Where Is Your Treasure?

You can go ahead and be seated. Go and grab your Bibles. We're going to be jumping into Matthew chapter 6 and uh continuing in our series called What is Truth? What is truth? Because again, in an age that doesn't understand what truth is or doesn't know what truth is, um they're trying to figure it out. And they're trying to figure it out by what we just kind of refer to as relativism, which is just whatever you think it is.

Okay? And and this isn't anything new under the sun. Uh culture today is not recreating or redefining truth for the first time in history. Uh this has been going on forever. Uh literally go going all the way back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. They were revealed truth by God speaking to them and telling them exactly who they are and what they can do that would lead to a life of flourishing.

And so knowing knowing who God is, knowing who you are, knowing what you can do is what helps you lead to a life of flourishing. However, Satan came into the garden, deceived them, ultimately told them what God said isn't necessarily all that there is. That's not the truth. And you can actually redefine the truth. You can do whatever you want to do. And whenever you do what you want to do, you'll then actually have greater happiness, greater joy than what you think you currently have.

And by buying into that lie, buying into that deception, they didn't lead a life of flourishing and vibrancy and thriving, but instead sinned and brought on death and destruction and despair. And so when we don't know what the truth is and we just try to create the own truth for our own lives, it never goes well for us. And so for us being in a society right now that's trying to figure that out. That's why we're landing in once again coming back to answering the question, what is truth? Because we want you to know what the truth is so that you know who God is. you know who you are and you know what you need in order to actually live a life that is flourishing, thriving, vibrant, exactly what God created for you.

And so today's topic that we're going to be looking at is this idea of of what we treasure and then what also creates for us anxiety. All right? And if you're an anxious person, you can say thank you for preaching a sermon on anxiety. If you're not an anxious person, then I'll just also rephrase it and say stress because I've never met a person that's not stressed about something. Same thing. All right, we're dealing with the same things when it comes to this topic.

And so I titled this, "Where is your treasure?" Because as Jesus continues unfolding and unraveling and just revealing truth to his disciples, he's going to attack something very specific in culture that people are putting their trust in that is then creating all kinds of stress and anxiety that is running rampant. And so if we want to ever solve the stress and anxiety situation that we're dealing with in culture, we have to solve the treasure aspect. We need to understand what that is and what we're actually supposed to treasure. And so before we get there, let me open up with just kind of a little illustration for you. I want you to imagine just the wealthiest person that you can imagine in the world.

someone who has all the money and resources that they that they could ever possibly acquire for themselves. I want you to also think about them having the biggest most impressive mansion that you could imagine. I want you to think about the driveway with all of the cars that you could possibly collect. I mean, the best of the best. And I think anything that would be the best of the best has to at least be 40 years old or older. Anything newer than that is not the best.

Um, at the same time, I want you to think of someone who has any access to be able to travel anywhere they want to travel at any moment in time because they have their own private jet. Think about that type of person. But one day, think about that person, their health failing, and then all of a sudden, they're gone. They're gone. And then a few weeks later, what I want you to think about is what typically happens when someone has spent their whole life acquiring and amassing this enormous wealth. Usually they don't have anyone to leave it to.

And so I want you to think about the fact that now someone is coming in and they're just going to sell the estate. And so now all this money that was acquired is going to either be donated or given away to people who didn't earn it or work for it. All the cars that were collected are now going to be sold to people for a fraction of the cost probably. And people that don't even know the name of the guy who spent his life collecting these. At the same time, the house is now going to be like this was somebody's dream home now is going to be someone else that's just going to come in and live it and paint the walls however they want to paint them and put art, new art on the walls and redo it however they want to do it. Literally strangers are going to come in and take for themselves everything that this individual spent a lifetime amassing.

And at the same time, all of those like well-crafted suits that he probably created or collected or had custom fitted are just going to be thrown into garbage bags and thrown into a storage closet. Everything he spent decades working for, gone in a weekend. Here's the haunting truth. What he spent a lifetime acquiring, he couldn't take a single thing with him. He couldn't take a single thing with him. Now, that's not just his story.

