First Things First
Message Transcription
SUMMARY
In this sermon, Karl Ihfe delves into the importance of the word "therefore" in scripture, particularly in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He examines Matthew 6, where Jesus teaches about the "good life" and the dangers of misplaced priorities.
He then highlights Jesus' instruction to "store up treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:20) and the warning that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). He emphasizes that treasuring God above all else is key to living a fulfilling life and properly valuing other blessings.
Ihfe then focuses on Jesus' call to not worry about basic needs, trusting in God's provision. He points out Jesus' joyful nature and ability to be present in each moment, encouraging listeners to emulate this approach. The sermon concludes with a challenge to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33), prioritizing God's will and trusting Him to meet all our needs.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, we're launching into a new series this month called Therefore, and it's based on a question that my grad professors in seminary used to ask me and our classmates all the time, what's the therefore there for? You may have heard this question growing up in the church, if you if you were, and maybe not in other settings. But that's certainly what I want us to be thinking about. We're going to look at a few passages that we find, particularly the New Testament about, therefore, and what does this word therefore mean? And if you look up in the Bible or in the Bible, if you look in the Bible, it'll be there. But if you look in the dictionary, it will actually define the word therefore for you. And it does so a few different ways. It doesn't matter which dictionary you look at, but in some some form or fashion it's going to define therefore, as for that reason or consequently, or because of that, or to that end, what's the therefore. Therefore it's, it's to help connect some dots. And that's what I want us to try to do together today that the meaning of therefore is tied to what comes right before it. When you come across that word in your Bible, I invite you just to circle. If you have the kind of Bible you can circle in a circle there for us, because what that will remind you is what's said before and what's said after are connected.
Now you may be thinking, oh, that's great, Carl, but could you use it in a sentence? Could you help us grasp this concept by looking at a sentence? Sure. So I just, uh, was just brainstorming this week, and here's the sentence I came up with. The Texas Tech defense struggled to stop the ACU offense last night. Therefore, Coach Mack had to take extra blood pressure medicine in the second half and the overtime. Does that help clarify how how those two pieces fit? Is that too soon? Is that too soon? Kelsey. Okay. Kelsey's like no no no no no, not too soon. That what's combined or what's connected by the therefore helps us to understand why. What follows, therefore matters is by understanding what comes before and like the tech defense. We've got some work to do, don't we? Church? We got some work to do. As we think about who it is we're trying to become, as sometimes we forget what the therefore is there for. How do we connect those dots? Well, all joking aside, my hope and my prayer for this series is as we as we march through these five passages over the next five weeks together, that we'll get a chance to hear again with fresh eyes or fresh ears rather, and see again that these therefores help give some shape to our faith. They help give some shape to to how we're seeing and how we're integrating not only what Jesus is teaching us, but to begin living it out and expressing it in how we connect with and serve one another.
As I mentioned earlier, Brian and Jeremy did two great messages the last couple of weeks about this. Brian talked to us about the power of being present in the moment, of not letting these moments slip by, but actually trying to live out our faith in the very real day to day moment. Last week, Jeremy talked to us about the spiritual self-efficacy, this ability to take what's what's being given to us and begin to practice it in our lives so that we begin to see ourselves not just living out of faith that was handed to us, but living out our own faith in the world around us. Today, I want to draw us back to maybe the most important. Therefore, we find in Scripture the passage Karen read for us just a moment ago. And as you make your way to Matthew six, if you don't have your Bible with you today or or don't have it out yet, pull that out. Open up to Matthew six or open up on your phone. We're going to spend our time in this really familiar passage. And as we do so, I want to invite you to think about a question that I asked at the very beginning of this year. What is your picture of the good life What is that picture inside your head look like? I know we all have one, I have one, you have one.
It shapes what we do, how we live. To our new students who just began the last week or two here in college and university. It's shaped so many things in your life, you may not even realize it. It's shaped what your major is or what it will be. It's going to shape what classes you take each semester, and the kind of friends that you make and and your willingness to jump in and be a part of something that's bigger than yourself. In fact, that question helped you decide what school you would actually choose to go to in the first place. What is that picture in your mind of what the good life is like? Kaylee and I spent our first 12 years in ministry together, working with college students and born partly out of this desire, this question to help students who were who were trying to figure out how we're going to make a living to to think about, well, how are you going to make a life? What's your life going to be based on? What's that picture of the good life look like? I think this is part of what Jesus, his aim was in his sermon on the mountain, mountain, Mount Mountain, whichever you prefer. It's his picture of what the good life is really like. Of why it matters.
