every move, if you were going on a road trip with your friends or something, like you had to have a physical map made out of paper in order to figure out where you were going. What you would do is you'd go to the gas station or something, you would buy a map of whatever area you were trying to travel to, and you'd jump on the back of your Brontosaurus and you'd take off on your journey. It was great. The map could show you what was there, but the map could not show you where you were in relation to what was there. The map could not tell you what road you were on or what direction you were going. You had to figure that out for yourself. What that meant is you had to like look out at the road and look for the signs along the way that say, this is the road that you're on, and this is the direction that you're going, North, South, East or West. What that meant is there would be these times, it's never happened to me, but maybe it happened to some of you, where you would be on the right road. You thought, I'm on I-80. I'm good to go. I set the cruise control. I can kick back and relax. Then like an hour later, you notice, hey, that sign says there's an I-80 with a little E on it. I was supposed to be on I-80 with a little W after it. I've just driven a sixth of the way across the country in the wrong direction. If it wasn't for the sign, I wouldn't have known that I'm actually lost. How do you know when you're on the right path? That's what Jesus' wanting us to get at here. What are the signs to look for? We're going to talk about that in a minute, but first, Jesus warns us that, if that's not bad enough, there's false signs out there pointing in the wrong direction. He says, "Beware of false prophets." There are people trying to lead you astray, telling you that this is the way to go and actually pointing you in a way that is the opposite. This was a problem back then, this is a major problem today. We live in a day and age where, because of things like social media, anybody and everybody can have a platform and gather a following. On the one hand, this means there's a lot of good, useful content out there, Christian teaching available online. It also means there's a lot of horrible, deceptive, false content out there, false prophets, people who are claiming to present the truth with authority, and yet they are leading people in the wrong direction. Some of these people, they can be religious. Some of these people are irreligious. Churches used to worry a lot about the false teachers that people would see on TV, the televangelist, the snake oil salesmen, the charlatans preaching their prosperity gospel. That's something we need to be concerned of and discerning about and look out for as Christians. But today, we don't honestly see many people being deceived by the cookies, people that we see on Christian television. Instead, what we see is there's a lot of people are being led astray in other ways, the political causes, activists, personalities, celebrities, talk show hosts, influencers, even teachers and professors, and Jesus warns us that it's not always going to be obvious who these people are. Don't assume that you know what they're going to look like, because they're going to look like sheep on the outside. When you look up a little closer, you see that they're actually ferocious wolves. He's warning us, you need to be cautious, you need to be careful who you follow. You need to be wise and discerning so that you can tell the difference. Now, you're going to need community around you to help you with this. You're going to need to know God's word and filter everything through that. We have a great example of this in Acts 17. Acts 17:10 tells us that, "The brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now, these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so." On the one hand, they're open, they're teachable, they're eager to learn, and that the other hand, they're discerning. They're taking everything they hear from Paul and Silas, and they're filtering it through God's word to see if these things are so. We need to do that as Christians with everything that we hear. Galatians 1 gives us this warning in verse six, and Paul tells the church, "I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be cursed." Colossians 2:8 says, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of this world and not according to Christ." Jesus says, watch out for false prophets, don't be fooled by false teachers. But secondly, He's also telling us, don't even be fooled by yourself. Don't be self-deceived. This is where things get kind of scary. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone who calls me Lord or even does ministry in my name is actually a Christian." Some people are going to go through their life self-deceived thinking that they are serving Christ, and when they stand before him in the judgment, He's going to say, "I never knew you and depart from me." This is sobering. This should cause us to examine ourselves. Now, as Christians, this doesn't mean that we should live in doubt of our salvation, but the alternative is not to have this carefree, blind assumption that we are saved either. What are we to do? Scripture doesn't want us to assume our salvation, but what it wants us to do is to seek assurance of our salvation. What does that mean? How can we have a surety that we are truly saved? That's what Jesus is getting at here. He says, you want to know the tree? You got to look at its fruit. If there's evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in your life, that's a pretty good sign that you've been truly born again, that God has saved you, that you are a new creation. Now, if you don't see that, if these signs aren't here, maybe you're saved, maybe you're not. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're not saved, but it doesn't mean that you lack assurance of your salvation. How do we find this? What are we looking for here? A couple of passages of scriptures to help us out, 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter 1:5-10, and Peter says this, "That for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ." "For whoever lacks these qualities is so near-sighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fail." When you identify this trajectory of growth in your life, that's a good sign that you're heading in right direction, that you're confirming your calling and election. Galatians 5:16-24, the apostle Paul talking of the fruit of the spirit. He says, "I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these, I warn you as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the Lord with its passions and desires." Are you growing in the fruit of the spirit? Notice, he doesn't say fruits of the spirit, plural, this is not like an a la carte, pick and choose which ones you want to grow, and this is an all or nothing. You don't have to be accrued in order to have a bit of self-control or to show a bit of kindness. One or two of these things does not give us assurance of our salvation in and of themselves. Our assurance grows when we see that all of these things, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, they are growing in tandem, not because of our own willpower, or the work of the flesh, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The big idea here is that Jesus doesn't want us to be doubting, but he does want us to be discerning, because we can be deceived by others. We can even deceive ourselves, but God is not deceived. He knows the state of our heart. Galatians 6:7-8 says, "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his on flesh will, from the flesh, reap corruption." "But the one who sows to the spirit will, from the spirit, reap eternal life." 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us, "To examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith." Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves? That Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test." If Christ is not in you, then that's where you need to start, right? You don't start by trying to tuck healthy looking fruit onto a dying tree. Instead, you start by calling out to Jesus and asking him to make you a new tree, to change you from the inside out to give you a new one heart and a new desire by the power of his Holy Spirit. Now, if you examine yourself and you do see this, you see the Holy spirit at work in your heart, you take heart because of that, know that you are on the right path, and that, even if that path is very difficult at times, it doesn't mean that Christ is not there with you. He is with you and he's ensuring that you will arrive at your destination. We see this in Philippians 2:12. It tells us, "To work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." A chapter earlier, in chapter verse six, Paul wrote that, "I am sure of this, that he who began and a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." There are only two paths, there are only two directions, and point number three, there are only two destinations. Jesus concludes in verse 24 with this, says, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock, and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes." Many of you know I was born and raised in Illinois, and in the Midwest, thunderstorms are like a very real thing. They're very long, they're very loud, they're very violent, and they always came with this looming threat of tornadoes. As a kid, I was simultaneously fascinated and completely utterly terrified of tornadoes the entire time growing up. You'd hear those sirens go off in your neighborhood, and everybody knew you had to stop what you're doing and you had to get to shelter. You had to find someplace stable, someplace safe, and that usually meant you need to get down into the basement, into the foundation of your home for safety. Notice that Jesus doesn't say that, if you hear these words of mine and you do them, that you will therefore avoid all of the storms of life. No, he says the storms are coming, they're coming for everyone, and that they come in many forms. A family member gets sick, a job gets lost, the economy tanks, or relationship falls apart. Even if we dodge these smaller storms of life, there's always that one storm looming on the horizon. Now, the biggest storm is the storm of death. It's one that none of us can escape. It's coming and it's getting closer with every breath. How are we going to weather that storm? Jesus says, it doesn't matter what you build. The only thing that matters is where you build, what you build on. He says, if you're building your life on me and on my teaching, you're like a wise person who's building on an unshakeable foundation. I hope you understand this. As Christians, we have this piece. It's like an anchor for our soul. It transcends the circumstances of life and death, because we know that, even if the very worst were to come true, our worst fears were to be actualized, if everything was lost and death was at our doorstep, even then, our hope is not in this life. Our hope is in the next. Our soul is standing on a foundation that can't be shaken, that can't be moved, that will not give way. We know this because Jesus proved this through the cross. On the cross, Jesus faced our biggest, our darkest storm. Not a storm of life, not even a storm of physical death, but of total death. The fierce storm of God's wrath toward rebellion and sin was poured out and absorbed by Jesus on the cross. The scripture tells us, the sky grew dark, that the earth quaked on the day that our savior died, but it was through this, his death, that we were granted eternal life. It was through this storm that he faced, that we are able to weather the storm ourselves, because through his death, Jesus defeated Satan, sin, and death. That God, the father, three days later, raised him up in victory and just vindicated him from the grave, glorified him at his right hand, and in doing so, he proved that he can and he will do the same for us, for all those who build on this foundation. Well, where does this lead us? Jesus is calling us to make a decision, decisive action. There are only two options. There are only two paths. There are only two destinations. This is what he's saying, you're either going to build on me, on this foundation, or you're going to continue trusting in the sandy shores of self-righteousness of worldly pleasures of living for yourself. Sermon on the mount, in the very beginning, in Matthew 5:1, we're told that, "Jesus saw the crowds and he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them." Then here at the very end of this section, we're told that, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes." Perhaps you have been standing in the crowd, observing Jesus from a distance. Right now you realize that it's time to leave the crowd and to draw near to Christ as one of his disciples. Jesus had a lot of fans in the crowd. He was never interested in fans. Fans come and go. We're reminded of this a bit today because today is Palm Sunday, and we can't prove this, but it's easy to imagine that the probability, that there were some in the crowd on Palm Sunday crying out Hosanna, who later that week were in the crowd on Good Friday crying out, crucify him. There's a fickleness to the fans that ... Jesus wasn't after that. He doesn't want people who are self-deceived. He's looking, not for fans, he's looking for followers. He's looking for people who are ready to enter through that narrow gate, to take up their cross and to follow him down that hard path, but to follow him knowing that it is the path that leads to life. If you're here today and you're ready to become a follower of Jesus, the way you enter through that narrow gate is simply to repent, to put your faith in Jesus Christ. You can do that right now. If you do, we would love to talk to you, we'd love to pray with you after the service and talk more about what this decision means. If you are a follower of Jesus, understand, hopefully you understand this, that you can't walk this path alone. You need people around you to help you, to encourage you along this way. If you're in a community group, be faithful to that community group, invest in those relationships. If you're not, we would love to help you get plugged into a community group today. It's one of the best ways where you can do this for one another and go on this journey of following Jesus together. If you're interested in that, just mark that on the back of your connection card. or stop by the welcome center, we'd love to help you find a community group today. Then finally, one more thing before we close, next Sunday, Easter Sunday, and so who do you know that maybe needs to come and stand in the crowd with the hopes that they hear the teaching of Jesus, and they see that He is one who taught with authority and they themselves lead the crowd and become a disciple as well? We're going to be praying for those people this week. If you have opportunities to invite them and bring them along next Sunday, we'd love to see them here worshiping with us on Easter Sunday. With that being said, would you please join me in prayer? And then we'll continue and worship together. Jesus, we thank you for giving us this sure foundation for being our solid rock. Lord, we thank you for this week, where we are reminded that you did conquer Satan, sin and death, that you took our sin upon yourself on that cross, and then you Rose in victory on Sunday morning. I thank you for this good news that we have because of you and what you've done for us. Father, I pray that you would make us wise, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that you'd give us the strength to faithfully continue down this hard narrow path of discipleship, to keep our eyes focused on Christ, the founder, the perfector, the trailblazer, the pioneer of our faith, and to fervently pursue him until that day where we stand before you in judgment. Not to hear those words, depart from me, I never knew you, but to hear those words, well, done, my good and faithful servant. Come, enter into the joy of your master. We long for that day, and we pray, until we get there, that you would, by the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to be faithful witnesses to you. We love you, we praise you, and we give you all glory, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior, amen.