That's our story. That's every person in this room. It might have less zeros in the bank and it might not have private jets that you're waiting for at the airport, but it is every single person in this room because Jesus tells us in Matthew 6, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up treasures in heaven." In other words, what you build your life on can only do one of two things. It can only fade away or last forever. That's it.

What we invest in can either fade away or last forever. And so today, I want to ask a simple but life-changing question. Where is your treasure? Where is your treasure? And what would your heart look like if it were anchored in something that could never be lost? Never be lost.

Let's read it together and then unpack it. And give me one second. 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 yourself 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. 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. And if then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Now, let's stop there for just a second before we continue on.

Jesus begins with just a simple but piercing observation here. Everything on earth is temporary. And we know this like like there's not a person in this room who I think is dumb who's like, "Hold up a second." Like that I'm going to have a U-Haul with me on the way to heaven. Like there's no one in here who thinks that. Who who knows that?

Yet when we think about what actually gives us anxiety and stress, it's tied to this reality that we think what we need in life is more than what we already have. Like what what gives us stress is money and house and cars and materials and clothing. Now those are material things, but there's also other things that come into that as well when it comes to status. when it comes to what we think would be considered wealth. And what he's saying here is he actually really attaches three things to it. Moths which eat fine clothing in their day and age, rust which corrods even the strongest of metals which primarily were their silver and gold.

And then thieves that break in and steal what you thought was secure. When you spend all of your time amassing your clothing, which presents your status in the community, when you spend all of your time amassing your silver and your gold, which provides you the pleasures of life, they're also saying, "Yeah, and anybody at any moment can break in and take it from you. Take it from you." No matter how beautiful or expensive something is, what Jesus is really attaching here or attacking here is the fact that it is vulnerable. It's vulnerable. And so I want us to let that sink in for a moment.

The house we spent such a long time either finally buying but then also renovating, eventually it's going to be someone else's starter home. This is true. Like the house we live in right now, which is a house that we bought knowing that we can raise a family in it until they go off to college. But before it was our house, it was actually a frat house. There were like four guys living in the house sharing it. And so the reason why I also know that is because when I go in, every single room has the little because we don't paint everything.

Like when we moved in, it's got the little black spots on the door frames where they had their pull-up bars on them. It's in every bedroom. I'm like, were they just doing pull-ups in every bedroom? What was going on here? That bank account that you have or a 401k retirement, one recession can wipe it out. Even the relationships and the accomplishments that we cherish, good as they are, cannot ultimately satisfy or last forever or just last forever.

Like, it's just true. It's why we say we have childhood best friends, but they're not your best friends anymore. Like there are seasonal friends that we have because they just don't last forever. Nothing lasts forever this side of eternity. But notice something. Jesus isn't shaming us for having things.

So don't hear that. He's just warning us about trusting them. He's saying, "Don't build your life on what cannot last. Don't build your life on what cannot last. Because then in contrast, what Jesus does is he invites us to store treasure in heaven. Treasure where moths can't touch, where rust can't corrode, and where thieves can't steal.

And so what does that mean? It means investing your life in what will matter for eternity, which is ultimately knowing God deeply, loving people well, and then advancing his kingdom. In other words, treasuring Jesus and helping others follow him. Someone asked me one time like, why do we why do we call our mission statement, why is it treasuring Jesus? Why isn't it not like glorifying God or following Jesus or pursuing him? Because where your heart is, as the scripture says, is where your treasure is.

Or where your treasure is is where your heart is. Same thing. Because what we worship is always going to have at the end of it an object. Like every single day, I don't have to tell you to worship. You worship every single day. It's just the question is what are you worshiping?

What are you giving your attention and your time and your talent and your resources? What are you what are you investing in every single day? And it's answering that question. And that's why he's he's drawing on not necessarily things that would be like, well, eventually we'll get to that. He's drawing on everyday ordinary things, clothing, food, relationships, because that is what's ultimately, when you really think about it, at the end of the day, what causes you the most stress is going to land in one of those categories. It's either your work that is providing for you the money that you need in order to be able to buy clothing or food or resources, drinks, homes, etc.