How we live, how we operate, how we act, how we talk, how we think. In it, he points to these realities of of living not only in this world, but he invites us to consider a world that's yet to come. That is almost, but not yet a world that is breaking through God's kingdom life that's beginning in the here and now. It's not just for one day out in the future when we die, but rather it's this life that we can engage in, not only now, but for eternity. And that's important because our picture of what the good life is, that's the picture that we pursue with our lives, what we believe about God, what we think about him and what we think he thinks about us. That shapes our picture of the good life. It shapes how we live and where we go. You know, as followers of Jesus, one of our core beliefs is that what Jesus teaches us about God is the real picture of God. If you want to know who God is, if you want to know what God is like, if you want to know what he thinks about you and the world around you and the people that you encounter every day. What we believe is you look at the picture of Jesus, who himself claimed to be God in the flesh, and how he treated others, and how he responded to situations, and how he dealt with crisis and anxiety and and frustration and struggle.
Jesus was the model for us. And he said, God is good, that the Heavenly Father. He is generous and he loves to give, to give good gifts to his children. And most of all, that he loves you He loves you so much. So much that he would kill. Wait. No. Not kill for you. Would die for you. Like that's how much God loves you. And that this kingdom that he's inviting us to live into. It's available to anyone, anytime. It's not just reserved for the rich and the beautiful and those whose lives always seem to be Instagram worthy. But it's to the messes like me and like you, that it's to the poor and to the weak and to discouraged and and the marginalized. That that kingdom life, that that good life. It's actually available to you and me, and we can live in it if we want to. And not only that, but this kingdom life. It's not based on behavior modification. It's not a list of rules that you just have to follow and hope you get enough right credit to pass to make your way in. But rather it's about transforming what's in here? In fact, that was Jesus picture of the good life. He taught that developing right relationships, how we treat one another, that honoring the promises that we make and and learning how to forgive people when those promises are broken or when when trust is broken, he says that's that's actually not a matter of just following rules.
That's going to come as the result of a transformed heart. A transformed life. In fact, he invites us in this sermon to move from the external appearance what others see when they look at us to the internal what's going on inside of us? Why am I doing what I'm doing? You see, he warns us about a couple of dangers that we're facing. And the first one is impression management. It's to make people think something of us that's not really true, that they might think we're better or smarter or funnier or more talented or more gifted, whatever it may be. Or there's this other danger of we're just going to try to manufacture our security for ourselves. We're just going to try to take care of me so I don't have to worry about you. I'm going to take care of me. The challenge in living that life is, well, we know it, don't we? We see it every day in the world going on around us. We can see it. And it's experience lived out in the news every night or every morning. Jesus taught that God is good and he's generous and he's trustworthy. And if that's the case, his kingdom is going to be marked by this. And so when we're struggling with what others think of us, or we're trying to engineer our own security, we're reminded that that we've stepped outside of that kingdom and we're trying to live in a new one.
So now, with that in mind, I invite you to let's return to Matthew six and think about, okay, this is what Jesus has been teaching and shaping and forming in us so far. He says this don't store up for yourselves treasure. Treasure that's on earth. Moths, vermin. They get to it. They they break it down. They steal it, right? Thieves break in and steal those kinds of treasures. But. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin don't destroy. And where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Again, if you if you have one of those Bibles, you can mark it and highlight this on your app. Tap that verse and hit the highlight button for where your treasure is. There your heart will be. See, Jesus warns nothing less than our hearts are at stake. And it's our hearts that give us direction, right that that help shape and form us to do so, he says, we have to take care of what we treasure because it's what we treasure. That's where we'll find our hearts. It's not the other way around. As much as we might like to think. And so, as Dallas Willard and others remind us, treasure is actually a really normal.
That's a human thing we were created to treasure. And so Jesus says the answer isn't to treasure nothing. It's to treasure the right things, or rather, the right thing to treasure God above all. And that's why Jesus said, the most important commandment is to love God with all your heart and your soul and your mind and your strength. Right? To treasure God above all. See, it's only when we do that are we able to learn how to treasure other things in our life relationships, the people that matter so much, the blessings, the opportunities that God gives to us. See, if we get out of whack, then we start to treasure those things more so and it changes how we live. And it changes the experience that people have when they encounter us. Jesus says where we treasure, or rather what we treasure, that's the focus we give to our hearts. And it directs not only what comes out of our mouth, but it directs how we live, how we operate, how we engage, or how we manipulate. It's the only way that we're able to do that correctly to treasure God. Then we learn how to treasure others. According to Jesus, we can't help but serve what we treasure. You can only serve one, he says. What's most important? See, unless God is first, then the things you'll have to do to impress others. If he's not, the things you'll have to do to try to manufacture that security so you feel safe.
