1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,800 Hello everyone and welcome to Trinity Sermons. 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:12,720 This is episode 5 of our sermon series, Jesus' The Question. 3 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:17,660 We have guest preacher Simon Davis with us today where we will be looking specifically 4 00:00:17,660 --> 00:00:21,840 at the question Jesus asks, Why do you worry? 5 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:27,200 And wow, what an impactful sermon for our age today as we currently live in what many 6 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:29,880 call the Age of Anxiety. 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,840 I really hope that you enjoy this message today and we hope that it challenges you and 8 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,080 you find it meaningful as you go about your week. 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:46,080 Enjoy and God bless. 10 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,960 This morning's reading is from Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 to 34. 11 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:59,000 Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will drink or eat, or 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,920 about your body, what you will wear. 13 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,500 Is life not more than food and the body more than clothes? 14 00:01:06,500 --> 00:01:08,400 Look at the birds of the air. 15 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:14,800 They do not sow or reap or stow away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. 16 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,680 Are you not much more valuable than they? 17 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,880 Can any one of you by worrying at a single hour to your life? 18 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,440 And why do you worry about clothes? 19 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,940 See how the flowers of the field grow. 20 00:01:27,940 --> 00:01:30,420 They do not labor or spin. 21 00:01:30,420 --> 00:01:37,000 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 22 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:42,220 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is 23 00:01:42,220 --> 00:01:48,620 thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? 24 00:01:48,620 --> 00:01:55,160 So do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? 25 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:00,040 For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly father's heavenly father 26 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,200 knows that you need them. 27 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,360 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you 28 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:08,360 as well. 29 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:14,140 Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. 30 00:02:14,140 --> 00:02:17,760 Each day has enough trouble of its own. 31 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,360 The word of the Lord. 32 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:22,360 Well good morning everyone. 33 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:23,360 Good morning. 34 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:31,040 If we haven't yet met, my name is Simon and it's hard to believe but 10 years ago I used 35 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,320 to work here. 36 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:36,880 So if you're new within the last 10 years, I haven't met you and if you know who I am, 37 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:38,880 you've been here for more than 10 years. 38 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:44,640 I'm amazed that none of you have changed at all in this time. 39 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:48,800 If you knew me back then, a lot has changed for me and I'm happy to tell you about it. 40 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:53,920 But we're in a sermon series about Jesus's questions. 41 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:59,600 I'm very grateful to Rob for entrusting me to preach this morning but I also see that 42 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:04,400 this passage is a good one to leave to a guest preacher. 43 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:05,400 Thank you. 44 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:06,400 Thank you. 45 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:11,120 We've just heard thank you to Mandy in chapter six of Matthew's gospel where Jesus asks a 46 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,600 lot of questions. 47 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:20,400 But Jesus' questions for us today are all drawing us to an imperative Jesus gives, a 48 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:22,120 command to the hearers. 49 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:28,920 That's one of the most confronting orders Jesus could give us today and he does. 50 00:03:28,920 --> 00:03:35,920 So you've heard in the passage using the word worry but I like the other translation because 51 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:38,640 it's a bit more confronting I think. 52 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:43,960 Therefore do not be anxious about your life. 53 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:49,080 Jesus said do not be anxious to a generation long ago but whether you're religious or 54 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:54,520 irreligious we live in an anxious age now don't we? 55 00:03:54,520 --> 00:04:01,220 The Surgeon General of the United States has called anxiety an epidemic and statistically 56 00:04:01,220 --> 00:04:09,080 the number of Canadians who are experiencing anxiety has increased significantly each and 57 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:18,280 every year especially among young Canadians and yet Jesus says do not be anxious. 58 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:24,560 In today's passage we're going to start by examining the kind of anxiety Jesus is talking 59 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:33,720 about, Jesus' antidote for anxiety and lastly the way to have power over anxiety in your 60 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:34,720 life. 61 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,640 Doesn't that sound like a good thing that we could have? 62 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:42,960 But before we dive in I want to give a disclaimer, I need to. 63 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:48,680 Do not for one second think that Jesus in this passage doesn't understand the kind of 64 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:56,040 anxiety you're experiencing, your diagnosis of anxiety if you have one. 65 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:02,380 Do not mistake Jesus' words, Jesus' desire and demand for you and I not to be anxious 66 00:05:02,380 --> 00:05:08,300 as some kind of prohibition against being in therapy or a wagging finger to those who 67 00:05:08,300 --> 00:05:11,400 have a prescription for their anxiety diagnosis. 