Sermon on the Mount 9

March 21, 2021 • Matthew 7:1–12

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning, welcome to Mosaic. My name is John I'm with the pastors here, along pastor Shane and pastor Andy. If you're new or if you're visiting, we'd love to connect with you. Do that through the connection card in the worship guide, either the physical one or the virtual one in the app or on the website, you fill it out and then get it to us. We'll get in touch with you over the course of the week. Quick announcement; April 2nd is good Friday, we have a service here at 6:00 PM. Easter, we have three services, 8:30, 10:15, and noon. Just keep that on your calendar. Then also, plan to invite some friends to one of, or all services. They'll be tremendous, by God's grace. Also, we have another prayer service tonight, the second of three. Tonight and then next week, that is at 5:00 PM. Love to see you at that as well. That said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word? Heavenly father, we thank you that you though being a holy God, did not leave us in our sins, though that's what we deserved. That you could have damned us for all of eternity. You could have sent us on our way. That's where we were headed, to spend eternity apart from you in a place called hell. That's what we deserve. We recognize that, we own that. We sense that that's the bad news. It's terrible news. But we thank you for Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you that you came, you lived a perfect life. You lived that perfect life, so that we would not have to bear condemnation. Because you did that on the cross for us, you were condemned, you were damned, you were canceled. And you did that in order to cancel the record of our indebtedness to God. We thank you for grace. We thank you that we can be saved. We thank you that we can be forgiven. We thank you that we can be redeemed no matter what we've done. There is always hope for redemption while our heart is beating. We thank you for that. I pray that you make us a people who receive that grace and extend that grace, that graciousness. You are a God who is loving and you're slow to anger. You are patient and you're steadfast, in your loving kindness. We thank you for that. Make us the people who receive it and extend it in the same way that Jesus extends it to us. We pray this in Christ's Holy name. Amen. If you're new, we are in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever preached, that's Jesus Christ himself, the son of God, son of man. He doesn't just give us wisdom, he doesn't just teach us how to live, he also extends grace to us and the Holy Spirit that empowers us to live this brand new life. A life that is to the full, a life of loving kindness, a life of discernment and a life of grace. Today, we are in Matthew 7:1-12. Next week, we'll finish off this sermon series. The title of my sermon is, Don't Cancel People. We live in a censorious culture, people getting canceled left and right. JK Rowling, Gina Carano, Mike Lindell, Goya, Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss and Jemima, Uncle Ben, cancel, cancel, cancel. Donald Trump, canceled. Four years' president, disappears. You can't even say his name, without feeling uncomfortable in the room. Cancel, cancel, cancel. How do we respond to the cancel culture? The natural response is, "You cancel me, I'm going to cancel you twice as hard." That's the natural response. What's the Christian response? The Christian response goes like this, "We recognize we all deserve to be canceled. We all deserve to be damned. We all deserve to be condemned, forever. But thanks be to Jesus Christ who came to uncancel us." Jesus called canceled people his friends. The people who were ostracized by society, written off. You are dead to society, if you were a prostitute or an adulterer or tax collector or a pagan. Jesus befriends these people. His closest circle of friends included the worst of the worst, the guiltiest of the guilty. He befriends them, he forgives the outcast, the misfit, the leper, the liar, the adulterer. He refused to dismiss the dismissed. He refused to reject the rejected. He accepted them. He forgave the denounced. He pardoned. He gave grace. Jesus Christ, how did he do that? How can God, a Holy God, just forgive? He can't just forgive. Because he's just. Jesus Christ comes and on the cross, he says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Why did God, the father, forsake God, the son. Because God, the son, took our condemnation upon himself. God, the son, was canceled on the cross, in order to cancel the record of our indebtedness against God. He's taken away, nailing it to the cross. It's from that perspective, that we look at Matthew 7, where Jesus gives us some of the most famous verses from all of scripture. But it's from that perspective, that he tells us to be careful in how we judge. Today we're in Matthew 7:1-12, would you look at the text with me. "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounced, you will be judged. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when there is the log in your own eye. You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." "Do not give dogs what is holy, do not throw your pearls before the pigs. Lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened." "For which one of you, if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children? How much more will your father who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this as the law and the prophets." This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, authoritative word. May write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame over time. Christian judging, Christian asking, Christian loving. First, is Christian judging. Jesus goes from addressing our attitudes toward money and possessions, that's the past two pericopes, the paragraphs. Now, he transitions to talking about our attitudes toward people. "Judge not, lest you be judged." What does that mean? Does that means we get rid of teachers? Does that mean we can get rid of grades, coaches, umpires, referees, cops, judges, courts, accountability, responsibility? Is that what he's saying? Can't be. Because even in this text he says, "You're hypocrites." That's a judgment call. Call some people pigs and dogs. Judgment call. Jesus had very choice words for the religious elites and for politicians. Herod, he calls him the fox. Pharisees, whitewashed tombs, brood of Vipers. Those are all judgment calls. He had very hard words for hard hearted people, to wake them up to the reality. He's obviously not saying don't make judgment calls. He's not saying don't practice this sermon because there's no way around it. Even if someone comes to you and says, "Hey, you're in sin," and your response is, "Don't judge me." That person at that second, is judging, your judging of them. You can't get around it. He's not saying, "Don't judge." 1 Corinthians 10:15 says, "I speak to you as sensible people, judge for yourselves, what I say." We are to judge. We are to make judgment calls. He doesn't say, "Do not judge ever," in terms of discernment. Here we get into linguistic analysis. What does judge mean? It's a Greek word, krino, has two definitions. The first one is condemnation, to condemn. The second one is, to discern. He's not saying, don't discern, he's saying do not condemn. Condemnation without the hope of redemption. That's what he's saying. Matthew 7:6, "Do not give dogs what is holy. Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." Dogs here are not pets, dogs here, he's talking about wild, unclean, filthy animals. And the priests who go into the temple and part of the sacrifice he'll present to God, that's the holy part and part the priests would eat. The Holy part is that which is given to God. You don't take that and give it to a wild dog, because that would be an abomination. That would be desecration. Same thing with the pig. The pig, you don't throw a Pearl to a pig, because the pig does not sense its value. The dog does not sense the value of the holy part. Jesus here is talking about animals that don't sense the realities, other than the physical. They're only driven by appetites. They don't see the beauty. They don't treasure the treasure. Jesus in other parts of scripture tells the disciples, "Go preach the gospel. If you go to villages where people just reject you, they don't want to hear the message of redemption, because they don't sense a need for being forgiven, because of self-righteousness, because of pride." He says, "In those cases, shake off the dust from your feet of that village." Meaning, those people who have had ample opportunity to hear, receive the good news and have decisively, even defiantly rejected it, we need to have a discernment of when pushing the gospel on people, isn't really helpful. It's discernment, some spiritual sensitivity. We are to be discerning. Matthew 7:15-20, few verses below our text, Jesus says, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits." We are to be discerning. We are to know the truth, know the scriptures, know the gospel and have a spiritual sixth sense, so to speak, that goes off when we hear lies, and when we see that the fruit isn't a fruit of the spirit. Hebrews 5:14 says, "But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." We have to grow, we have to train our discernment. Scripture talks often about judging that's lawful and that's required in the word of God. There's ecclesiastical or in the church, judging. Matthew 18, if a brother or sister sinned against you, you go to them, you have a conversation with them. You call out their sin. "Hey, you've sinned against me. Let's have a conversation. Ecclesiastical judging. The civil government judges, Romans 13 talks about that. Private judging, where in family and relationships, you help one another fight the good fight, by calling out sin, speaking, truth and love. There are times to judge. What's Jesus talking about here, when he says, "Do not judge, let's do be judged?" The word hypocrite is used. Do not do it hypocritically. That's really the whole context of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus over and over and over and over and over says there's two paths. There's the authentic, spiritual, gracious, humble walk with the Lord, and there's the prideful, lies and hypocritical, inauthentic, mask-wearing. Matthew 5:24, "I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus, in his mind, he has a group of people, the Pharisees. The Pharisees who have taken God's law and they turn it upside down, instead of loving God and loving people, they've loved self and used God and people. Matthew 21:26, he says, "Do not get angry, like the hypocrites, but love like Jesus." The next text, "Do not lust like the hypocrites, but be pure in heart, like Jesus." Then he says, "Do not divorce like the hypocrites, but be faithful to your spouse, like Jesus. Do not lie like the hypocrites, but always be truthful, like Jesus. Do not retaliate like the hypocrites, but seek reconciliation, like Jesus. Do not hate your enemies, like a hypocrite, but be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Do not practice your righteousness like the hypocrites, but be righteous, like Jesus. Do not give to be seen like the hypocrites, but give to meet needs like Jesus. Do not pray like the hypocrites, do not fast like the hypocrites, do not lay treasures up like the hypocrites. Do not be anxious, like the hypocrites." Then we get to text, "Do not judge like the hypocrites, that you be not judged, like the hypocrites." The Pharisees, thought highly of themselves. They held utter contempt for those on the outside, for those who weren't as righteous as they were, for those who weren't as virtuous as they were. They judged, not to help people seek redemption, but in order to demean. There's a parable that Jesus gives of the Pharisee and the tax collector. They come into church together. And the Pharisee prays out loud and says, "God, I thank you that I'm not like that guy. I thank you, that I fast twice a week and I tithe and I am a good