Jesus says that's not the key to life. That's not the key. So we arrive at the first, therefore. And as I said, maybe the most important, therefore in Scripture, as we are about to read these words, I just want to ask this question. The question I was kind of wrestling with this week thinking about this passage. It's a question that N.T. Wright asks, has it ever struck you what a happy person Jesus was? Have you ever thought about that? What a happy person that Jesus was. Now I know we see these pictures in Scripture, especially in the garden, when he when he's overwhelmed with with grief and wrestling with God's will for his life. And we see that moment there. We, we, we remember that time when he gets off the boat and steps onto the water and he sees the people and they're like sheep without a shepherd. And we see those moments where Jesus doesn't minimize or deny the reality of life. But all of those moments were driven by this incredible joy that Jesus lived with. It's an amazing thing. As you listen to these words, I just invite you to imagine. What the life of someone who can actually say these words and mean them. What that might look like. Therefore I tell you. Don't worry about your life, what you're going to eat or drink, or even about your body, what you wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow or reap or store away in barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they. I mean, can any of you, by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They don't labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon the incredible, the incomparable Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry. Saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? I mean, Jesus lived with this belief, this intense belief that God was good. That he was really good and that he loved you. And he loves us. And he loved him. I mean, in the contrast to the philosophical teachers of the day who were so focused on the shadows and the negative and the gloom. Right. Does that sound at all familiar to some of the philosophers of our day? And yet Jesus, time and time again would return to these words. Don't worry. Don't worry about tomorrow. Now, here's the thing about Jesus is he was never willing to ask someone to do something he wasn't willing to go first in.
So he said, don't worry about your life. And he led by example. Have you noticed that as you follow him through the Gospels, have you ever noticed that he wasn't anxiously looking ahead? Rather, he lived present Brian Brunson. He lived in the moment. He lived with this belief that I could be radically present in this moment, not because I'm just trying to hold off of what's coming next, but but that this moment, it's a gift, right? It's it's a moment that you won't have back. And so he practiced living in it. You ever notice there's no stories in the Gospels where the person who just spent time with Jesus walked away and went, man, he would not get off his phone. Can you believe that guy? He never made eye contact with me, right? He just kept looking over, you know, those people who, when they're talking to you, they're actually looking over their shoulder to make sure somebody else more important hadn't come in the room, right? Nobody ever walked away from Jesus going, waste of time. Total waste of time. Instead, they walked away knowing They mattered, right? Jesus lived in those moments. It gives you a different concept of when. When the disciples are gathered and the parents are bringing their kids to Jesus to bless them, and the disciples are like, dude, get.
We don't have time for this. And Jesus is like, what are you talking about? This is exactly what we have time for, this moment right here. So, church, let me ask you, what makes it difficult for you to remain present in the moment? What makes it difficult for you to stay present? To not allow the worries or the concerns or the fear of what might be or what comes next? Or what about after this? Right. For for a lot of us, it's this device right here. Makes it really hard. Now, you may need to nudge your neighbor who's looking at one of these right now. Go. Hey, he's talking. Right. What makes it hard to stay present. Jesus was a master at being present and he wanted his followers to be the same. To be present in those moments. To make God their number one priority. You see, our God is not a God who doesn't care about beauty and life and food and clothes. We serve the God who created all of that. I mean, so much so that Jesus says, look at the flowers. They didn't do anything. They didn't have to go to the mall. They didn't have to make a hair appointment. They didn't have to go to hit their workout routine. They just grew. And look how beautiful every one of them is. Is an art piece. And Jesus reminds art. Aren't you more important than that? That's here today and thrown in the fire tomorrow.