68 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:13,280 That's not what Jesus is doing. 69 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:19,960 However, no one is off the hook whether you have a diagnosis or not you and I need to 70 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,320 listen to Jesus this morning. 71 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,080 So let's look at this passage. 72 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,200 Therefore do not be anxious about your life. 73 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:33,520 I primed a couple people before the service but this is a question from my leading Bible 74 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,760 studies at Pioneer Camp Days. 75 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:41,520 When you see a therefore in the Bible you should always ask what? 76 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:42,520 What it's there for. 77 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,120 Thank you, I'm so glad you were with me. 78 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:45,360 So what's happening? 79 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,360 Where are we in Matthew chapter 6? 80 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,640 What's the context for our reading? 81 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:56,780 We're in the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus has just come through a section that concludes 82 00:05:56,780 --> 00:06:02,640 in verse 21, for where your treasure is your heart will be also. 83 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:08,040 And a few verses later in verse 24, you cannot serve two masters. 84 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,840 You cannot serve God and mammon, God and money. 85 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:19,600 Now you might think that Jesus using this term mammon to personify serving money is 86 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:24,320 a very primitive way of looking at the world but you'd be wrong. 87 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:29,080 You'd be wrong and you would have never listened to Bob Dylan. 88 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,680 What the heck am I talking about? 89 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,720 You may be a heavyweight champion of the world, you may be a socialite with a string of pearls 90 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,560 but you're gonna have to serve somebody. 91 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,780 Do you believe that? 92 00:06:41,780 --> 00:06:45,520 You're gonna have to serve somebody, God or mammon. 93 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,040 Maybe it's too busy to pick on loving money. 94 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:54,420 There's probably not a life group for money lovers here, I don't think. 95 00:06:54,420 --> 00:07:00,040 But what Jesus said in the lead up to our passage this morning is the key to understanding 96 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,160 all the rhetorical questions he asks. 97 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,680 The key to not being anxious. 98 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,240 It's a diagnosis for you and me. 99 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,680 We cannot serve two masters. 100 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,280 That's not how idolatry works. 101 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:20,000 Jesus himself says there is no in between. 102 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:26,000 If God is not the Lord of your life, something else will be. 103 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:33,080 We try and fill our hearts with good things and we turn them into ultimate things. 104 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:34,960 Money might be easy to pick on. 105 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,560 What about love? 106 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,000 Love is a good thing, right? 107 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,680 A meaningful relationship. 108 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,000 Think about Jacob and Rachel though. 109 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:50,280 Jacob's love for Rachel is not an example of dating in a biblical way. 110 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,640 It's not a good pattern to follow in Genesis 29. 111 00:07:53,640 --> 00:08:00,080 It's an example of love going from being a good thing to being an ultimate thing. 112 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:05,120 Displacing God from the throne of Jacob's life. 113 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:06,120 Here's a quote for you. 114 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:11,600 If you get married as Jacob did, putting the weight of all your deepest hopes and longings 115 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:17,240 on the person you're marrying, you're going to crush him or her with your expectations. 116 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,320 It will distort your life and your spouse's life in a hundred ways. 117 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:28,520 No person, not even the best one, can give your soul all it needs. 118 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,740 Good quote, eh? 119 00:08:30,740 --> 00:08:35,640 It's from a book called Counterfeit Gods by the late pastor Tim Keller. 120 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:41,040 And if you want to explore this question, this framework of idolatry in modern times, 121 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,760 or even if you don't, I would highly recommend this book. 122 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:52,820 But wait, how does our context about serving the right master help us understand what Jesus 123 00:08:52,820 --> 00:08:57,360 is saying about anxiety? 124 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:04,120 The kind of anxiety that Jesus is talking about is one where someone frets about not 125 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,080 having enough material things. 