So all that's wrapped up into one thing. Another thing is always going to be relationships. Are our relationships causing us stress and anxiety? And that's why again the the fruit of the spirit isn't necessarily material things, but it's emotional, mental things. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. The fruit of the spirit doesn't say more money.

Instead, it says patience when you don't have enough relationships. Be loving and you'll have more. Usually, someone who is hateful doesn't have a lot of friends. Someone who's arrogant doesn't have a lot of friends. And so the fruit of the spirit is helping us navigate what we actually have in life. What he actually is providing us when it comes to food and clothing and and resources so that we can steward them and manage them well.

Why? Because we're not supposed to worship those things, but we worship him. We worship God. When we're worshiping those things, which just means we're trusting in them to satisfy us, they're never going to measure up. They're never going to measure up. There's no amount of money in your bank account that will ever allow you to have or feel like I'm secure.

The reason why I know that is because now there like there's no one in this room I believe that would would land in that category where they're like, "No, I feel like I feel like I've already made enough in order to live out a lifetime and even provide for my children and even my grandchildren as Proverbs would say." But when you actually ask the question to people who aren't believers, who have amassed an enormous amount of wealth, I remember there's a Tom Brady article uh or interview where they were asking him about the Super Bowls and about essentially like his his wealth and what he's amassed. And at the end of the day, he he was like, I I'm I'm not satisfied. I'm not happy with it. He's like, there's got to be more to life than this. And he didn't.

It's essentially he's searching but doesn't know what he's searching for. Doesn't know what he's longing for. Why? Because he doesn't know the truth. However, I heard another interview this last week by someone who is a believer who does have the right perspective and is today going to he I'm just naming claimment. He's going to win the Open Championship over in um Ireland right now.

But Scotty Sheffler, he has a four-stroke lead heading into today, the fourth final round. But in an interview before they started the open championship this week, they asked them a simple question. They're like, "Are um what is satisfying about winning championships, winning majors, winning tournaments, and amassing this enormous amount of wealth?" Because he's he's made a ton of money in the last two years because he's been the number one golfer in the world for 150 weeks straight. And he said, "The most frustrating thing is that you spend your entire life preparing for this moment and when you win, you get to celebrate it for two minutes and then you're on to thinking about the next tournament." And so he literally said as they're interviewing him, he literally responds with, "I don't even understand the point anymore."

To which then they said, "So what do you do with that?" And he said, 'Well, for me, he said, 'I know that my purpose and my identity is rooted in Jesus. And so, the value that I hold is not tied to how many tournaments that I win and whether I'm the number one golfer in the world, but instead my purpose is to honor and worship Jesus because he is my identity. He is my savior. He is what satisfies me. And then to rightly manage and steward what he's blessed me with.

And so, he talks about his talent in golfing. He's like, "And I'll rightly manage and steward that and do it to the best of my ability." But then also, he is a husband and a new father. And he literally responded and said, "The day that golf puts a strain on my relationship with my wife or raising my son, I will walk away from it." And the media responded and said like, "Hold up a second. You're the number one golfer in the world.

you're the only person in this modern era who actually can be somewhat compared to what Tiger Woods was doing 20 years ago. And they said, "If it started straining your marriage and your family, you would walk away being the number one golfer in the world, being able to go after an accolade." And his response was, "I will never break Tiger's record because I think he understands it's not about that." And I'll go on record saying this. I know it's being recorded. When you look at what happened in Tiger's life behind the scenes, he didn't have the wisdom to walk away.

He put it first. Scotty has the wisdom to be able to walk away because of what he sees and is rightly perspective on what he's worshiping and going after. This is what Jesus is looking at when he's talking to his disciples because he knows the greatest temptation that they're going to have is to build status, what other people think about them, to build wealth so that they can buy whatever they want to buy. And he's saying you cannot trust in those things because in the end of the day, none of it is going to help you in the afterlife. None of it none of it's going to help you in heaven. you you can't bring it, but instead how you manage it actually is what helps you store up true treasure in heaven.

