Key Verse:
Matthew 6:32-33 NASB
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But [a]seek first [b]His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be [c]provided to you.
A New Quarter…. A Confident Hope
As the summer quarter begins, allow me to first reflect on the spring session. The last series of lessons provided an excellent survey of key Old Testament prophets. Additionally, the last quarter provided an excellent overview of key events surrounding the fall of Israel, then Judah as well as a look at the exile to Babylon and the return of the Hebrew refugees from Babylon.
All of that sets the table for who comes next: Jesus. To begin the quarter, we will begin with Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount, where He ushers in a new dispensation, the dispensation of Grace. A message so profound, that its origin could only have come from the heart of God. Whereas the previous session demonstrated the futility of Israel’s continued political maneuverings and the hopelessness that beset them because of their continued disobedience, Jesus’ appearance in Galilee, then Samaria signaled the beginning of a new hope, first to the Jews, and then to … us.
Let us begin:
Matthew 5:3-5 NKJV
3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the [a]earth.
Let me begin by introducing the audience. As a public speaker, you must always consider your audience. What is their situation? What are their concerns? Why did Jesus start with them? In the first several stanzas of this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ words identify His listeners as the least of the least in Israel. The beauty of His message to these who have been discarded by society is that He both identifies with them and offers them the opportunity to identify with Him, thus affording them (and us) the eternal hope promised to those who await his appearing.
Matthew 6:25 NASB
25 “For this reason I say to you, [a]do not be worried about your [b]life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?
The condition of hopelessness brings unbearable stress to the human psyche. Shared hopelessness creates an atmosphere of despair that seems unending, inescapable. The mental and emotional health of the hopeless is measurable. Mental illness becomes the norm in the community. Poverty and hunger add to the crushing despair that permeates these communities. Take any of the many ghettos worldwide as an example. Despair, or rather, desperation is the order of the day. Worry, a close associate of fear, is a product of an environment of hopelessness.
These were those to whom Jesus preached. His words, infused with hope throughout, encouraged His listeners to put off worrying… first. Would it change their immediate situation? Probably not. The more important question was: would it change them? Yes. The very first result of a release from worry is emotional and spiritual well-being. Jesus offered peace. God ordained peace.
Matthew 6:26 NASB
26 Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they?
Jesus affirms his message by pointing to the heavens and to the birds of the air; the ease and grace with which they fly through the air in defiance of gravity. In doing so, they challenge our understanding and fuel our imagination. While they must forage for food in various ways, they don’t worry. In fact, by flying, they communicate to us the very message God intends: the possibility of the impossible. How wonderful is God, who creates and sustains such wonders as the birds of the air, who can literally escape the bonds of Earth at a whim? Thusly, Jesus encourages His listeners that they are loved by God above all else in Creation.
Matthew 6:27 NASB
27 And which of you by worrying can add a single [c]day to his [d]life’s span?
Conversely, Jesus reasons, how does worrying help? What problem has worry ever solved? Has worry ever built anything of any use? Has worry ever produced a positive outcome? While Jesus’ words may cause some to reflect on past or present episodes of enduring worry, or even panic, His calming tone draws from them a dawning understanding of a new way: a way that brings surcease to their many sorrows.
Matthew 6:28-29 NASB
28 And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Jesus continues by juxtaposing an example of the lilies of the fields with His earlier example of the birds of the air. By doing so, He both compares and contrasts two dissimilar things. While the birds of the air thrill our hearts and fuel our fantasies with the beauty of flight and the freedom that it intimates, the lilies of the fields have no such freedom. Anything planted is just that: planted. The vegetation that covers our Earth is firmly affixed to whatever physical location from which it sprang to life. Those lilies that Jesus alluded to were probably within plain view of His audience as Jesus spoke. Their beauty, their splendor was on full display before them. And again, Jesus’ words offer very simply, yet profound truths: the flowers of the fields certainly don’t have the ability to care for themselves yet nothing made by man compares with their beauty.
Matthew 6:30 NASB
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
Jesus then again turns to a rhetorical challenge to communicate to His audience that this new truth, this good news that He offers is available to even the least among them. Those whose hope heretofore has been crushed by the cruelest of life’s circumstances.
Matthew 6:31-32 NASB
31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
This chapter and this segment of Jesus’ message builds to a close with Jesus encouraging His followers again to put off worry… forever. Permanently. Be done with it. And again, Jesus uses the mechanism of juxtaposition to compare this new, better way that He offers to mankind, as opposed to the way of the gentiles, exemplified by a lust for material wealth. Greed fueled by an innate, dysfunctional insecurity that results from godlessness. Greed, as manifested by the gentiles, is actually symptomatic of psychosis, mental illness. Worry is a byproduct of said psychosis. Or to put it another way, worry is a symptom of our sinful nature. It has been with us since the Garden of Eden.
Matthew 6:33 NASB
33 But [e]seek first [f]His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be [g]provided to you.
Jesus invites His audience to a better way. He invites them to become His followers and follow the examples He sets before them to seek His Father, God, His Kingdom, and His Righteousness. His promise: in the same way God provided for the birds of the air or the lilies of the field, He would provide for them.
2 Corinthians 1:19-20 KJV
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Matthew 5:6 NASB
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
In essence, If I were to use the analogy of whether a vessel were half empty or half full, Jesus’ message promises that He will fill their vessels ... and our... to overflowing...
Matthew 6:34 NASB
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will [h]worry about itself. [i]Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus brackets this segment of His sermon, closing with the same simple thought that He began with, “...do not worry…” He does so with a figure of speech the personifies the thought of an unknown future by stating that His audience must allow the future to “worry about itself.” Jesus cannot remove the uncertainty that awaits them on any given, future ‘day’. His message of comfort to them… and us is that we don’t have to be held captive to the dark images of our unfruitful minds. Rather, we can place our trust entirely in God, Who will never abandon us. Isn’t that Good News? Yes, it is.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB
5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Matthew 5:8 NASB
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Selah,
wb
The following poem was written years ago by a gentleman who was both a pilot and a poet. In the very famous poem below he described the freedom, he experienced while engaged in flight. How so similar to the liberty we have attained through the precious gift of Grace afforded us through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew –
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
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