126 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:11,600 Money, food, clothing from our passage. 127 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:16,200 Jesus is mainly talking to people who were farmers and fishermen. 128 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:21,080 And even if they weren't farmers or fishermen, people in Jesus' day should understand something 129 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:25,280 that might be a bit more difficult for us. 130 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,240 Here's a little line that I came up with to help us understand. 131 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:34,640 The difference between diligence and anxiety is idolatry. 132 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,640 Diligence in our work, in all our pursuits, is something the Bible commends from start 133 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,120 to finish. 134 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:45,820 Jesus' command not to be anxious doesn't mean you can say, I'm going to go out fishing 135 00:09:45,820 --> 00:09:48,880 in my boat, but I'm not going to put down my net. 136 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:54,120 If God wants me to catch a fish, they'll hop in the boat. 137 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:59,320 The fisherman who says that is what the Bible calls a fool, and you might call him a fool 138 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,760 too. 139 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:07,000 You can be diligent in your work if the Lord is the one you serve. 140 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:13,200 But anxiety creeps in when our work becomes idolatrous. 141 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:20,040 When we are working not to work, but to get the job that would finally give my life meaning. 142 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:27,520 If only I was a manager, if only this, if only that. 143 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:33,960 When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially 144 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,840 an idol, something you're actually worshipping. 145 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,760 That's Keller again. 146 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,080 I think that's a good quote to think about it a second time. 147 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:50,000 When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness, it's essentially an idol. 148 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:57,320 There are things in your life that have a hold on you. 149 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:06,240 You might be ashamed of them, or you might dismiss them as being not that bad. 150 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:13,740 But when we feel anxiety in our lives, when we worry in our hearts, Jesus says that somewhere 151 00:11:13,740 --> 00:11:18,840 in your heart of hearts, you and I are playing with fire. 152 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:24,320 I've just been working on a farm for two weeks as a beautiful picture of the sunset. 153 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:30,180 It was chickens and bunnies and veggies and a huge forest and a trout pond where Bruce 154 00:11:30,180 --> 00:11:34,560 Preston couldn't catch any fish. 155 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:36,560 It was wonderful. 156 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:38,960 But I was very aware of two things. 157 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:45,880 One, I had to rely on the instructions that were left for me because I did not know enough 158 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,200 about what I was doing. 159 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,840 My lack of expertise kept me humble. 160 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,920 And that's another sermon, but I think it's a good lesson for us all to learn. 161 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,200 And the second thing I learned is this. 162 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:03,460 I could not make a single tomato grow faster by being anxious. 163 00:12:03,460 --> 00:12:07,240 I could not get the eggs to hatch by being anxious. 164 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:12,100 All I could be is diligence, diligent. 165 00:12:12,100 --> 00:12:16,480 And that might seem simple, but I'll tell you what. 166 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:22,500 Did I almost become anxious that I would disappoint my friend when he came back? 167 00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:24,360 You bet. 168 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:29,440 If my friendship had creeped from being a good thing and lovely thing to an ultimate 169 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:35,040 thing, I might have stayed up all night going down YouTube rabbit holes about scrolling 170 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:40,340 and seeing how it would be possible to get the chickens to grow faster or the eggs to 171 00:12:40,340 --> 00:12:42,720 hatch or the vegetables to grow. 172 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:44,860 I could have done that. 173 00:12:44,860 --> 00:12:53,480 But instead I trusted in my instructions and I was diligent and it worked actually. 174 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,480 I couldn't have done any better by being anxious. 175 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,880 And that is exactly what Jesus says to us in this passage. 176 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:06,120 What is the opposite of anxiety? 177 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,060 Jesus lays it out. 178 00:13:08,060 --> 00:13:12,720 The opposite of anxiety is trust. 179 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,080 Your heavenly father feeds sparrows. 180 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,080 Your heavenly father clothes even the grass with beauty. 181 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:26,260 So do you see Jesus's rhetorical question for us? 182 00:13:26,260 --> 00:13:31,480 Do you really believe in God's provision for you? 183 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:38,280 Does God love you more than sparrows? 184 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:43,840 Anxiety is what happens when our internal framework puts something other than God on 185 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,360 the throne of your life as Lord of your life. 186 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:57,360 If we have anxiety, it is a diagnosis of our disordered loves, of idolatry in your life. 187 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:02,520 But Jesus does not leave us convicted. 