It means every act of obedience, every prayer, every generous gift that you make, every moment you choose faithfulness over comfort, none of it is wasted because it is being stored up as a reward for eternity where moth and rust cannot come in and destroy. Essentially what he's saying is is is the intimate relationship that you have with the father here and now and also for eternity is the only thing that is going to begin alleviating the stress and anxiety that trusting in material worldly wealth and possessions was never meant to actually provide for you. It's only going to be found in Jesus alone. So Jesus isn't calling us to live for a lesser joy. Because I think from a worldly perspective, that's what people think Christians do. They think Christians give up getting to live life to the fullest by following Jesus.

I mean, I remember that when I was in high school and I was trying to evangelize my football buddies and I would tell them, "Guys, you you got to follow Jesus instead of following girls." And they were like, "No, no, no. you know, I'll I just want to live it up. I want to have a lot of fun right now before I do the boring Christian thing. And I'm like, you're idiots because this thing over here, y'all keep talking about how all it is is just frustrating and it's negative and it makes you feel bad and all the and I'm like, and you think you're living it up when over here I'm like, I was that person who thought that th those things were going to be and then I met Jesus and all of a sudden now I'm like, I'm the happiest I've ever been. I like I feel like I'm having fun.

I feel like the relationships that I have that are encouraging and edifying, like they're making me see that there is something greater in life than these temporary things. And so, none of it is wasting. Jesus isn't calling us to live for a lesser joy. He's calling us to live for a better and greater joy. A joy that lasts forever. I'll say it this way.

If you live for and trust in Jesus as your greatest treasure, then you will have in this life an increasing joy that is then perfected in glory. It's just preparing us for what we get. But if you live for and trust in money and materials as your greatest treasure, then you will have an increasing anxiety and stress. The reason I can say that is because look at verse 25. He says,"Therefore, I tell you," and when you see therefore in scripture, it is a connection of thoughts or what scholars refer to as an indicative imperative dynamic, which is basically saying because of this truth, live this way. The indicative describes the truth and the imperative tells you how to apply it to your life.

So Jesus has just shown us two paths. one that clings to earthly treasure and it ends in darkness and one that seeks heavenly treasure and it's full of light. And he's told us we can't serve both of them. We will either serve God or we will serve money. And now he says this little word that changes everything. Therefore, in other words, because you have a father who loves you, because your life is more than what you wear or eat, because you belong to a master who never fails.

Therefore, you don't have to live in worry. You don't have to live in worry because of who God is. If your treasure is earthly, you'll always be anxious, afraid of losing it, afraid of needing more. But if your treasure is in heaven, if your eyes are fixed on God and his kingdom, you can live with peace even in uncertainty. If you're trusting in money, you're never going to have enough. Let's just be honest.

You're never going to have enough. If you're trusting in what other people think about you, relationships, friendships, you're never going to have enough. They're never going to be the perfect friend for you, there's then never going to be enough friends because you're looking at that one friend saying, "You're not being the best friend, so I need to have more friends." And then you're like, "What's the number?" And then all you do is just like, it's like a body count. You're just going through friendships trying to find God.

And that's what the world is doing. That's what we're all doing. But when God is your resource, when God is your friend, now you get to rightly steward and manage all friendships because you're not expecting from them what only God can provide for you. And that's why he says, "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?" And then he gives a couple of examples here that are meant to strengthen your faith in believing in this truth.

Just want to tell you that out of the gate. He's going to give you examples here that are meant to strengthen your faith because what he's going to do is he's going to talk about two things that are insignificant in order to explain to you the significance of his relationship with you. Okay? Look at the birds of the air. Insignificant. Look at the birds of the air.

If Ransford was here, I was going to ask him, "What's the what's the dumbest, most annoying bird on the on the planet?" I actually think he might refer to it as like a house sparrow or something along those lines. If he listens to this, he can correct me later, but but essentially, he says, "They neither sow nor they reap, nor they gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them." the most insignificant thing that you can think about. He says it's still they're on the father's mind to make sure that they are taken care of, that they are provided for. And he says, are you not more valuable valuable than they?

