Matthew 6:19-33 [NLTse]
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in Heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
22 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.
Sermon
Anybody here use a daily planner or calendar to schedule your days? What would your schedule look like if God were in charge of it?
Most people’s schedules are filled with the meetings and appointments and things we all have to do to keep our grades up or to not lose our jobs. And then we add to that what we have to do to not upset our parents (or our husbands or wives), and to keep up with our kids, etc.
What would your schedule look like if God were in charge of it? What if your schedule were working to help you become the person you know God wants you to become?
We’ve been talking these past weeks about being faithful managers of what God has entrusted to us. It’s true that when people think about what God has given them that many often only think about money. But what about our time? What about our talents and abilities? Our marriages have been entrusted to us. Our children have been entrusted to us. Yes, of course, our wealth and possessions have been entrusted to us. But so have our popularity and our influence. So have our intellect and our accomplishments. And if you think about it, a person’s daily planner is filled with these things: The choices each one of us is making for how we are going to spend our time and how we are going to invest our talents and abilities. What will it be today? Will we invest in our wife or our kids this afternoon? Will we work or will we play? How much of God’s guidance do you seek in putting together your work, school, or personal schedules each day?
I want to tell you about the power of our daily planners. A fellow I know wanted to become a pilot. So he wrote on his daily planner the word “airport” every Wednesday afternoon from 3:00-4:00pm for six months. Now, of course, this fellow had to make some phone calls, and he had to study the manuals and do the coursework, and, of course, he had to go to the airport every Wednesday for his lesson, but because he wrote the word “airport” on his daily planner on each Wednesday for six months he got his pilot’s license!
This fellow wanted to become a pilot. What do you want to become? What matters most to you in life? What matters most to God?
It’s pretty well agreed upon by all variety of different pastors and Christian scholars that God’s priorities for us are as follows:
1) He must be first – our highest goal – our most important relationship, because out from our relationship with Him will flow a right order and direction for everything else in our lives.
2) Our husbands or wives are to be in that second place. The Lord has made us one with our spouses, so that relationship is intimate to who we are once we are married, and because our relationship with our husband or wife shows the world Jesus’ relationship with His Church it is of the utmost importance to keep it strong and healthy, as well.
3) Then our relationship with our kids comes next, dependent upon us as they are.
4) Then our work and ministries and other family and friend relationships, and on and on…
So, scheduling our days can become a holy endeavor. I say that because, although American culture puts a lot of emphasis on getting things done (and so we American’s can tend to see our calendars as daily plans for getting our things done), calendars have the massive potential for helping us become the kind of person we know Christ died for us to be.
In our reading from Matthew 7 the Lord Jesus says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” Our Lord – our leader’s – priority for Himself and for us is “seeking the Kingdom of His Father and our Father”. His priority for Himself and for us is “righteous living”. How well do our calendars and schedules reflect your and my becoming “God first” men and women and boys and girls? Our becoming “righteous”? Are Jesus’ priorities our priorities? If not, why not? But if so, then do our calendars and schedules make that clear so that the whole world might know?
On a pretty regular basis folks will come up to me after Worship and tell me what a powerful Service it was. Sometimes different ones will add, “And I almost didn’t come!” What do you mean, “you almost didn’t come”? What kind of a person do you want to be? The Lord Jesus was always in Worship. Luke makes clear that it was the Lord Jesus’ “custom”, His “habit”, His “regular practice” to be in the synagogue during Worship Services. If our Lord, our Savior, the One Whom we are following, if He had church so firmly plugged into His weekly calendar then why don’t we? The power of our calendars to help us become more like Christ!
What do you want to become?
Do you want to lose weight and get healthier? What difference would it make to write “Working Out” somewhere every day or every other day on your calendar? Is the Lord calling you in a new direction or into a new profession? What difference would it make to write “Night School” somewhere regularly on your weekly schedule?
What would your schedule look like if God were in charge of it? Who is He calling you to become?
I have some Commitment Cards that I’d like to hand out. I want to challenge each of us to consider how the Holy Spirit might be calling us to put the Kingdom of God first in our lives, and to live more righteously. You’ll see there are options for reading the Bible (or reading the Bible more), for praying (or for praying more), for always being in Worship, for tithing (or for giving even more), for growing or serving or sharing our faith more with others… The intention of this Commitment Card is for us to take it home, for each of us to prayerfully fill it out. (You’ll see there is a blank side on the back where you are asked to include some details about your commitment.) And then bring it back next Sunday and hand it in along with your offering during the Collection.
A commitment is not really a commitment if there is no way for anyone to hold you accountable to it. That’s why marriage is a public commitment. That’s why citizenship is a public commitment. That’s why proclaiming our faith in Christ is a public commitment. They are all public so that those around us can hold us accountable to what we’ve committed.
And the elders and myself want to help you keep these commitments, to help support you and encourage you as you begin including some of these spiritual disciplines on your calendars, as you grow n putting the Kingdom of God first in your lives, and as you live more and more righteously. We want to collect these commitments and pray for you as time goes by. Sometime next year – maybe in February or April – we hope to reach out to each of you and ask you how your commitment is going. Not to pick on you or to check on you but to encourage you and to help you along, if we can.
Jesus said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”