188 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:07,640 When Jesus asked these rhetorical questions in Matthew 6, is not life more than food, 189 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:09,280 the body more than clothing? 190 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,600 Are you not of more value than many sparrows? 191 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,680 How can any of you by being anxious add a single hour to their life? 192 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:21,600 Jesus gives us the antidote in the diagnosis. 193 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,400 Did you catch it? 194 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:32,600 He gives you and I the antidote for our anxiety in one little word, consider. 195 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,060 Consider the lilies of the field. 196 00:14:35,060 --> 00:14:36,880 That is the antidote. 197 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,760 Consider, in other words, think. 198 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,400 Christianity gets a bad rap when people assume that after you become a Christian, you have 199 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:51,240 to stop thinking and just blindly trust. 200 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:55,960 In this passage, Jesus tells you, he tells you and me that trust, the trust that you 201 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:03,160 and I need to overcome anxiety doesn't come from passivity, it comes from thinking. 202 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:06,560 Does God really love you? 203 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:13,800 If he does, then you can rest assured you can trust in his plan, in his provision. 204 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:18,100 You're not going to plant a seed unless you trust it will grow. 205 00:15:18,100 --> 00:15:24,080 But to get the trust, you need to think, you need to consider, you need to look at what 206 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:30,540 is actually happening, what has actually happened throughout history, where our God has rescued 207 00:15:30,540 --> 00:15:34,040 and blessed his people. 208 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:40,760 Hours after God had sent plagues on the Egyptians, hours after he had struck down their enemies, 209 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,240 God's people felt trapped. 210 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:48,440 And they said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken 211 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:50,680 us away to die in the wilderness? 212 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:55,680 What have you done to bringing us out of Egypt? 213 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:57,800 Who was their God? 214 00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,900 The rescuer. 215 00:15:59,900 --> 00:16:06,200 God had just proved his love and his power and his provision for his people and what 216 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,540 did they do? 217 00:16:08,540 --> 00:16:14,520 They were anxious because they didn't think. 218 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:19,280 Do you know the reason that lion tamers brought stools into the cages with lions? 219 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:20,940 I didn't know this. 220 00:16:20,940 --> 00:16:26,320 It wasn't so they could grab a seat if they got tired. 221 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:32,560 A lion could bat away the stool and it wasn't to jam the lion's mouth open if they got hungry. 222 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:39,560 No, the lion would see all four legs of the stool and their brains couldn't focus on all 223 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:40,560 four at once. 224 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,740 Isn't that interesting? 225 00:16:43,740 --> 00:16:51,000 The lion would forget it was a lion who could eat this tamer at any point. 226 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:52,640 And the whip wasn't to whip the lion. 227 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:57,680 It was to make a sound in the air, a distraction again. 228 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,360 And isn't that how you and I forget who we are? 229 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:08,440 Too many distractions, too many things to focus on, too many messages trumpeting up 230 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:13,400 the control we pretend to have. 231 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:20,800 In 1 Peter 5, 8, Satan is depicted as a prowling lion, but in this analogy, Satan is the tamer. 232 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,160 There's a spiritual reality behind the idols in our lives. 233 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:30,440 The adversary is trying to distract you, lying to you. 234 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,280 You will forget who you truly are. 235 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:39,200 Like Jesus says in the parable of the sower in Mark 4, the cares of the world and the 236 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:44,700 deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things choke out the word and it becomes 237 00:17:44,700 --> 00:17:48,200 unfruitful. 238 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:54,600 If we are connected to the vine, if we are in Christ, we will bear fruit and anxiety 239 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,680 is not one of them. 240 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:02,560 What we need to do is think. 241 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:08,360 When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and 242 00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:13,080 see him there who made an end to all my sin. 243 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:18,000 Look, think, remember. 244 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,840 Remember who you are. 245 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:26,200 If you're tricked into thinking you have control over your life, you will be anxious because 246 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:32,120 you have to ignore the shifting sands all around you and you will ignore it by making 247 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:38,360 good things into ultimate things and to serving them instead of the one who created you. 248 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:42,220 That brings us to the crux of the matter. 