And which of you, just hypothetically speaking, which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? What good is it? What does it do for you? And also, why are you anxious about clothing? Which again, you're like, "Well, I've got more than enough clothing. I I don't ever actually am worried about what I what I like how whether I'm going to walk around naked every single day.

I don't I'm not worried about clothing." Are you? Because if you have enough clothing, why are we buying new clothing? Why are we still shopping? Why did I tuck my shirt in today? because it makes me look like I'm smarter than I actually am.

Maybe not. I don't know. Why do we dress ourselves the way we dress ourselves? What are we worrying about? And that's what he's tying it to. The way that they were dressed was a symbol of their status in the culture.

And so, it was absolutely something that they were anxious about. If you're going to go to a job interview, you're probably not going to show up dressed like you're about to mow the lawn outside, right? Like you're thinking about those things. It's still tied to this this idea, this mindset. He's just taking it to the nth degree of of whether or not you're worshiping what you look like and what other people perceive of you. And so he says, "Consider the liies of the field.

Consider the liies 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 clothe the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh 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.

Which is kind of a smack in the face to the Jews because he's saying like you're acting like those who don't even believe there is a God. Like that's what you're acting like. You're acting like there's not a God who has said, "You are my chosen people and I'm going to provide for you. You're going to be my people and I'm going to be your God. I'm going to take care of you." Instead, you're acting like the Gentiles.

You're acting like the pagans. You're acting like the ones who are worshiping anything and everything in order to try to find some satisfaction from it. Your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things that you worry about, they'll be added to you. They'll be you'll be taken care of.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Jesus doesn't just tell us to not worry. He gives us pictures that reveal why we don't have to, why we don't have to. Again, birds, they don't have retirement plans. They don't hoard food in silos.

They aren't lazy either. They work and they toil for the day, but God makes sure that they're always provided for and taken care of. They're never abandoned. Each day there's worms, there's seeds, there's resources provided in creation by the sovereignty of God for things that we consider insignificant unless you're answered. If God's ordinary care for simple sparrows is this consistent, how much more intentional is his care for you? Someone who bears his image, redeemed by his son, adopted into his family.

Like when God looks at you, he calls you a son and daughter. Like if you're the son and daughter of the father who created everything. Do you think his heart posture and character is going to be I just want them to struggle their whole life? Do you think that's his posture towards you? Or do you think his posture would be, I want them to know and experience how good I am, and I'm going to lavish them. I mean, it always comes back to that story of the prodigal son and the good father in that story.

This the the story isn't at all about a prodigal son who squanders his father's wealth. It's also not about the older brother who gets mad. It's about the goodness of a father who gives to a son what he does not deserve, but it's because of the good character and the lavish love of a father. So whether we're the older brother who feel like we're doing all the right things and therefore think we deserve something or we're the younger brother who is doing all the wrong things but then is a bit nervous coming back to God because we've sinned against him. We just need to look at the father and his reaction. He intreated both sons and said come to the party.

Come to the party. I want to lavish my love on you. That's the father. That's what he does. That's what he does for us when we worship him and not anything else. Look at the liies of the field.

Biblical liies, often referred to as the Easter lily, are usually only in bloom for two to three weeks out of the year. Literally, they they are just the most temporary thing that you could think about. Here today and gone tomorrow. Yet God in his sovereignty wants to array them in such a way that they consider it to be one of the most beautiful flowers in their day. Why? Why would he take the attention to do something so beautiful that was so temporary?

Once again, to remind us that even Solomon's royal wardrobe couldn't match God's simple artistry in a lily. Like that's amazing because when we think about earthly wealth and and this isn't just a biblical perspective, this is also a Jewish historian perspective. is that the wealth of Solomon, King David's son, we have not seen the likes of it even in our modern era of billionaires like Elon Musk or Bill Gates. I mean, these guys look like just children investing with pennies compared to the wealth that Solomon possessed. And so this man who's able to put on himself anything that would promote status, Jesus is saying what God does with the liies is more impressive. More impressive.

