From This Place | Chapter 6, Episode 2: Matthew 6:33-34

Join Vicar Luke and Seminarian Justin as we continue with Chapter 6!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey good evening, DLC fam. Uh, welcome back to another episode of the Monday Night uh podcast. We're in episode two of season uh of chapter six, excuse me, where we're breaking down some scripture, knowing that in now just two weeks we're gonna have a testimony from uh somebody over at Chapel of the Cross uh who had to learn a lot of things in her life. One of those things was how to trust in the Lord. And so uh seminary and Justin, could you break down the scripture a little bit, read it for us, and we'll we'll talk about uh what Jesus had to say here in the book of Matthew.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Yeah, so our passage today comes from Matthew six, uh thirty-three through thirty-four. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah, that's right. Uh Justin, I love that opening line. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. There's a lot of things we seek in our lives, right? We're we're always looking for the next thing. I know, uh, Justin, at least for me, I'm a I'm a kind of person who loves to look for the next thing. Uh some people have said I have shiny object syndrome, right? Like I just love uh new things, the new announcements I get excited about, whatever it is. Uh, and I spend a lot of time seeking after those things. But that's not what Jesus says here, right? Jesus says, seek first the kingdom.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah, and it's definitely not like our fault for seeking first the things that are new or the things that are around us. Like our culture is constantly shaping us for that. We've got like look at Apple uh constantly putting out the new iPhone saying, You gotta have this, you gotta have that, or maybe you gotta have these earbuds or these headphones or something, or you gotta have the new car. There's always something new, and everything around us is pointing us towards anything else but the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, right. And so we we seek after those things. And I think also, Justin, uh, when we get anxious about something in our lives and we have uh a hard time trusting, right, in what's coming next, uh, we seek after the things that we know will will give us uh some peace. We all have that thing in our life, right, that we know will give us a little bit of peace, but that doesn't mean it's good for us all the time, right? So we we easily slip into using the wrong things, acting the wrong way, treating people uh poorly, right? Because it's all uh as a response when we get anxious about what's going on in our lives.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah. Uh we kind of sometimes justify any bad behavior or any uh mistreatment of others or not doing the right thing just for the sake of I don't want to be anxious. And so let me find my own peace, looking for peace in the wrong areas.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, absolutely. Uh I love I love it says seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. So God isn't saying, Jesus isn't saying you can't seek other things, you can't look for other things. It's okay to get enjoyment from some of the things here uh uh on earth, but the truth is when we first seek seek the kingdom, uh the things that fall after that, uh we we realize um right, we want them to be things that are holy and good, because the kingdom, uh first, that's what defines us, right? And and the truth is here too, um the kingdom, the thing we're seeking, it's not that we're seeking it uh that we get to choose when we find the kingdom of God, right? Yeah, Jesus has always been there giving us his kingdom, giving us his his power, his love, his his presence, all of those things. And when we seek first the kingdom, it's not us saying, I'm choosing to go after the kingdom now. Instead, it's it's us realizing what Jesus has already given us, what God has already given us.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

When God placed us here at church, and the things that happened through the ministry at Bethlehem and other churches in the area.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yeah, that's right. And so that's part of our our call is seeking first the kingdom. Yeah. And so it looks like coming to church on Sunday mornings. That's a way that we can seek first the kingdom. We can say, God, whatever else is going on in my life, I'm gonna start my week at 2153 Salisbury Street, right? Worshiping here every single Sunday morning. There's other ways throughout the week. Uh, right, we read in other parts of scripture, pray continuously, right? Uh, and we we know that doing these things, uh, it's not to give us something more, but it's as a response for what Jesus has already given us.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah, and I think what's cool about this verse is seeing the ways in which Jesus acts this out and the way other people fail to act this out. And what comes to mind with me is Jesus and the rich man, where all these people they want to come up to Jesus and they want to be like, I want to follow you, I want to inherit the kingdom of God, I want they think they're seeking God, and then Jesus says, All right, give up what you have, put these things to the side, these things are obstacles in your fat and your in your path to follow me. Give them up and follow me. But people just can't do that. Yeah, they put their possessions, their family, anything before God. Yeah. And Jesus says, You gotta put the kingdom of God first.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Right, yeah. This is the most important part of our lives, is the kingdom of God. Uh, and again, when we put it first, that doesn't mean that we're sacrificing family. That doesn't mean we're sacrificing these things, but it means it's the kingdom of God will shape every other part of our lives, right? So when we seek first the kingdom, when that's the first thing we're receiving uh from God, a gift that He is freely giving to us, we can then go out and we can say, Now my life is shaped by this. So the way I treat my family will be shaped by the by the kingdom seek. The way I the kingdom I I sought first.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

The way I use my wealth, the way I use my resources, yeah. That gets shaped how we see after following Christ and when we put him first.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

That's right. After that, it says all these things will be added to you. So, Justin, does that mean I'm gonna get everything I want?