249 00:18:42,220 --> 00:18:49,120 You may be here and be wondering if God really does love you more than the sparrow or the 250 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:51,440 grass. 251 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,980 Maybe things have gone bad. 252 00:18:53,980 --> 00:19:00,340 Maybe you got that phone call or something else is happening in your life. 253 00:19:00,340 --> 00:19:07,000 Maybe you're going through a tough time financially and you find yourself kind of envying that 254 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:08,940 sparrow. 255 00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:16,280 I've never met a sparrow financial advisor or a sparrow debt consolidator or a sparrow 256 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,400 lawyer. 257 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,720 And you might be asking the question, does God really love me? 258 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:30,440 There are two things that God needs to say to us this morning and the first is a prayer 259 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,120 you already know. 260 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:39,800 A prayer just a bit earlier in chapter six, give us this day our daily bread. 261 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,320 That's the humbling part. 262 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:49,320 We're to be grateful for God's provision, not anxious about excess. 263 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:54,200 God does not tell us to pray for our daily cottage or daily vacation or if you're me, 264 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,040 our daily F-150 lightning. 265 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,920 God owes us nothing. 266 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:05,000 But I'm guessing not many of us are anxious about our daily bread. 267 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,280 Most of you know where lunch is coming from and if you don't, there's a barbecue right 268 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,200 outside. 269 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:17,320 Do you see the things that you have as blessings from God that you are called to be stewards 270 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,840 of? 271 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:24,480 On the other hand, I have prayed for provision for me and my kids that we could have our 272 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,820 daily bread. 273 00:20:26,820 --> 00:20:29,100 Maybe you've been there. 274 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:32,020 You are there. 275 00:20:32,020 --> 00:20:41,740 As those prayers were miraculously answered for me, my trust in the Lord has grown. 276 00:20:41,740 --> 00:20:47,080 We are anxious about so many things and yet we are not thankful for the very provision 277 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,400 we are experiencing. 278 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:54,360 Think about the power in your and my ability to take out your phone and order food from 279 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:59,400 almost any country in the world and it could be delivered to this room. 280 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,120 No emperor had that power in all of human history. 281 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:07,880 No head of state had that power 50 years ago, 20 years ago. 282 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:10,880 And are we grateful? 283 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,720 Many of us are anxious. 284 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:19,280 But Jesus' words in Matthew 6 are not meant to guilt us, they're meant to point us. 285 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,480 Point us toward him. 286 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:27,520 Point us that anxiety is a symptom of our hearts idolatry. 287 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,080 See that thinking can get us out of it. 288 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:35,040 And finally to experience the power over anxiety. 289 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,520 So what are we to think about? 290 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:42,680 Will gratitude over knowing that we have our daily bread really push out all the anxieties 291 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,160 we are facing? 292 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:45,580 It might help frankly. 293 00:21:45,580 --> 00:21:52,960 It might do for all of us to be more thankful but we have something more. 294 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:58,720 What we have to think about, what we have to consider in order to have power over anxiety 295 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:03,800 is not an abstract truth or a mere remembrance. 296 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,080 It's what 1 Peter 1.3 calls a living hope. 297 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,080 Something alive. 298 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:10,960 A hope for the future. 299 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,880 A hope from the future. 300 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,520 An anchor that holds within the veil. 301 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:27,420 When the future is shrouded in mist, a sure and certain, a living hope that holds us now. 302 00:22:27,420 --> 00:22:32,760 In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2, it's one of those verses I keep coming back to. 303 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:39,240 For the joy that was sent before him, he, that is Jesus, endured the cross. 304 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,440 See Jesus had a living hope. 305 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:48,680 Sure and certain that something on the other side of the cross was so worth it, would bring 306 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:55,560 such joy that it gave Jesus the power to endure both a brutal physical death and also the 307 00:22:55,560 --> 00:23:01,240 pouring out of God's wrath that Jesus experienced on the cross. 308 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:06,800 Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. 309 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,640 For what? 310 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:14,200 It wasn't eternal bliss in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit. 311 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,760 That sounds great but Jesus left all that to come and die on the cross. 