And yet even it is still drawing us in to see how much more will he beautify you and clothe you and take care of you than what he does with these liies. God doesn't just barely keep us alive. Although it feels like that sometimes, right? It feels like that. He doesn't just barely keep us alive. He adorns us with beauty.

He lavishes care on what is fleeting. So if he clothe a flower that lasts just two to three weeks with such extravagance, how much more will he take care of you? Who again will live with him for eternity? For eternity. Now how does God specifically alleviate worry? Because that's really the question that we're asking here.

How do we treasure Jesus and how does it alleviate anxiety and worry in our lives? Well, there's a couple of things here because again, the birds aren't lazy. Okay, the birds aren't lazy, but you need to know a few things before you do some things. The first thing you need to know is that God sees you. God sees you. He sees you like he knows you.

That's why I think Psalms are so important when it talks about how you are wonderfully made in Psalm 139. How he knows every hair that's on your head or that used to be. He knows everything that you I'm just I'm just No, I won't go there. But he sees you. If he notices every sparrow that exists, how much more does he know you? Does he study you?

Does he watch you? Does he pursue you and seek you for relationship? He sees you. Number two, God sustains you. God sustains you. Like you need to believe that.

You need to believe that if he provides daily food for birds, he'll give you what you need for today. He might not give you more than that, but he'll give you exactly what you need today in order to fulfill the purposes that he's called for your life that lead to you not having stress and anxiety, but having flourishing and thriving life grounded in him. When you look at the Apostle Paul, and again, this this isn't going to be an attractive thing to say if you're trying to build wealth for yourselves. But if you're looking at the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul literally had everything that used to be status and privilege and wealth stripped from him because he started following Jesus instead of following the way of the world. But as soon as all that was taken away and he was now investing in the purposes of God, which was treasuring Jesus and helping others follow him, you couldn't you couldn't mess with this guy.

It's like nothing phased him. It's like if if if they're going to whip him and and like conquer him or torture him or whatever it is, he's like, I'm thankful. I'm so I'm so happy that I get to participate in the same suffering that Jesus participated in. Like I I I find it an honor for you to stone me multiple times. I'm actually so happy that you are going to do the 40 lashes minus one. Like I get bit by snakes whenever I pull up from a shipwreck.

And yet I'm looking around and I'm thinking, man, life's actually pretty good. pretty good right now. Like it it just it's frustrating. And so that's when he gets to Philippians and he says, "For me to live is Christ and to die is game." It's frustrating for everyone else around him because they're basically saying if we leave him alone, he's going to preach Christ. But if we try to kill him, he's going to say to die is is gain and and and he's going to go home and be with Jesus.

And so no matter what we do, he's happy because he's with Jesus. And that's the point. That's the point. That's the point of our whole life. And every day when we wake up in the morning, we are met by the enemy just like Adam and Eve were in the garden. I think every day is Genesis 3 on replay.

Every single day is Genesis 3 on replay. What are we going to listen to and what are we going to believe and what are we going to apply to our life? Because if we listen to the enemy and we say, "You're right, man. If I could just make some more money, that would satisfy my soul." And so, here's what I need to do in order to make some more money, in order to satisfy my soul. And then what do we do?

More money, more problems. Okay, it's not money. What I need is just better friends. What I need is a better church. What I need is a better car, better house, better spouse. It's not working out great for the astronomer CEO right now.

I wonder how many pastors are going to mention him this week in their sermons across the country. That's not working out. But every single morning we wake up with the temptation of exactly the same lie that the devil preached in Genesis 3. And so what are we going to do? Are we going to listen to him or are we going to listen to the truth? The truth.

God values you. The enemy doesn't value you. You need to know that God values you infinitely. You're not just another creature. You're not a sparrow and you're not a lily. consider them, but understand that you are more valuable than they are.