See, God created a world full of beauty and wonder and mystery and An energy, and he wants us to trust him and to love him not so that none of that matters anymore, but so that we can actually experience it and be a part of it and see it when it comes to be present in those moments. Right? Some of you may have seen that not too terribly theological movie called vacation starring Chevy Chase, right? Do you remember that scene when they get to the Grand Canyon? And he's been fooling around in that store, and he steals all that money and he runs outside and she's like, Clark, don't you want to look at the Grand Canyon? He's like, okay, how many of us? We just have these moments in our lives where we're like, okay. And then off we go. We miss the moment. Right. And if we have a smart one in our group like Sarah, she's taking a picture. Click right. So we can go back and go oh yeah. Right. Or maybe it's. No, we take those pictures so we can remember. Oh, yeah. We do serve a good God who is faithful, who loves us. And he loves to give us good gifts. And he loves us when we enjoy his creation. You know, dropping Halley off and moving into this empty nester stage has been a thing.
Okay. It's like a thing. And some of you are going, yeah, we know you'll get over it. Yeah, I know. But one of the things that has made it easier to get over is Halley is living her best life, right? She's enjoying the friendships that she's making. And though the classes aren't all that she hoped they would be, you know, she gets to do it with people she really likes and enjoys. And so she's visited here and sends us pictures of all the different things she's doing. And we take great joy in seeing our child, like, explore the world and grow and become the woman that God's created her to be like that brings us incredible joy. Now imagine the father who actually created her and the joy that she's experiencing, how much joy it brings. And when she's wrestling with a hard thing and she has a friend come alongside her and say, it's going to be okay. Like, we can hang in there. Like the joy that brings the father. We know it because you have done it for for me. And we've done it for each other. And Jesus says, here's the thing don't worry about your life, about what you're going to eat or drink or wear. God knows. And he will provide. I mean, when he says, don't worry about what you're going to eat or drink, it's not that Jesus is saying it doesn't matter, right? Jesus enjoyed a party as much as the next guy.
In fact, if you read the accounts of what the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the teachers of the law accused Jesus of being. It was a glutton and a drunkard. Now, how did he get that reputation? By showing up at parties and people going. What's he doing in there? He's just like them, right? They often through this insult at him, and I think it was one he wore as an honor. Friend of sinners. He's just a friend of sinners. Why? Because he was around a lot of sinners, and their concept was, hey, getting around that bad stuff, it's going to infect you and you're going to be dirty. And Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no no no no no no no no. What's alive in me is so powerful it will infect them. It will actually cause them to stop and wonder why. How come he can come to a party like this and he doesn't have to leave wasted to have a great time? He doesn't have to get involved in gluttony to enjoy. He doesn't have to to engage in the sinful behavior, to walk away where people go, wow. Wow. What's the therefore? Therefore, church. I think it's about priorities are the first things first. See if we miss this. Here's what Jesus says. If we miss this, he says the pagans run after all these same things. If we miss this, we end up spending our lives looking like people who don't even know God look like.
Just invite you to step back this season, right? We all know what's coming November 5th. We know what's coming. And just ask yourself, do you see different behavior in the church? My followers of Jesus, are they acting differently because they know and love and trust and follow a God who is good and who provides and who cares about his people. And as it demonstrated in the lives that they live and how they respond to to questions and to concerns that are their priorities. Right. Maybe another way. So then Jesus says, but seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom and God's righteousness, God's right living his way of life. And all these things that were tended to want to worry about, they actually get taken care of. God knows that we need them. And then here comes that word again, verse 34. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Right. Each day has enough trouble of its own. You see, to many in our world, the idea of living without worry and anxiety, it seems impossible. How is that possible? Right. And we can stand alongside them and say, I know without God it's not. It's not possible. But with God, Jesus said, anything is possible. God, I pray that it would be possible this week for us to live this kind of life.
I pray that you would teach us and show us through, in and through the life of Jesus, that anything is possible. It is possible to live without worry or fear, even though there's much to worry about and there is much to fear in our world. But as we put our priorities right, as we learn to put first things first, to remember God that you are good and beautiful and you are so gracious and you love us so much that you weren't willing to sit by and watch any of us perish. Instead, you provided a way out. Through the amazing Jesus Christ. God, I pray that we would be gripped by that reality again today. And whatever we're facing, whatever challenge or circumstance, God, that you would give us eyes to see it in light of this remarkable promise that nothing can separate us from you. It doesn't mean we're not going to go through hard things, and that we may not need some help. And so, God, would you give us as as the church eyes, to see ways that we can be your helpers, your helpmates, as you've called us to be, your hands and your feet in the world, that we would be quick to rush in to offer aid and assistance and love and joy and peace. Not worrying about what we're going to eat or drink or wear, but instead seeking first your kingdom. God, may we seek you first. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.