person. Thank you for that. I'm not extortioners, unjust, adulterous or even like this tax collector." The tax collector comes in and he can't even look up and be judged. "Condemn not," see there it's clarified. "Condemn not and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven." John 7:24, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." John 8:15, "You judge, according to the flesh, I judge no one." Then we're told don't do it hypocritically and don't judge from a position of God, where you cast this person out as if you're God. God is merciful, God is gracious. While we're still alive, there's still room for redemption. Romans 14:4, "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls and he will be upheld. For the Lord is able to make him stand." We're not to judge in the position of God, we're not to judge hastily or rashly. We're to give people the benefit of the doubt. They're sinners, we're sinners. Proverbs 18:13, "If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame." This discernment that we need, we need to gather the information, before jumping to conclusions. Really, the emphasis is on the hypocrisy. Romans 2:1, "Therefore, you have no excuse oh man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself." Because you would the judge, practice the very same things. That's the issue. We're sinners. Before dealing with our own sin, we start sinning others, that's what he's getting at. Francis Schaeffer, a great apologist of the 20th century, he said, "All God needs to condemn us 1,000 times over, is to hang a tape recorder around our neck and judge us with the same standard that we have for other people." We do have standards for other people. We judge all the time. Our culture, it's promoting judging. There's ratings and reviews for absolutely everything. We've got a one star review. Our church got a one-star review two weeks ago. I know the person that gave it, because I just had a conversation with that person. I go home and I get an email from Google that we got a one star review from that person. If you gave us, I'd really appreciate a conversation. Please retract it. Because now we're at 4.9. For the rest of you, do a very simple evangelistic work today and go on Google and give us a five star review, please, and leave a little paragraph and things like that. Everyone's just out to judge. It's the hypocritical judging that he's getting at. What happened to David and Nathan, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, murders her husband. A year passes, and he's just so blinded by his own sin. Then Nathan, the prophet, comes to him. Tells them a story, about a rich man who had lots of sheep. He goes to the poor man, steals his sheep in order to entertain his friends. Nathan comes to David, tells him that story. David's anger is kindled. He says, "That man will pay four times. Four-fold for his sin." 2 Samuel 12:5-7, says, "Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man." He said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." Nathan said to David, "You are the man." You are that guy. This is what Jesus is getting at. He doesn't say we can't discern. He doesn't say we can't have judgment calls. No. There's no way around that. But Matthew 7:3-5, this is what he's getting at. "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye and do not notice the log that is in your own eye." This is an illustration from a carpenter's workshop. The spec is just the sawdust and the plank or the log. This is a beam. Meaning like a weight bearing beam, load bearing beam. It's like a telephone pole. You're saying you want to help someone who's got a little speck in his eye, when you've got a big, massive log coming out of your own eye? What's that spec? How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your own eye, when there's a logging and your own. You hypocrite, first take out the log that is in your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." What is the spec? We understand that's a sin. Every single one of us, we have specks in our eyes. That's sin. And Jesus says, "But be careful, that you do not have a log." What's the log? Separate from the spec, the log here is the thing that keeps you from seeing reality as it truly is. In the context of about pigs and dogs, the log is what makes the spiritual, imperceptible. The log is what makes you relegate it to just physical appetites. What is this log? This log is the only sin that God cannot forgive. What is this log? What is the sin that God cannot forgive? It's the sin of pride, self-Righteousness, where you think you're better than others, and that's why you judge. "You're not as good as I am. No redemption for you because I don't need to be redeemed, because I have done enough good." That's the log that's in the eye of every single person. And the more good things you do, the bigger that log is. It's your resume of virtues. The more you do apart from God, the bigger it gets and the more you judge other people, because they're just not as good as you. Self-righteousness, that's what's at the root of canceling people, literal condemnation. "You're worthless. I'm through with you. You are dead to me." It's self-righteousness. There's no grace, because you don't see your own need for grace. Matthew 7:24, "With the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you." There's two options here. Two options in this text. Option number one is, you say, no one can possibly live up to the standards of Jesus, therefore, let's get rid of them. The other option is, no one can live up to the standards of Jesus, I need to repent of my sin, where I do not live up to the standards of Jesus. I need to ask Jesus to take out the log from my eye, the plank from my eye. I do that by recognizing, it's that plank of pride and self righteous. It's those two planks that Jesus Christ was crucified upon, to take out the plank from my eye. When I realized that, now, I'm in a position where, there is hope for redemption. There is forgiveness, there is mercy, there is grace, and I can change. Instead of changing God instead of changing his rules, because I can't live up to them, instead of throwing them out and writing our own rules and trying to create heaven on earth, without God. Instead of doing that, I recognize his standard is holy. He is righteous. I can't change God. He's immutable. I need to ask for forgiveness. The standard is still the standard. I do my best on a daily basis, receiving grace by the power of the spirit to live up to the standard. I never do it perfectly. Driving the car yesterday, my wife was talking about my oldest daughter. My oldest daughter is 12. I got a 12 year old at my house. That's challenging. Our 12 year old is at the point where she has a tremendous memory. When we say things that she should do, and we don't do those things, she has a record of all the things that we don't do. She called mom a hypocrite. I was like, "Oh, that's fascinating. You're a 12 year old. You wouldn't even be here, if it wasn't for us." Then she said, "How about you, dad, are you a hypocrite?" I said, "100%. I'm barely a Christian. I'm a by accident, Christian. I look at myself, I'm like, I can't believe God saved me." There's other people I look at, I'm like, "I could see that God of the universe had died for you." For me, "I wouldn't die for me. I can't believe it." We're all hypocrites. We're all unrighteous. We're all self-righteous. That's what Jesus is saying in Matthew 7:5, "You hypocrite." You're like, "Ah, that doesn't feel very good." But it's true. It's absolutely true. You're a hypocrite, I'm a hypocrite. We're all hypocrites. "First take out the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly take the speck out of your brother's eye." He says, you do it. You take out the log. This is what Christianity says, is you do it. As you try to do it, you realize just how painstaking this, and you can do it and you need Jesus. Ever got something in your eye? It's the worst feeling ever. The smallest thing, the worst thing. You can do everything you possibly can and you can't get it out. Then who do you allow to do it, someone you really trust. That's really what becoming a Christian is. It's, "Lord, please take this out." Then that's justification. Sanctification is, when we on a daily basis, look at our own life, is there a log? Is there a spec? You apply the judgment that you apply to other people. What he's saying is, the way that you judge other people, apply that same standard to yourself, 100 times more meticulously, then you'll begin to understand what he's saying here. The way that we do it is, we can be brutally honest with ourselves about our own faults. We can be brutally honest because, there's always grace. There there's always redemption. We don't have to hide it from Jesus Christ. This is what the gospel is. We haven't met the standard, Jesus has. He gives us grace for our sin. We're all dogs, and wild pigs in of ourselves. We don't sense the beauty of spirituality. We don't sense the beauty of God in of ourselves. We have cold, hard hearts and we're just focused and preoccupied with physical appetites. We're all pigs. Jesus is the pearl. When we look to the cross and we realize that Jesus Christ was thrown to the pigs, he was thrown to dogs, he was crucified on our behalf. He did that for us, that's when we begin to see the value of Christ, that he was crucified on our planks and our beams, in order to save us. We love the concept of forgiveness. We love the concept of grace. We love that. But the concept of forgiveness assumes judgment. And what our culture has done, we've tried to get rid of the moral code, although it's still written on our hearts. We try to get rid of that. There's no standard, there's no judgment, but there's only grace and forgiveness. I know you can't have forgiveness without the standard. God offers us the forgiveness, but first we need to realize, that we have sinned and we have the spiritual cancer. If you have cancer and you go to the doctor and the doctor says you have cancer, is he judging you? No, he's not. He's diagnosing you. That's what the gospel does. That's what Jesus does. When you realize that's what he does for us in order to heal us in order to forgive us, we receive the grace and now, we can help others do the same, from a position of humility. "I'm not better than you." Every single one of us, we are wicked sinners, deserving hell, but Jesus saved me. You know what? I think he could save you. You got to repent of your sin, of your self-righteousness. Practical applications here, in terms of judgment, first, we got to check yourself, you got to check your own spiritual eye for a plank, for a speck. 1 Corinthians 11:28, talking about communion, "Let a person examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup." Examine. Self-examination. What sins in my life are just... They're there. They're lodged in my eye. I need to repent and to leave that sin. James 4:16, "Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power, as it's working." We need to confess our sins to God and sometimes it's helpful to confess them to others, when it's just lodged in their habitual sin, "I can't get rid of it." Find a brother and sister whom you trust and share it and confess and fight the good fight together. Also, we need to learn how to take judgment. As Christians, as brothers and sisters, we need to learn how to receive truth. We're to speak truth with grace. We are also to receive it and not be like a dog biting back or a pig on the attack, when people come to us and they point out a sin in our lives. What's the first reaction? Is it defensive? Putting a guard, "Who are you to judge me?" Or, is it from a position of, "I am a sinner. Thanks for pointing that out. Let me think about that. That's really important. Psalm 141:5, "Let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness. Let him rebuke me, It is oil for my head. Let my head not refuse it yet. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds." Proverbs 9:8, "Do not reprove a scoffer or he will hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you." Proverbs 27:6, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy." Proverbs 25:12, "Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold, is a wise reprove to a listening ear." Also we are to learn, to give truth to people with grace. It's truth with grace. When you do that, there is a potential for you to be canceled, dear Christian. When you take a stance for Christ, for truth, you will be persecuted and more and more so in our culture that is growing more and more godless. We aren't to be surprised by that, at all. We need to expect it. That's what Jesus said, "I have been hated, you will be hated as well on my account by some. But others will hear it and will be regenerated by the Holy Spirit." Because of our witness, eternally changed for that person. That's why it's worth it. It's worth it. We'll take the hate. We'll take the persecution. But there are some who will be drawn to Christ and it's worth it, 100%. Second is Christian asking, Matthew 7:7-11, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For anyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds and to the one who knocks, it will be opened." Ask before we seek. It assumes humility. Instead of first pursuing whatever it is you want, you need to ask. Lord, is this good? Is this right? Is this is from you? There is growth. Ask, before we seek, seek before we know. Then he says, "Which of you, if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father was in heaven, give good gifts to those who ask?" This is an argument from the less to the greater. If a human father, who is sinful and selfish as we all are, we are. I used to think I was a selfless person before I got married and then realized how selfish I was. Then just progress with every kid. I thought I was a selfless person. Then I had a kid. Here's the thing about having a kid? You have the kid, so cute, but you just give up all of your naps forever. You will never have another nap. It's gone. But even with our sinful, selfish natures, we care for our children's needs. That's what he's saying. If sinful, human fathers do, how much more will a perfect and infinitely loving father, provide for our needs, give us what we need? Not necessarily we always ask for, because how terrible the thing would it be if God always gave us what we ask for? It's fascinating how Jesus just slips in, in this context of like, "Do not judge," he calls us hypocrites and calls some people dogs and pigs. Then he also calls us evil here. He just slips that in. Because he's the king of the universe. He brings in, "You are evil," slips that in as the most obvious and incontestable fact. We're all evil, even at our best. Humans are at their best when they're providing for children. Even at our best, we are evil. We are dogs, we are pigs. We deserve nothing by condemnation. We can't stand before God on our rights, on our moral record, on our virtues, on the basis of anything. We're unfit for blessing. From this perspective, we can now begin to understand blessings. It absolutely changes your life. When you understand that you deserve nothing but hell and condemnation, everything else in life is icing on the cake. I'm alive today. I'm breathing. Had some coffee. I'm going to have lunch later. Incredible blessings. It just changes your perspective. I get to live in Boston and share the gospel with people. They're going to bite. They're going to kick. They're going to fight back. Well, I deserve nothing... It changes absolutely everything. God is gracious to us. Instead of getting offended, that Jesus called me a hypocrite, instead of getting offended that I'm evil, instead of getting offended, that I got a big log in my eye, instead of getting offended that I'm a dog or a pig, instead, take that as grace from God to wake you up, to change you from the inside out. There's a story in Matthew 15:21-28, a very controversial story, where Jesus calls a woman a dog. And here's the story. "Jesus went away from there and withdrew the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me O Lord, son of God. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." This is a mother at her best, saying that her child is being possessed, is suffering under demonic possession. Comes to Jesus asking for help. But he did not answer her a word. His disciples came and begged him saying, "Send her away, for she's crying out after us." We see the persistence. He answered to her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him saying, "Lord, help me." He answered, "It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus answered her, "Oh woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. I saw this TikTok, I'm old enough for that to be funny. I saw this TikTok of a pastor. Apparently this pastor is on TikTok. Certain kind of pastors are on TikTok. This guy read this text and he said, "Jesus is a racist." Jesus sees a woman of another race and he's being racist to her. Then she points out the work that he needs to do to fight his racism, like internal work, and then Jesus repents and he changes and now he's no longer a racist. False. False. That's false. Jesus is never sin. Perfect son of God. He's not a racist. You can't read scripture through these lenses of you judging God. It's not going to end well. Jesus here, what's going on? It's not about race here, it's not about pedigree. Because Jesus said, "What makes a person unclean is the heart." We're not dogs because of race, that's not what's going on. We're all sinners. We're all dogs. She doesn't assert her rights. She doesn't come to Jesus demanding, "Jesus, you owe me. You owe me." Even on the basis of her suffering. A lot of people come to God on the basis of their suffering. "God, you owe me." God doesn't owe us anything. We are degenerate sinners. We deserve nothing but hell. She comes to them and she acknowledges, humbly. "I am a dog. I'm not a child. I have sinned. I have allowed evil into my life. I deserve nothing." And she doesn't walk away, discouraged, and she's hanging her head. She recognized, "I am unworthy and you're merciful. I am unworthy, but there's enough bread on that table, even for me. I don't deserve a crumb, but I know who you are. You're a gracious God." And she gets what she desired. "Be it done for you, as you desire." This text is not just about our prayer life, that's part of it. But it's about our posture before God. That we are to come to God with humility. "God, I don't deserve anything. God, I am a rebel. I'm not a child. But because of Jesus Christ, I can be adopted into the family of God and I can come to you and I can pray, persistently." Scripture talks about praying with impudence, shamelessness, unblushing persistence, relentlessly, audaciously, tenaciously asking God. And God honors that persistence. My daughter Milana, she's three, almost four. She's born with this persistence. Whenever she wants something... By the way, our family has four kids. Wherever we go, it's a crowd. To get your voice heard, you need to persist. Whenever our families get together, my sister has four kids, my other sister has two kids. I have four siblings. Whenever we get together as a family, it's the persistent and the loudest person that gets heard. My daughter Milana, she learned that. She learned that cheat code to our family. And she will nag you and persist. She has the same forehead and eyebrow thing that I do, where she gives you all of her emotions with her face and she's like, "Papa, papa, papa, I need this thing." I'm like, "Fine. Take it. Just get away from me. Leave me alone." That's kind of how God says that we should pray, nag him, persistent in prayer. He honors that persistence and the expectancy. "I expect you to answer. I expect that you will give me what I need. Not necessarily what I want. I expect." So prayer is more than just asking for stuff. It's asking for more of the presence of God, because when you persist, when you keep at it, you're getting more of God. Jeremiah 29, 11-14: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you and you will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you," declares the Lord. Our most fervent prayers should be not just to God, but for God. "God, I want more of you." That's what Luke 11:13, the parallel passage, that's what it ends with. "If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children? How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" What's the greatest thing that God can give us? It's more of himself. A greater measure of himself. More of his presence, more of his face. When we ask, when we seek, when we knock, as we do, we are to ask and seek and knock, for more of the Holy Spirit. Three, is Christian loving, Matthew 7:12. "Whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets." This is all of Christian ethics, all of Christian morality, in one verse. By the way, this is how Jesus ends the ethical section of the whole Sermon on the Mount. After this text, he talks about a saving relationship with God. Here, he ends all of ethics, all of the ethical stuff, with saying, "Whatever you wish that others would do to you do also for them." This is the greater righteousness that Jesus expects from his disciples. The statement, in its negative form, is found in lots of ancient writings. This is why if you study Christianity and world religions in high school and college, this is what they say, "Oh, Jesus didn't really say anything unique. All other religions have it." They have it in the negative form. The negative form is, do not do to others what you wouldn't want to be done for you." We see this from Athenian philosophers, the Jewish rabbi, rabbi Hillel said, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow creatures." It's found in the teachings of Confucius. And so, in human beings, we're creating the image of God. The moral code is written on our hearts. We know what is required of us, in the negative form. And the negative form, you don't want to get robbed, don't Rob someone. You don't want to get cussed out, don't cuss out other people. You don't want to be hated, don't hate other people. We know that. What is unnatural to us, is the positive form. It's absolutely unnatural. It's supernatural. It's higher, it's more proactive. If you enjoy being loved, love others. If you enjoy being encouraged and appreciated, encourage and appreciate others. If you enjoy generosity, then give to others. It's really an elaboration of Leviticus, 19:18, it says, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It's unselfish love to others, to strangers. Bishop Ryle said this, "It settles 100 difficult points, which in a world like this, are continually arising between people. It prevents the necessity of laying down, endless little rules for our conduct and specific cases. It sweeps the whole debatable ground, with one mighty principle. This is the operating principle and it should be for every situation of life. For marriage, it's the key, it's the secret to marriage. If you want a back rub, if you enjoy back rubs, give your spouse a back rub. Scratch hard with the nails, like that. Do that. With children, raise your children, do onto them as you would have them do onto you. It changes every situation in life. At work, on the T, on the highway, on the street, it changes dating, it changes marriage, it changes parenting, friendship, church membership. And it changes judging. That's why he starts with that and he ends with that. Think about how you want to be treated, how you want to be judged when you need correction, then treat others the same way. It takes a certain wisdom. It's not natural. It takes wisdom. A lot of people talk them about nowadays emotional intelligence. All emotional intelligence really is, is pretending you're the other person. Putting yourself in their shoes, recognizing, understanding, sympathizing, empathizing with their situation. "How would I want to be treated?" And treat them the same way? Anyone who's really tried to live like this, knows how punishingly difficult it is. Because we are all vain and proud and selfish and self-centered. How much time did you think about yourself this morning? All the