312 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,600 So what was Jesus' hope? 313 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,520 His power to endure. 314 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,480 It was you. 315 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,840 What did Jesus gain? 316 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:35,000 What was added to the eternity with the Trinity from enduring the cross? 317 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,280 Who was Jesus' living hope? 318 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:45,800 You and me, filled with idolatry and anxiety, giving our hearts away to other gods, broken 319 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,920 and sinful. 320 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:58,840 Jesus thought of eternity with you and it gave him the living hope to endure. 321 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:05,920 When the Spirit of the Living God rushes into your heart, that is the anchor, the deposit, 322 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:14,120 the guarantee that your future, my future, is completely secure. 323 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:16,920 And no idol can give you that. 324 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,000 They can distract us. 325 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,320 They can lie to us. 326 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:27,080 Our disordered loves can cause anxiety in us but if God is your living hope, if Jesus 327 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:33,300 is the Lord of your life, you can remember who you truly are. 328 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:37,880 If you are Jesus' living hope, he can be yours. 329 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:43,480 Consider him so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. 330 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,640 Let me end with this. 331 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:51,600 I could understand if this sounds a bit abstract to you, if it sounds impractical. 332 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:58,040 The noise that anxieties make in our lives is loud and I know firsthand that it can be 333 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:03,320 more distracting than a four-legged stool to a lion. 334 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:09,400 But as deceptively simple as this antidote seems, I never truly put it into practice 335 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,380 in my life until everything fell apart. 336 00:25:13,380 --> 00:25:19,000 You know those Christian-y things you know you should do? 337 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,600 Reading your Bible every day, praying, those things that seem like a really good idea but 338 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,840 the cares of the world are pushing them away. 339 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:34,360 Those things, Christian disciplines, are not a prescription of how to fall in love with 340 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:40,560 God but they are a description of lovers of God. 341 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:47,860 Not a prescription to fall in love with God but a description of lovers of God. 342 00:25:47,860 --> 00:25:52,240 There was a time when my world fell apart and I was surprised to find myself in love 343 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:57,320 with Jesus in a way I had never experienced before. 344 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:03,600 All those practices which felt so far away, so impossible to live into with all the distractions 345 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:09,360 and anxieties I faced, they were suddenly a joy. 346 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:13,940 The true God of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else 347 00:26:13,940 --> 00:26:17,780 demanding your attention. 348 00:26:17,780 --> 00:26:21,120 Is Jesus where your heart goes? 349 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:25,520 Do you love him more than all these distractions? 350 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:31,600 If not, repent of your idols and turn to him. 351 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:37,120 If you want to love Jesus or if you want to want to love Jesus, if you want Jesus to be 352 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:40,400 your living hope, think. 353 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,520 What has he done for you? 354 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:47,600 How much has he proved it over and over? 355 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,360 You fearful saints, fresh courage take. 356 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:57,080 The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your 357 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,640 head. 358 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:04,560 Whatever your circumstance, no matter how crippled you are with anxiety, no matter how 359 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:13,960 much hope you need, let us recognize that the idols in our heart give us anxiety. 360 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:20,360 Let us remember what Jesus has done and how much he loves us. 361 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:27,560 If we were Jesus' living hope, he can be yours today and every day. 362 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:31,320 Let's pray. 363 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:37,860 Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the sacrifice of your son. 364 00:27:37,860 --> 00:27:45,080 May we consider him so that we may not grow weary and lose heart. 365 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,040 In Jesus' name I pray. 366 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,040 Amen. 367 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,480 Thanks for listening in to our sermon today. 368 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:56,040 We are so glad that we could share our message and the good news with you in this way. 369 00:27:56,040 --> 00:28:00,240 If you enjoyed what you just heard, can you please just take a moment to rate and review 370 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:05,240 our podcast as this will help us to continue to reach even more people. 371 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:10,400 Thanks again and join us next week for yet another question Jesus asked. 372 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:16,160 Today's sermon was taken from the August 20th, 2023 service at Trinity Church, Streetsville 373 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:36,200 in Mississauga, Ontario.