SPEAKER_01 5:44

No.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

So, what what does that mean? All these things will be added to you.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

That's a good question. That's a that's a tough thing to think about. We think with the disciples, like they sought first the kingdom of God. Yeah. And then we look at their lives. They didn't, it wasn't all peaceful and easy after that, but rather they all faced martyrdom for their faith. John was exiled and uh lived the rest of his life on an island seeing the vision. But I think that John seeing that vision, that having that martyrdom, that's something of what it means for all these things will be added to have that assurance of faith that even to the point of death, it doesn't matter because Christ has conquered the grave and then he rose from it. Yeah. And that's what's added to us the defeat of death and the defeat of the fear and anxiety that comes with it.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah, that's right. So it's not so much, right, that we we get everything we want here on earth, because we definitely will not get everything we want here on earth. What it does mean though is uh that the promises that God has given us through his son's death and resurrection, right, uh, is that we will uh we will receive the kingdom one day. We will uh the day we leave this earth, right, we will we will fall into the rest of the Savior, and then when we open our eyes again, we will be with Jesus in paradise. Amen. Yeah, there's just nothing better than that. Yeah uh Justin, this is what I wanted to get to today. Uh verse 34, therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Uh I've said this a couple times on the podcast, I'll say it again today. Justin, when you see a therefore, the first question you have to ask is, what is it there for? So if we read this scripture, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So when we've sought the kingdom, when we know that we've received these gifts that God has given us, right, in uh through the promise of eternity, we now, therefore, we don't have anything to be anxious about. So we shouldn't be worrying about tomorrow. We should just trust in God, right? Yeah. But Justin, the truth is there are a lot of things to be anxious about here on earth. So how do we balance that when we're trying not to be anxious? Because the Bible just told me, Justin, don't be anxious. But the truth is there's a lot of really good reasons, and uh some of us really battle with anxiety in our lives.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Yeah, it's a natural thing that comes to us uh in a fallen world that we have anxiety, that we have fears with that. But something that I like about this is that this is the word of Jesus, and yeah, he doesn't just uh preach and leave the word to be it, but he he walks the talk. He he follows us. And Jesus, he had a lot to be anxious about, yeah. Being fully God and fully man, he knew what was to come, he knew that he was gonna eventually go to the cross to take on our sins, he knew that people were gonna be rejecting him, he knew that I'm gonna be giving a message the next day, and there will be a crowd that will want to stone me or throw me off a cliff. But even then, Jesus is saying to not be anxious, and he was able to walk in that. And so, what does that mean to be able to walk with Jesus and not have that anxiety?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Yeah, yeah, but the truth is, uh, right, we we will continue to battle with these things because this is a broken world, and uh, and if you are battling with anxiety, uh, that's a real thing. And we want to make sure you know that there are resources for you in a in a battle like that. So here at Bethlehem, we have uh a wonderful counselor, uh, a couple of them, right, that work in our basement. And anxiety is something that's very real. Uh and when we read a verse like this, it says, Do not be anxious, that's not God saying something like he's punishing us for our anxiety. Uh instead, what we can read here is that God is saying that he is supplying us with what uh we need uh for tomorrow, and he's giving us the promise, or for today, and he's giving us the promise that he'll always be with us, even in our anxiety, even in our fears, even in uh uh the days that it's hard to trust him. So if we if you are struggling with anxiety today, God promises that he will be with you in it. Uh and he gives us wonderful resources like a counselor uh to talk to about anxiety and uh what uh what to do with it.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yeah, and uh these aren't just nice, like sugar comfy words that we're saying, but these are literally the words of Christ that he says in the Great Commission. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and I will be with you always until the very end of the age. That's not just not just seminary in Justin, not just seminarian Luke's kind words to reassure you, but it's the very word of the living God who speaks that to us.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, that's right. Justin, it ends right here sufficient is the day uh for the day is its own trouble. So there's plenty of trouble every single day. I know you know that uh watching this today, I know you've experienced that. There will always be trouble. There will always be something going wrong. Um, but the truth is God has promised to always be with us. Uh He's all promised, right, in the Great Commission. He's never gonna leave us, never forsake us, and he's calling us to trust in him. And trust looks like saying, Lord, uh, you have given us your kingdom. I will seek that first. I will wrap my uh life around it. I will trust that you have something better for me. Maybe not here on earth, right? Uh, but certainly uh in eternity.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

And the kingdom to come. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

That's right. Well, thanks so much for joining us uh tonight on another episode of the Monday Night Bible Study. We're just uh two weeks away now from getting to see uh uh a testimony from somebody who had to learn how to trust in God. And so we're really excited, really looking forward to that. Uh, there's plenty of things throughout the week that you can get involved in. Uh we have Bible studies here in person, food pantry. We are always looking for volunteers, or if you're in need of the food pantry, come on uh through. Uh there's so much, right? So much to do throughout the week. And then always on uh Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. Uh we have uh Sunday morning worship and we'd love to see you there. Yeah. Enjoy the rest of your week, and we will see you next time.