time. You spent all the time thinking about yourself. Thinking about what you're going to eat and thinking about how you need to fix your hair, thinking about whatever. And being able to put yourself in the position, that's what he's saying. We can't do it on our own. How can we become more selfless and more humble and more sincere, through the gospel, recognizing that the only person who's really done this completely, of putting themselves in my place, the only one that's really done that, is Jesus Christ. He 100% put himself in your place on the cross. When you realize that, "On the cross, Jesus put himself in my place in order to forgive me and change me," that's selflessness. Now, we begin to understand, I can now put myself in another person's place. Then how else? Through prayer. By asking, seeking and knocking, for the more important blessings. Not just physical stuff, of God to change our hearts and change our characters. The golden rule can only be understood in this context. We pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. Forgive us as we forgive others. You've forgiven us, now I can forgive others." It's generous judgment. When we see people in sin, when we see people who were trying to cancel us, there's a generous discernment and judgment where we leave the door open for redemption. Redemption that was given to us. Kanye West once said, "I've been canceled before they had canceled culture." Cancel culture goes back much further than Kanye West. Cancel culture goes back all the way back to when Jesus Christ stood before Pilate. And Pilate, after looking at all the facts, he says, "I've found no fault in this man. I've examined him in your presence. I found no fault in him. He's done nothing deserving of death." And the mob, what did they cry out? "Crucify him! Crucify him!." Cancel him. He is dead to us. They did that to the greatest person who ever lived. And Jesus allowed it to happen. Why did he allow this to happen? Why did he allow evil to triumph? Because this is the only way for him to triumph over evil. This was the only way for Jesus to forgive us of our evil. This is the only way of Jesus not condemning us, by taking our condemnation upon himself. Psalm 22, written centuries before crucifixion was even invented as a means of execution. Psalm 22:16, "For dogs encompass me, a company of evil doers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divided my garments among them and for my clothing, they cast lots. But you all Lord, do not be far off. Oh, you might help come quickly to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs." Dogs who didn't see the treasure that was before them crucifying him. And Jesus cries out and he says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." They're still guilty, even if they don't know what they're doing, but forgive them. Jesus Christ was canceled by our sin, to cancel our sin. He was canceled by our guilt, to cancel our guilt. He was canceled by our condemnation, to cancel our condemnation. He was canceling the power of death to give us life. If you're not a Christian, we today invite you to become a Christian by repenting of your sin and turning to Christ. Leave your sins and leave your self-righteousness at the cross of Christ. Receive his grace. As Christians, may you know the joy of sin forgiven by the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen. Lord Jesus, we thank you for being a great God and a gracious God. We thank you that you never look at us and say, "You are absolutely hopeless." While we're alive, there is hope. I pray that every single person who's heard my voice, I pray that they become your adopted children. In of ourselves, we are evil and we are hypocrites and we are dogs and we are pigs, but you welcome us into your family as adopted children. Thanks be to Christ for that, in whose name we pray, amen.

Sermon on the Mount 8

March 14, 2021 • Matthew 6:25–34

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. This is the time that we find out who the faithful Christians of Mosaic are. Anyone who shows up when we lose an hour of sleep, halleluiah, you got extra reward in heaven. Your spiritual Venmo just went cha-ching, welcome. If you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card, either the physical one that you can get in the back or the virtual one that you can get in our app or on our website. One quick announcement. For the next three weeks starting today, we have prayer nights, 5:00 PM today and the next two Sundays. The structure will be we'll have prayer in the beginning. We'll have some worship. And then we'll have a 20-minute sermon or so from a brother in the congregation who's discerning the call to full-time vocational ministry. And then we'll have some more prayer as a congregation. Why are we doing this? Primarily to set our hearts on Lent, to prepare ourselves for Good Friday. That's April 2nd. And then also Easter, which is April 4th. Easter, we will be having three services. All the information you can get online or I think it's in the worship guide. Easter is one of the best times of the year to invite friends to church, friends who perhaps had some exposure to Christianity and then walked away or friends who just haven't been in church for a while or friends who don't know much about Christianity, but you say, "Hey, this is part of my tradition. If you respect me and my faith, you should come to church with me. We will just preach the gospel and pray for people to get saved." So, plan on inviting friends and praying about that. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a good God. You are a good father. You are perfect, Father. You're a father who is great and you're a father who is good. Great in that you are all powerful and good in that you enjoy to give us good gifts. You enjoy to meet our needs. You enjoy to provide for us so that we glorify you, to satisfy us so that we are satisfied in you. Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you that you came and you met our greatest need. You lived the perfect life that we would not, could not live. You went to the cross to die of the death that we deserve. You died in our place in order to reconcile us with the God of universe. Therefore, meeting our greatest need, that of reconciling us with God, that of forgiveness, that of justification, that of imputed righteousness. We thank you, Holy Spirit, that you are real, that you are with us, that you are a person, that you love us and you long to fill us and lead us and seal us. I pray, Holy Spirit, come to this place, lead us, prepare our hearts, enlighten our minds, illuminate our hearts, our souls, and feed us from the Holy Scriptures, and teach us that we as the children of God have nothing to worry about. Our eternity is secure. Every single detail of our lives is under the control of a sovereign God, who is great and who is good. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for that. Deepen our trust in your faith, in our obedience and allegiance to you. Take away any burdens that we are carrying that we should not be. We cast them upon you, because you are God who cares. We pray that you bless our time with the Holy Scriptures and pray this in Christ's holy name, Amen. If you're new, we're going through the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher to ever preach, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the son of man. He came to show us that there's nothing that we can do to be saved. There's no righteousness that we can do. There's no path that we can follow in order to make ourselves right before God, just before God. Therefore, we need to repent of our sin. We need to acknowledge our spiritual bankruptcy. We need to believe in Christ. The very moment that we repent and believe, we become children of God. At that moment, we go from just being creation, just being image bearers of God who are sinful and broken and ostracized from God, we now become his children. As his children, he wants us to live with the richness of the title of a child of the God of the universe. Last week, Jesus commands us and shows us that we are not to store or hoard treasures here on Earth. Instead, we are to have an eternal perspective on this life, on material things, on money, on everything that we have. Instead, we have to lay up treasures in heaven. What that does is sets our priorities that God is first, heaven is first, eternity is first. Everything else that God gives us here is for our stewardship. We had to steward it well for his glory and to serve our neighbor. A failure to view riches or possessions from proper perspective promotes anxiety. That's what God wants us to meditate upon today. My wife and I, we've been here for about 11 years, I think, coming up on 12. Our second apartment was in Cleveland Circle on Lanark Road. It was a one-way street. We're on the second floor. We love that place. One of the things that we loved about that place is the magnolia tree outside of our window. If you know anything about weather in Boston, spring lasts about three days. It goes winter, spring for about three days, and then it's summer. Fall is nice. But every spring, we would look forward to the magnolia tree blooming outside our window. The flowers were white and purple. It was glorious. If you know anything about weather in Boston, it could be spring one day, and the next day, it snows. So, don't get too happy about the weather. It was like 70 this week. We might still get a snowstorm. Who knows? So, the magnolia tree blooms. And then it snowed. It was winter, nasty, heavy, wet snow. It just covered this magnolia tree and the branch is just drooping, just cracking. They started breaking under the pressure of this snow. So, I went outside. If you know anything about Boston driving, you got to have a shovel in your car. You always have to. In the trunk of your car, you have to have a shovel. So, I got my shovel, I go outside, and I started cleaning off the tree. As the snow fell, you saw just the tree almost sigh a breath of relief, just breathe a breath of relief. The weight is gone. The burden is gone. Well, I like that image to show that's how we look when we are burdened by anxiety. In this past year, it's been a year of the pandemic. This past year, you've seen just the physical effect of stress and anxiety on people as if they're just walking around with concrete blocks on their shoulders of stress, anxiety, worried, thick with anxiety, worrying about what? What are you worried about? What have you been worried about for this past season? Perhaps it's your health. Perhaps it's the economy, where's it going, politics. Perhaps it's school grades, GPA, loans, job, career, your looks, weight, your hair, your clothes, school, grade, et cetera, succeeding, doing something that's actually meaningful or valuable or meeting someone, relationships, meeting the one, marriage or having a family, providing for your family, raising children that love Jesus in a world where it seems like everything is against that. All of that can be summarized with fear of the future. We don't know what's coming. So, we fear the unknown. Someone said that "Worry is a conversation you have with yourself about things you cannot change." That's what Jesus wants us to focus on today. He delineates between concern, things that we can actually change and work on and worry, things we can't and things that we don't give up into the hands of God. We all fear and the root of anxiety is fear. The most frequently uttered commandment in Scripture is, "Fear not." The way that we fight fear of the future is with faith in a God, who is your Father. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we have adoption as children of God. We can become sons and daughters of God by grace through faith. Therefore, we can trust him to provide for all of our needs. So, today, we're Matthew 6:25 through 34. Would you look at the text with me? "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." This is the reading God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time, do not be anxious; second, focus on your father; and three, seek after the kingdom. "Do not be anxious," he says that in verse 25 and then repeats that at the end of the pericope. He says, "Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life." First thing I want to point out is there's different kinds of anxieties. Some of them God-given, some of them are not. There's a God-given emotional anxiety, given as a response when we are in danger, the flight or fight response, when we are in danger perhaps at night, when we're in danger perhaps you're in the woods, when you're in danger on the mean streets of Brookline. As Pastor Shane once said, "When you're getting chased by a turkey, they're mean. Stay away from them. Even in your car, they will attack your car." There's an anxiety that comes or there's a natural anxiety that mother feels or father feels when an infant is sick or an infant needs to be fed. Those are God-given. Disordered physiological response, a clinical anxiety, which is a chronic condition that perhaps soldiers get or first responders or victims of abuse, that's not what Jesus is talking about here. Sometimes there's also natural consequences of sin. If you rack up gambling debt through sin and folly, you should be anxious about paying that off, et cetera. When we bear the consequences of the sin in our life and our body. Today, Jesus is talking about different kinds of anxieties. He's talking about the sinful response to physical things in our life in terms of God's providential care. When we do not trust him to provide for our needs, that's what Jesus Christ is talking about here. He isn't saying to not work. He isn't saying not to provide for yourself and for those around you and not to have enough to be generous with us. That's not what he's talking about. God expects us, his people, to work hard and be amongst the hardest workers and to be responsible. Some Christians have taken these words of do not be anxious and used that as an excuse to justify laziness or irresponsible behavior. I had an uncle who would rack up credit card debt and any debt he could. He wouldn't pay it off, because he said, "Jesus is coming back soon. Don't worry about it. Also, Jesus said, do not be anxious about anything." That's not what Jesus is talking about. You got to interpret Scripture through other Scripture. We do need to be responsible. You do need to wear a seatbelt. There are examples like that where you do need to care for yourself or your family or others. Jesus isn't saying don't plan, because we have the parable of the tower where Jesus says, "Do not be like the foolish builder, who starts a project. He didn't sit down to the very beginning before the project to figure out, "How much do I need to have in my account before I embark on a project like this?" There's the parable of the general. You don't go into war if you don't have enough firepower, manpower to take on the other army. Jesus isn't forbidding sowing and planning. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the difference between proper caring and concern and fixation on physical things on those matters. He's not saying, "Don't worry about your job. Stay at home. God will take care of your food. He'll send you Uber Eats." That's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is don't be fixated on the material things of life, the food, the clothing, the housing, et cetera. James talks about, "Hey, when a hungry person or person in need comes into your community, you can't just tell that person, 'Oh, be warmed and filled. Go therefore and be blessed.'" That would be sinful for us not to do what we can to provide for people's needs. You can't just tell that person, "Do not be anxious about food," when they're hungry. We are to care. He's not saying, "Don't worry, because there's an absence of problems in life." No, there's not an absence of problems in life. He's not saying that your life can be free from problems. He's saying that your life can be free from worry despite problems. Your life can be free from anxiety despite the problems of life. There's a difference between anxiety and concern. Concern is when you can do something about it, you're concerned about it, then do something about it. Anxiety is when you can't do anything about it and you don't want to leave it up to God. Robert Frost said that more people die from worry than from work because more people worry than work. That's what he's getting at here is focus on this anxiety that's paralyzing. Jesus' concern here is with our priorities and what flows out of that. He uses the phrase "Do not be anxious" as an imperative twice in this text. He used the word 'anxious' or 'anxiety' six times in this text. Marimnao is the verb. Merimna is the noun. Other places in Scripture, God talks about being careful to not let physical concerns pull us away from the more important concerns, which are the spiritual ones. Matthew 13:22, the parable of the sower, "For what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares..." That's the noun, merimna. "... of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves on fruitful." It's all about priorities. He's saying, "When you seek first the physical things of life at the expense of the spiritual things of life, the Word of God bears unfruitful." Luke 21:34, this is talking about the second coming of Christ. "Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down by the dissipation and drunkenness and cares..." Again, merimna. "... of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap." If you look at seven blocks of a city and you see fog come down, the fog can be 100 feet thick. But if you take all of that fog and you put it and you turn into water, it'll fill just one glass. So, from God's perspective, that's what our worries look. They fog up our sight. They fog up everything around us. But God says, "Hold on, hold on, view these things from an eternal perspective." Do not be anxious is a commandment from the Lord. Therefore, anxiety about material things can be a sin. Worry can be a sin. Therefore, we need to repent of that sin. Worry's foolish on many levels. Worry never solved the problem, never dried a tear and never lifted a burden and never removed an obstacle and never made bad things good and never made good things better. It's foolish. Philippians 4:5 and 6 says, "The Lord is at hand. Because he's at hand, because he's with us, therefore, do not be anxious about anything." Worry kills joy. Worry causes stress. When we assume the position of God, we say, "God, you're not doing your job. I'm going to do your job better than you're doing your job. I can control things better than you do," and we assume that it's never productive. So, instead of that anxiety, instead of being anxious, he says "Don't be anxious. Instead focus on your Father." Any parent knows this, when a child has an object that they're fixated on that will cause them harm like a knife, if a child grabs a knife, you can just take the object away, but then there's a meltdown. The wise parent is prudent, understands two steps ahead, four dimensional chess. If you're on baby number four, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You know what happens right after you take the object away, there's a meltdown. So, what you got to do is take the object and replace it with something else. And then you sell it to them. You got to market to them. Oh, look at this wonderful thing. And then you get rid of the other object. This is the trick that got Jesus. Don't be anxious, but there's a vacuum. You can't leave it in the vacuum because then you're going to get anxious about not getting anxious and getting worried about not getting worried. So, you got to fill it with something else. What he's talking about is perspective. Don't be focused on these things. Be focused on these things. So, focus on your Father. God is your heavenly Father. God will take care of your food as a believer. That's Matthew 6:25. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on." Don't be anxious. The present is imperative. It's constant and continuous. You got to fight this on a daily basis. You got to tell your heart, "Oh, so, why are you restless. Heart, why are you restless? Why are you worried? Why are you stressful?" You got to preach to yourself. You got to ask questions like Jesus is asking some rhetorical question, "Isn't life more than food?" Of course, it is. You need food for life, but life is so much more than these things. And then he goes, "Hey, look, if I don't worry about the physical things of life, who will?" Tremendous question. Jesus says, "Your Father, your heavenly Father." Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" I love this verse for many reasons, particularly because we get a theology of ecology or environmentalism from one verse. In our world today, there's a worldview that's being pushed that humans are equally valuable with animals and with the planet. From Jesus' perspective, that's just not so. Birds are great. They're industrious. They care for themselves in many ways, but they don't feed themselves. They don't plant crops. They don't harvest. They don't store them. It's God that feeds them. Jesus emphasized them that it's not in their heavenly Father. God isn't father of birds. He's not father of dogs. He's not father of cats. He's not father of animals. He's God over them. He's creator over them. He doesn't say, "Their heavenly Father." He says, "Your heavenly Father." Meaning you are special. Humans are special. So, in terms of caring for the environments, we should, et cetera, it's God's creation, but there's priorities that humans are infinitely more valuable than animals or even creation itself. We're created in the image of God, your heavenly Father. You're created through Jesus Christ, and then God has bought you dear Christian through the blood of Jesus Christ. So, you are doubly his and doubly precious, infinite and value worth to your heavenly Father. Food here, he talks about food. He starts with food. Food is a wonderful servant to sustain life. It's a terrible, debilitating idol, that we are not to be consumed with what we consume, with food. Particularly, Jesus did teach us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," but only on a daily basis. God does meet those needs. The other thing I just want to point out here since we're talking about the environment, talking about becoming children of God, this only applies to Christians. If you are not a Christian, you are not a child of God. You're a creation of God. You are not yet a child of God. In and of ourselves, we are so rebellious and wicked and sinful that in and of ourselves, we are not children of God. We are rebels. God needs to send his Son, his ultimate Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life that we would not live and to die the death that we deserve. We deserve that death for our wickedness, our disobedience, our preoccupation with material things, our idolatry. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we could be adopted into the family of God. On the one hand, that sounds so exclusive. It is exclusive. If there were another way, God would provide another way. There was no other way. We're so sinful that that's what it took, the Son of God to die on the cross, but he's so loving that he was willing to take it. It is exclusive, but it's the most inclusive, exclusive truth in the history of the world. Everyone can become a child of God. So, if you, today, you're not sure, am I a child of God? You should be worried. If you're on the fence, you're not sure, you should be worried. Jesus here is saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff," but he's not saying don't sweat the soul stuff. You got to know where your soul is. Are you reconciled with God? Are you saved by grace through faith in Christ? Are you a child of God? If so, do not be anxious and focus on the Father. If not, repent of your sin, become a Christian today, a child of God by receiving God's gift of salvation, becoming adopted into his family. He goes on. He says, "Oh, as a child of God, God will take care of your life." That's verse 27. "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" In the original, in the Greek, it's talking about, "Can you add a single qubit to your height?" Obviously, you can't. It's a metaphor for life. Can you add a single minute? Can you add a single second to life? The point is that worrying is fruitless. It's foolish. It's pointless. It can't lengthen your life. It could actually shorten your life. Doctors tell us this all the time that stress has all kinds of physical implications. Worry effects not just the length of life, but also the quality of life. Here, we get into the sovereignty of God and his deep theological waters, but hang with me because I know you can, because you came to the early service when we lost an hour of sleep. We're going to talk about it real quick about the sovereignty of God over every single minute of our life real quick. God is sovereign, over everything, over every single detail of life, including the very second that we are conceived, including the very second that we are born, including the very second that we die. It's all predestined by a great sovereign God. Job 14:5, "Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass." You have appointed his limits that he cannot pass. I'll never forget I was at a funeral of a family member and I heard a sermon on this text. They were saying, "There's nothing you can do to add a second, pass the second that God has allotted for you." He knows the very beginning. He knows the very end, limits that he cannot pass. Psalm 139:60, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Every single day of your life is determined by God. This is something that you need to meditate on. But I'm telling you, once you do, once you realize that God is in charge over every single moment, every single second of your life, there's a freedom that fills your soul. Fear of death is absolutely removed. There's a fearlessness not in a responsibility, not a recklessness, but a fearlessness in that God has appointed for me a purpose in life. He's designed me in such a way to fulfill that purpose. He will give me the talents and the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill that purpose. But the very second that I'm done fulfilling his purpose, he's taking me home. So, if you're still here, you have a job. You have a purpose to do. You have something to accomplish for God. So, he's saying this in the perspective. You can't lengthen your life. So, why worry? Worry is a sign that you don't adequately know the sovereign God. You don't adequately trust him. You haven't yielded to him. We are in the hand of God the Father. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, "There's nothing to pull us out of his hand," but we try to. We try to pull ourselves out of his hand. We try to take the wheel from God into our own hands. He says, "Don't do that." He also said, "God will take care of your clothing." Matthew 6:28 through 30, "And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" How often you think about clothing? Well, you thought about clothing today or you made a conscious decision about what you're wearing today. In my household, my wife and I, we don't just have to think about what we wear. We also have four little human beings, female human beings, little girls. We think about what they wear the night before, put all their clothing. They plan out their outfits. It's all very sweet. My daughter Elizabeth asked me today, "What are you preaching?" I said, "Not to worry about your outfits." We know, we think about this all the time. We think about clothing all the time. We're programmed that way. We're programmed that way through marketing. How big is the clothing apparel industry in the US? $368 billion. What's the size of the secondhand resale market? $28 billion, that's people getting rid of their stuff. What's the size of storage in the US? This is my favorite, $90 billion dollars, $90 billion when people don't have room in their place and then they go and rent space for their junk and they pay money for on a monthly basis, which doesn't make any financial sense to me. Take that, go put in a secondhand store, and then buy new stuff. We're worried. We're worried. Jesus says, "Don't be worried about the clothing. Look at the flowers, they don't work. They don't buy or earn in terms of their beauty. They just grow. They grow and God blesses them." Jesus brings in King Solomon. Even in the time of Christ, Solomon's royal regal opulence was proverbial. Everyone knew that he dressed well. Will he not much more clothe you? Of course, he will. He provide for us. Here, Jesus brings them in. This is the punchline. This is how he lands things, "O you of little faith?" This same phrase is used four other times in Matthew, little faith. Once where Jesus with the disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee and storm comes and they're freaking out as he's taking a nap. He gets up and he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. He also told Peter when Peter wants to walk on water. He's going great. As he's focused on Jesus, he stops focusing on Jesus. He starts staring at the winds and the waves. He panicked. Jesus said, "O you of little faith." Jesus provided miraculously in terms of bread. He drove out demon of a little boy. Every time he's saying, "you of little faith, you of little faith." So, worry is fed by a little faith. So, meaning that the opposite of worry isn't just tranquility. The opposite of worry isn't just optimism that things will work out. The opposite of worry is faith. Faith on this side, the opposite of faith is worry, anxiety. Faith, lack of faith. So, actually worry, anxiety is equal to a lack of faith. It's practical atheism. At that very moment, you're practically not trusting that God exists. Or it's deism that God can't do anything. He's there, but he doesn't care. Or a finite theism, he doesn't have the power to be counted on. Jesus says here, "You're little in faith." You need to grow that faith. That's what he's getting at. The reason that you worry or you're anxious about material things is because your faith is little. It's there. That's great. As a child of God, God gives you the gift of faith. Now, we as children of God, we need to exercise that faith. We need to put pressure on that faith. We need to test that faith. It's like a muscle. You need to grow it by exercise, by using it with weight and reps. So, here, the question is, you got to ask, "Do I believe in God? God, do I believe in you? Do I believe that God is great and that he is good? Do I believe that God is greater than my greatest problem? Do you believe that God is bigger than your biggest problem?" Some of us, we have big faith, but because of a wrongheaded theology, we believe in a small God who's not sovereign, who isn't great and who isn't good. Big faith in a small God leads to anxiety. I'd rather have small faith in a big God. That small faith when exercised becomes a big faith. George Mueller, the great prayer warrior and minister of God said, "The beginning of worry is the end of faith. The beginning of faith is the end of worry." Mark 5:36, "Do not fear, only believe. God will take care of your needs." Matthew 6:31 through 32, "Therefore do not be anxious, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." Again, do not be anxious. He puts anxiety on the level of being a pagan, a non-believer in Christ. Pagans, people don't trust in God, don't believe in God. They got a laser beam focused on the physical things of life, of having enough, of storing up, of making more. What he's saying is that these believers, the pagans, they're actually believers in that they have misplaced faith. They don't believe in God. They believe in something else. They believe in themselves perhaps, or they believe in having enough money, or they believe in having a correct career. In this sense, Jesus is saying that we are all believers, every single one. You can't but believe. You can't live life without exercising your faith. Every single one of us do. If you don't believe in God as ultimate, then you will believe in other things. You will believe in government. You will believe in politicians. You will believe in what the government tells you, what the CDC tells you, what the who tells you, what the people in authority in your company tell you. We believe these. You can't live without faith. Every time you get into an Uber, you trust that person. Every time you get in an airplane, you trust the pilot. Every time you go to a restaurant, you trust whoever prepared that food. That's faith. He's saying in this case, the pagans, they trust in themselves to provide for themselves. In a sense, they're living as orphans. Jesus is saying, "Stop, stop living as an orphan. Stop thinking, craving, desiring like the world. Don't seek after these things. Instead, seek after your Father. Stop living beneath the privilege of being a child of God. Stop living beneath the privilege of being a child of the King of the universe." I'm not saying the privilege is the financial stuff. I'm saying the privilege is greater than that. The joy, the freedom, the satisfaction that is ours in Christ Jesus, we experience royal freedom. There's two ways that you can ask a question about God and help. You can ask, "Will God help?" or you can ask, "How will he help?" If you ask, "Will God help?", you know that question. We've asked that question. That's a question riddled with anxiety and frustration... God, where are you? Do you even care? ... with despair. But when you are a child of God and you know that God is good and God is great, he will provide for you. You say, "How will he help?" I'm excited. It's filled with anticipation, confidence, eagerness, gladness. I can't wait to see how God will help. It completely changes the way that you live on a daily basis. So, look to God the Father. Third, seek after the kingdom. So, this is how Jesus really lands a whole section. This is Matthew 6:33, but contrast that with everything else, worrying about stuff, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." It's about priority. What are we seeking first? Are we seeking material things and then secondarily spiritual things, or are we seeking first God, this kingdom and his righteousness? This is a question of living by faith or by sight. That's why he said, "O you of little faith, increase your faith." If you increase your faith, now, you begin to see life as you should, from internal perspective, spiritual perspective. Physical isn't all there is. Faith knows that worldly possessions and pleasure are temporary. Faith knows that worldly possessions and pleasures, they crowd out love and service to God. Faith knows that you need not worry about having enough for life because God our heavenly Father always cares. And then the other thing that he's use doing here is he's saying there's two ways to live. That's why he says, "They seek after stuff. You seek after spiritual things, God." There's only two ways to live either for your kingdom or for God's kingdom. So, we as God's children, we have to seek his role and his reign in our life. God, where am I not submitting to you? First thing in the morning, God, how can I serve you today? How can I honor you today? How can I further your kingdom today? Stop worrying about your little kingdom. Start seeking God's big kingdom. The word 'seek' here is zeteo in the Greek. It's a word that's used for a hunter, a hunter that's not hunting for sport, hunting for food. It's a hunter that every single one of his sense is on alert, focused, always on the lookout, bow and arrow ready. He's saying, "In the same way, Christians should be thinking, seeking." God, how can I further your kingdom? God, what can I do today to honor you as a servant of your kingdom? How do we overcome love of the seen with a love for the unseen God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Trinity? How do we do that? How do we get away from seeking stuff to seeking God's kingdom and trust God for taking care of all of other stuff in terms of priorities? How can we get rid of that? We get rid of that through the gospel. Whenever you see that in your heart, priorities are out of