You're his beloved child. You need to know that God beautifies your life with grace. He doesn't just help you survive. He wants you to thrive. He wants you to thrive. And so if you feel like you're not thriving, then we might be believing a lie, trusting in something that's not Jesus, not abiding in him, but abiding in something else.

And every single day, every single day is this spiritual warfare that we are going to experience. I'm going to tell you right now, the people who see it and can understand it and crucify the things of this world and believe in Jesus and the resurrection of him and what he has for us and abide in that and trust in that and just say, "Yeah, we're not going to we're going to throw off everything that entangles us and we're going to worship Jesus in this moment and we're going to rightly steward and manage those things." Absolutely. We don't want to be dumb that God God tells us what to do with money. God tell and we'll get to that as we continue on through the sermon on the mount. But he's going to help us walk through those things so that again we're worshiping Jesus and not things stuff.

So worry or anxiety is ultimately forgetting who your father is and it's also forgetting who you are. The only reason why we have worry and anxiety is because we forget who the father is and we forget who we are. Now you say, "What if I have like childhood trauma? What if I had something that happened to me? What if I again what would that you can just categorize all of that under the banner of sin?" Sin.

Now, do you need therapy to work through some of that? Maybe counseling? Absolutely. Like, do you need help working through some of those things? that might be deeprooted family of origin stuff. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Work through those kinds of things. So long as whoever the therapist and counselor is is helping you understand from a biblical perspective that this is collateral damage of sin in the world and it doesn't make it it doesn't cause you to be broken forever. But Jesus who has come to defeat death, sin, and evil is also a reconciler and restorer of all things and is making all things new. And so anything that has broken us or fractured us or has caused us to not think clearly or to not think correctly or to not be able to sleep or not be able to rest or not be able to thrive or not be able to be happy or not be able to have joy in our lives. Whatever those things are, Jesus is greater than it.

and has defeated it and is inviting us to say if you come and commune with me and abide in me. That's why following Jesus and Christianity is a relational component. It is not a religious component. It is not just saying, well, this is my church, therefore I'm going to be a joyful person. No, it's not going to work that way. Just saying I'm a Christian doesn't bring joy to your life.

Following and abiding in Jesus does bring joy to our lives. And so what what I'm always going to say when it comes down to that is again reading the Bible doesn't make you a Christian. But not reading the Bible exemplifies you're not a Christian. You see what I'm saying there in the difference? Like just doing the things doesn't make you a Christian. But if you do believe in Jesus Christ because you are a Christian, you want to know this good Jesus.

You want to know this good savior. You want to know who he is like, what his heart is about. Like when you fall in love with someone, you want to know about them. Like for those who who have spouses in this room, could you imagine if when you met them and fell in love with them and agreed that, hey, we want to get married, and they handed you a book that says, here's everything you need to know about me. And you said, thank you so much. I'm going to cherish this my all the days of my life.

But what I'm also going to do is I'm just going to set it on the bookshelf over here and I might get to it here and there. I'll have a little 10-minute quiet time once a week. But I love you. I want you to know that I love you and I'm on your team, but I don't want to know you. Could you imagine that? That's crazy.

Now, that's not real because we don't do that. We don't even know ourselves enough to be able to write everything about ourselves in a book and give it to somebody. But you know what we do to get to know each other? We go on dates, right? We spend time with one another. We talk to each other.

Like, could you imagine? And and I've said this before, like when it comes to like us communing together as a body of Christ in order to hear from God what he wants to communicate to us about his good character and what he is about. On any given Sunday, it's about 50% of our church that actually attends on a yearly basis. And and I mean this is a Jesus juke. So just receive it, feel it, remember that God loves you. consider the liies, all that good stuff.

But just know if you were going to plan a time with your spouse where you're going to say, "Hey, once a week, I want to date you. I want to go on a date with you once a week for the next year." And you only show up half the time, I think it's going to affect your spouse. Right. Right. For those who in the in the room, if you're if you have friends and you say, "I want to I want to show up and just hang out with you once a week for the next year."

