LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2020 am
MATTHEW 6 VERSES 25 - 34
I am sure this week has been one we have met with different emotions. Turn on the radio or the television, lift the newspapers or read on social media and you will know that this week has seen much by way of bleakness, very dark. Yet again many are cut down by the virus, many have spoken of the death of their loved ones. Restrictions have now been imposed on us so that we are unable to visit our loved ones and sit with them. We are no longer able to sit on a bus or train and have a conversation with the people beside us without masks on. There are many things to discourage us. Redundancies and places closing down never to open again. Matthew 6 speaks to our hearts. Jesus is saying "I do not want you to be overly concerned about the things that are happening around you. There are times when we do get concerned and worried. That is natural. The Lord is speaking of over anxiety, how sometimes we misinterpret it. Paul writing to the Thessalonian church who asked about their loved ones who had passed away said "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13) Why can we say we don't have to be over anxious - our God is still in control.
It is firstly because of our identity - verse 32 "your heavenly father" - what a wonderful relationship. We do not have to be unnecessarily worried because we are his children. Have we made that decision today? Is the great creator God your heavenly father? He spoke the word and everything came into being. He is our heavenly father today. Have we made that decision to follow him? Joshua coming into the promised land told the people "choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24 verse 15) Isaiah 43 verse 21 says "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise." Elijah was hidden in the brook Cherith. God told him to go there and that he would be able to drink from the brook. Morning and evening God promised to send the ravens with bread and meat for Elijah. God remembered where Elijah was. Elijah did not doubt God's provision. Maybe there is something in your mind today, maybe doubt in your mind, you feel that God has forgotten you. The Children of Israel were in the wilderness and started to murmur "would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." (Exodus 16 verse 3) They thought God had forgotten them. God provided the manna for them every day in the wilderness for 40 years. God has not forgotten you today. "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psalm 84 verse 11) We are people of God today and have no need to be anxious.
We also have the power of God - verse 32. God knows what you need right now. "The Lord knows the thoughts of man" (Psalm 94 verse 11). Think of the 4 men who brought their friend to Jesus one day. They lowered him through the roof to where Jesus was. Jesus said to the man "thy sins be forgiven thee." Do you know your sins forgiven today? Have you confessed your sins, repented of them and know forgiveness today? There is a separation because of our sins today. Jesus came to die for our sins, he died to take away our sins. As that man was lowered to Jesus, Jesus knew he needed to have his sins forgiven. The people and the leaders that were in the house were angry. They said "who can forgive sins but God only?" They didn't realise that God was in their very midst. "And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?" (Mark 2 verse 8) Jesus knows where we stand today. Gideon was a young man raised to deliver Israel. He was grinding wheat when the angel came to where he was with a message from heaven. "The Lord is with thee." Would that not have comforted his soul? Not for Gideon. "Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" He felt the Lord was against them. Maybe you feel there are things happening in your life that you think God doesn't really know or care about. We allow ourselves to become anxious. The parable of the sower and the seed - some fell in the thorny or weedy ground. The word of God gets in but the cares of this world choke the seed. God's word is being choked in our lives. We are getting overly concerned about things in our lives. We are told we cannot add one cubit to our lives through worry. The German word for worry means to strangle. In the book of Esther Mordecai had a lot to be concerned about. He was living in Persia when one day information came to him that the king would be put to death by 2 men he trusted. When he heard these words he sent word to Esther who informed the king. The incident was recorded in the journals for all to see. There was another plan being hatched by another man in the palace. Haman was a man with an awful hatred for Mordecai. He hated all the Jewish people with a passion. Haman was elevated to a great position by the king, everyone would bow down to him except Mordecai. He hatched a plan to put Mordecai to death and every Jew in that province would also die. We read in Esther 2 that Mordecai sent word to save the king and it was recorded in the king's book of chronicles. In Esther 5 Haman complained to his wife about Mordecai and she told him to build a gallows to hang Mordecai on it. In Esther 6 verse 1 we read "on that night the king could not sleep". He asked for his book to be brought and read to him. He read about the incident where his life had been threatened. Then he asked if anything has been done to thank this man who had saved his life. Imagine the power of God to put it into the head of the king to not be able to sleep and then read from the book about Mordecai. He asked Haman "what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?" Haman thought he was talking about him and said he should be given the king's horse to ride and a crown put on his head, then one of the king's noblemen should accompany him down the street. The king then told Haman to go and do that to Mordecai. God overturned the whole situation in the kingdom of Persia. Mordecai lived and Haman was hanged on the gallows he had made. The Jewish nation was saved. Why should we worry today - we are the people of God and we have the power of God.
The providence of God. He knows what you need and when you need it. Did you notice the little word "but" in verse 33? Rather than being overly concerned or worried God tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God". God cares for you and me. He still provides. Is there something on your mind today that is weighing you down? Maybe over these past few months and weeks you have felt God has forgotten you, forsaken you. Remember the widow woman in the Old Testament. Elijah was sent to stay with her. He asked her to bake him a cake. The woman was so worried about her own situation. She had only enough to make one cake and told Elijah that she planned to make enough for her and her son and then they would die. Elijah told her to make a cake for him first. When she listened and obeyed Elijah she had enough meal every day to continue to live. God had been placed first and God honoured her as a result.
The promise of God. "and all these things shall be added unto you." We do not have to worry about tomorrow because it will look after itself. Maybe we might have more bad news tomorrow but we should not worry about it. Deuteronomy 33 verse 25. God gives us enough for the days that lie ahead. Are you in a relationship with Christ? Do you look to him every day? Do you need to come and refresh your relationship with him today? Maybe you need to surrender your life once more to him. Maybe you have never made that first step of accepting Christ. Come and put your faith and trust in Christ today.
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