whack, you look to the gospel and you look to the cross of Jesus Christ. You say, "What's happening at the cross?" What's happening at the cross is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is meeting your greatest need. You don't have a greater need than to have your sins forgiven. You don't have a greater need than to have the debt of your sin forgiven. You don't have a greater need than the wrath of God being absorbed in the Son of God, so that you don't have to bear that wrath for all of eternity. When you look to the cross and you see what Christ did for you, because he loves you, will he not with that give you all things? Of course, he will. If he cares that much about your greatest need, he obviously cares about your lesser needs as well. This is what allowed the first century church to grow as it did. A lot of people look at Christianity and they're like, "Prove to me that Christianity is actually work of God. Prove to me that it's true." I just point to the growth of Christianity despite persecution. Islam grew the way it did by the sword. Christianity grew the way it did despite the sword. The early Christian, every single one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, except for John, who was exiled to Patmos, every single one of them, they went to the death, because they knew this is true. They knew that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. They saw him with their own eyes and that they were willing to testify to the death. The early church was persecuted by Nero and by Caesars, et cetera. Despite the persecution, the early church grew by 40% per decade. So much so that by the fourth century, when Constantine's in power, he says, "How do I solidify? How do I consolidate my power? I'm going to pretend that I'm a Christian." No one really knows if he's a Christian. I think his wife became a Christian. But Christianity grew despite persecution. Why? Because they knew this was true. First of all, the eyewitnesses and then Christians later experienced the work of the Spirit in their heart. They knew that there was a treasure beyond the treasures in this life. Look at Hebrews 10:32-34. "But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened," after you became Christians, "you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. What's going on in that text? That means people who persecuted them for the faith said, "We are going to take everything you have unless you recant, unless you turn from Christ." They joyfully gave it up, because they had a treasure that was greater than that stuff. What in the world could do that in your hearts? The gospel of Jesus Christ, where you understand that no treasure is greater than of Christ. So, devote yourself to the gospel, which now begins to transform you. That's how we seek the kingdom and his righteousness, folks, in the Gospel. Love the gospel. Recognize what God has done for you through the gospel. We do that through Scripture. We do that by abiding with Christ by reading Scripture and prayer on a daily basis. Seek first. Before you do anything else on a daily basis, seek first the kingdom of God. You wake up. First thing you do, seek first the kingdom of God. Before coffee, with coffee, with coffee. We're not extremists here, with coffee. With coffee, you grab your Bible, you pray, you meditate, you worship God, you meditate upon God. Luke 10:41 through 42, this is Mary and Martha. "The Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious,'" marimnao, "'and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.'" I bring this as an illustration because there's two concerns here. There's two anxieties here. There's two worries here. There's two seekings here. Martha is anxious and seeking about the physical things. It's a good thing. She wants to meet the needs of Christ and his disciples. Mary is concerned about the spiritual things. Jesus, teach me. Jesus, I want to set at your feet. Jesus, what do you have to say to me? I say that to set up the next text. This is Second Corinthians 11:24 through 28. This is St. Paul, who tells us in Philippians, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, present your requests to God." That same guy who says do not be anxious about anything, that same guy in Second Corinthians 11:24 through 28, he shows us every single thing that he's worried about, all of his persecutions that he experienced. He says, "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false prophets; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from all the other things..." That phrase is a set up. This is my greatest challenge. "... there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety," merimna, same word, "for all the churches." So, a guy that tells us, "Do not be anxious about anything," is telling us that he's anxious about the churches. This is what it looks like to seek first the kingdom of God. You care more about God and his cause and his kingdom and his churches, because that's how the gospel goes out that this is God's plan of reaching the world, to plant churches. You care about that more than physical things. Churches and planting churches, et cetera, serving other Christians that you know that you're committed to. I say that 1 Corinthians 12:21 through 26, this text is perfect. If anyone is wondering why churches practice church membership, why does Mosaic practice church membership? Read 1 Corinthians 12. "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members," of the local church, of the body, of the local body, "may have the same care," marimnao, same word, "for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." Part of seeking the kingdom and seeking the righteousness of God is also seeking, "How can I meet the needs of my brothers and sisters?" This happens in Mosaic naturally through community groups. We do our best to cultivate and we pray that God continues to do it, but this is something we need to ask ourselves on a daily basis, "Whom can I serve in my family? Whom can I serve in my local church family on daily basis?" Philippians 2:19 through 21, testament about Timothy, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned," marimnao, "for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ." Timothy's seeking the interests of Jesus Christ. How? By seeking the practical interests of the believers in Philippi. I want to serve you. Jesus, I want to serve you. Jesus, I want to honor you. Jesus, I want to love you. Jesus, I want to care for you. Jesus says, "What have you done for the least of the least?" That's what's going on in that text. He says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added on to you." That's fascinating. It's fascinating because if you compare that to the teaching of Buddha, Buddha said, "Seek first the kingdom and you will need none of these things." Jesus says, "No." Jesus is realistic. He understands that we need physical things. We need food. We need clothing. We need a place to live. He knows these things. These things will be added on to you by the Father. If you care about the Father's priorities, the Father will take care of your needs. If you care about the Father's glory, he'll take care of your satisfaction, and not just your needs. This is fascinating, because in Philippians, it says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, present your request to God, present your requests." The Psalmist says, "Delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you the desires of your heart." We have desires, unmet desires. Delight yourself in God. Seek first God. God's like, "I want to meet a desire. I want to meet a request," not a need, a request every once in a while. Sometimes he says no. The mother of James and John, Mrs. Zebedee comes to Jesus and says, "I request. I want you to meet this request before I tell you what the request is." Give me a blank check. He says, "What do you want?" She says, "I want my sons to sit at the right and the left of you in your kingdom." He said, "You know what you're asking? Can they suffer the way I suffer?" She says, "Yes, they can." "Okay, they will," he said, "but it's not it's not for me to..." He doesn't give her that. But then I think about Cana in Galilee where Mary comes to Jesus and they're at a wedding. She's like, "They're out of wine." Tell me, is wine a need at a wedding? Only if there's dancing involved, then wine is definitely a need. You can't have a dry wedding and dancing. You can't do that. It's either both or nothing. Is it a need? It's not a need. It's not a need. Just have some more water. Jesus is like, "Okay, here you go, a miracle." Every once in a while, but the point is that God is a good father. He'll provide what we need, not necessarily luxuries. But every once in a while, he blesses us beyond. Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." This is fascinating, because he doesn't say there's no trouble ever. He's saying this trouble today. He recognizes. He recognized that today, there's unavoidable worry. He recognizes this. Today, there are things that you are concerned about. You should be concerned about, that you're responsible for. You should work to take care of those things. What he's saying is by saying, "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble," let's limit the concern and the worry for today. We only live in today. Stop being so focused on tomorrow, because we never live in tomorrow. When tomorrow comes again, it's today. Let's focus on today. That's what he's saying. Be responsible for today. By the way, this is a life hack. If you do what you need to do today, if you focus on taking care of everything you need to focus on today and you wake up and you say, "Today, I'm going to focus," and you just keep going, that leads to a very productive life for Christ. Let your requests be known to God. I thought he already knows them. Of course, he does. Prayer isn't about informing God. He already knows. Prayer is about releasing, releasing our burdens, casting them upon him. 1 Peter 5:6 and 7, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." So, do you have anxiety? Do not turn to diversions. Do not turn to diversions. Instead turn and direct yourself to God, your burdens to God. The way to fight anxiety is with the promises of God. Romans 8:31-32, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" I'll give you some promises from Scripture that you can use to fight anxiety. When you worry about what people might do to you, look to Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" When you worry about being too weak, recall 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." When you worry about future decisions, recall Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." When you worry about whether God will fulfill his promises to you, recall Hebrews 6:8, where it says, "It's impossible for God to lie." When you worry about your loved ones, recall Matthew 7:11, "How much more will the Father give what is good to those who ask?" When you worry about physical sickness, recall Psalm 103:3, "He heals all your diseases." When you worry about getting old, recall Isaiah 46:4, "Even to your old age, I shall be the same, and even to your grain years, I shall bear you." When you worry about failing and falling, recall Philippians 1:6, "For I'm confident of this very thing that he will begin a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Amen. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you are a great God and a good God. I pray that you strengthen our vision, our understanding of your greatness, of your sovereignty. As we look to a big God, I pray that you take our little faith and you expand it, that you make it more robust, that you solidify it. So, we become a people who never question your sovereignty, never question your character, never question your power, never question your love. You prove to us both your power and your love on the cross of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Jesus, for that. Because you met our greatest need, we thank you in advance for meeting the rest of our needs. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.