And you schedule the date, but you don't actually show up, that's going to affect the relationship. Jesus invites us to abide in him, not from a legalistic perspective. Get that out of your mind. Like I think I hate Christianity that says when we tell people to read their Bible and to pray more in order to have a greater relationship with Jesus, we attach legalism to that. That's dumb. I'm just telling you that the person who wants you to have the greatest joy in your life, who wants you to thrive in your life, wants to spend time with you, and the only way that that's going to happen is by you spending time with him.

I'm trying to help you with that. I'm trying to help you see that you're not going to get it like like um detached from Jesus, but just hoping that he somehow just makes you happy while you're over here stressed and anxiety and all of of managing and stewarding the money and the relationships and this and that. Like you're going to struggle if you're not spending time with your savior in relationship with him. That's why I'm going to give you one last quote. We we'll close it out here. Corey Tinboom once said, "Look at the birds.

They're they're not worried about what they will eat. They're always singing." like when you go outside and actually I heard this yesterday because it was like a day that I had the opportunity to sleep in u because our kids weren't at home. Having the opportunity to sleep in, all I could hear were birds outside my window just chirping away, just singing away. And it's like and I and I l I like woke up. It was like 5:30, 6 o'clock and I was like frustrated and then I remembered this is what I'm preaching and literally I remember this is one of the quotes that I'm going to give is that listen to the birds singing and I'm like I'd really love just more sleep right now but Lord you're wanting to meet with me right now because I'm you're giving me a literal literal um visual and and hearing illustration of this point is that you want to meet with me and you are greater than sleep.

You're greater than money. You're greater than anything. And so, we need to reenter our treasure. Not clinging it to earthly things, but clinging it to Jesus. We need to refocus our vision. Again, your eye, whether it's light or dark, it's only going to be light if it's on the light of the world, Jesus.

You need to rehearse your father's care. Just look around like let the birds when you hear birds chirping, just let it be a reminder that he's he sees you. He loves you. He wants to lavish you with his grace. And then repprioritize your life. Like what?

That sounds like a lot of work. Yes, it is. Just start with number one. Seek first his kingdom. Seek first his kingdom. Seeking the kingdom first doesn't mean you neglect your responsibilities.

It means you place them under God's rule. When his kingdom is first, everything else finds its proper place. And to be honest, you actually then do them better. It's just true. Like if making money is the problem, it's probably because you're not good at it. But when you are rightly having a good identity that is with Jesus, abiding in him, and you're a joyful person, you're thriving in relationship with him and you're maturing not just in your faith spiritually, but you're maturing in your image of God, how he created you, how he wired you, the gifts that he has given you, actually then allows you to then do better the things that he's created you for.

It's just crazy how that works. And so this helps this which again where's the then what do you have to worry about exactly you don't. So this week before you plan your schedule or your check to-do list or start your day begin by reading a psalm. Start in Psalm one. Just begin by reading a psalm and praying, "Father, how can I seek your kingdom first today? Consider the liies.

Look at the birds." Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you so much for your goodness to us this morning. I want to thank you as you help us realize that we are anxious people. We are worry. We worry all the time.

We stress about things. We stress about money. We stress about resources. We stress about relationships. We stress about our jobs. We stress about our church.

We stress. We are stressful people. And God, we we I don't think anyone in this room wants that. We want to be people who are calm. We want to be people who are satisfied. We want to be people who are thriving and vibrant because because you are our greatest treasure.

And Lord, we know that we can't be lazy in this. We want we want to pursue you. We want to dine with you. We want to be in relationship with you. We want to we we we want to hear, as weird as it sounds, we want to hear how your day was. We want to hear what you're up to.

We want to know what you're doing in our life and how you're beneath the surface. You're doing 10,000 things that we can't even see or understand, but we want to try. Lord, would you meet with us? Would you meet with us and help us glorify you and worship you so that we would be satisfied? Would you help alleviate our anxiety, our stress, and just help us become people who are loving and patient and joyful and kind. We need your help for this.

It's in your name we pray. Amen.