World to Kingdom
Matthew 6:19-34
Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien - May 15, 2022
INTRO (SLIDE 1)
If you were lost, and I said, “Just look at a map,” what immediately comes to your mind? Probably your phone! Today, a map is a GPS guided app on our phone. In the old days, a map was a piece of paper that no one ever knew how to fold back up once you opened it!
The trick to using an old paper map is orienting yourself. You literally needed to find which direction you are facing and then make sure the paper map in your hand matched your orientation or you would get really lost.
This was achieved by using a compass. Anyone actually used a real compass before? Its a dying art! Today, if you get the orientation off on Google Maps, you can simply tap on the compass button and it puts the map the right way…way too easy! The key here is that a compass orients you to a fixed point. That’s how you know where you are and where you are going.
The same is true for navigating in a boat or in an airplane. But the key feature that orients you to a fixed position in a ship is the horizon. The horizon never moves, and it gives you a steady and fixed vision of what is up and what is down, whether you are pitching or rolling or yawing.
There is a philosopher named Charles Taylor who says that every one of us needs to have a “horizon of significance.” This means that human beings are wired to rely on a fixed point in order to orient our lives. Taylor says that without a vision of a solid and steady horizon of ultimate meaning and purpose, our lives become disoriented.
You see, when you’re flying or navigating a ship and you lose the horizon, you can be in real danger. This is exactly what has happened in our world and in our culture.
Let me be very straightforward here about what we are going to learn this morning: The Kingdom of God is our horizon of significance. Without orienting ourselves to God’s kingdom and His righteousness, we will not know whether we are flying upside down, sideways, or careening toward the ground to crash.
But in the gospel, we come to know the ultimate fixed point that is trustworthy and true, the only way to know where we are and where we are going, and the single person to whom we can orient our lives: King Jesus!
Friends, we are going to learn this morning from Jesus’ own words in the Sermon on the Mount about how radically the Kingdom of God will change your perspective and priorities. Jesus is going to challenge whether your focus is on Him and His Kingdom, or whether you have given your heart over to building your own kingdom or being consumed with worry about the things of this life.
Open with me to Matthew 6:19-34. (SLIDE 2a) Again, we will be reading a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that is in Matthew 5-7.
ORG SENT — In this passage, we are going to see Jesus address two heart-level issues: (SLIDE 2b) First, he challenges us not to have a divided heart (vv. 19-24), and (SLIDE 2c) second he calls us to reorient our hearts to be concerned about his kingdom (vv. 25-34).
Friends, these two matters of the heart are so applicable to our culture and the issues of our day because Jesus is going to talk about the idol of materialism, and he is going to talk about anxiety. Both of these are incredibly important barometers of faith, revealing who we serve and who we trust.
Let’s read. READ Matthew 6:19-34.
Remember, we are going to talk about two things: a Divided Heart and a Reoriented Heart.
MAIN 1 — Divided Heart (vv. 19-24). (SLIDE 3a)
In this opening section, Jesus is identifying a problem that we have. And in order to help us understand the problem, he uses three metaphors: treasure, light, and servitude. Let me walk you through these for a moment:
Treasure (vv. 19-21) (SLIDE 3b) — Jesus describes earthly treasure as something that can be destroyed and something that can be stolen, whereas heavenly treasure is durable and secure. Corruptible v. Incorruptible.
Light (vv. 22-23) (SLIDE 3c) — Jesus explains that if your eyes cannot see, your experience of the world will be merely darkness. In the ancient world, your eyes were a symbol of understanding, of clarity in your mind. Being unable to see meant you didn’t understand. Light brings awareness, clarity, and wisdom.
Servitude (v. 24) (SLIDE 3d) — Here Jesus says very bluntly that you cannot serve two masters. It’s either God or money, you’ve got to pick one.
Why is this important? Why does Jesus use these three metaphors? Well, we need to ponder for a moment the things we consider treasure in our culture. These are the things we think will illuminate our lives, they are the things we serve as masters.
Easy ones: money, cars, boats, houses, clothes, and so many other material goods.
More covert treasures: maybe you treasure your reputation and personal accolades, a better job title, winning arguments, travel experiences, beauty or youthfulness, romance or feeling wanted, raising perfect kids, or maybe you treasure your autonomy so much that you can’t sit under authority. There are so many things we can treasure and elevate to prime importance our lives.
Look at what Jesus says about these things: He says in verse 21, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He is talking about what you love. He is talking about what you worship.
Here’s the point: Jesus confronts the idols of your heart and he says that there is only one person worth treasuring, only one person who can bring light and understanding, only one person who is worth serving: God in the flesh, Jesus Christ!
(SLIDE 3e) In Jesus, we have a treasure beyond compare, we have light that overcomes darkness, and a glorious King to serve who died and rose again!
Today, by repentance and by grace through faith you are welcomed into God’s presence, forgiven, restored, given new life and new hope!
Tomorrow, we will have the treasure of our resurrected bodies, a renewed earth, no more crying, no more pain, no more sin, no more death! We have the treasure of the eternal face-to-face presence of Jesus, his perfect power, peace, holiness, justice, and love surrounding you and filling the new creation to overflowing forevermore!
ILLUST — Warren Wiersbe, a brilliant pastor and scholar from Chicago from about 40 years ago, really helped me understand this concept of storing up for yourselves treasure on earth versus treasures in heaven. He speaks to the spiritual consequences of what we do.
This is what Wiersbe says — (SLIDE 4a) “Investing your heart in the things of this world will result in spiritual loss. You will be trapped in spiritual poverty.”
APPLY: Friends, we need to radically change how we view building up treasure because it is a reflection of whether we are spiritually rich or spiritually poor. Here are two ways we can be kingdom-minded with our resources: (SLIDE 4b)
We can view things with Kingdom Leverage (SLIDE 4c) — It means we use all that we have for the glory of God. We leverage all our resources for the kingdom.
We can steward things for Kingdom Returns (SLIDE 4d) — It means we measure returns in terms of the glory of God. We expect our lives to pay spiritual dividends.
Let me take Weirsbe and put it in the positive: (SLIDE 4e) “Investing your heart in the things of God’s kingdom will result in spiritual riches. You will be showered with spiritual blessing!”
KEY — Ultimately, the question is about worship. It is about what you have given your heart to. It is about what you desire. This is why Jesus turns to talk about reorienting your heart.
MAIN 2 — Reoriented Heart (vv. 25-34). (SLIDE 5a)
This next section begins with the word “therefore,” which means that Jesus is moving into application. He wants to take the problem he identified in us, a divided heart, and now show us what that looks like when it is applied, or lived out.
The focus of this section is captured by a word Jesus repeats 6 times: worry. (SLIDE 5b)
We need to spend some time on this concept of worry, being anxious, because anxiety is a pervasive issue in our culture. We are going to talk about this issue today and next week when we look at Philippians 4.
Anxiety disorders affect over 40 million adults and 7 million kids every year.
Many millions more feel worried or anxious in response to stressful circumstances or traumatic experiences. I’ll admit, I’m prone to worry and to anxious thoughts.
Right up front, I want to make a few things very clear about what the Bible says about worry:
FIRST — When Jesus says, “Don’t worry,” in this passage, he is not saying that your material needs are not important or that you don’t matter. In fact, he is saying the exact opposite! You matter so much to God that he will take care of all your needs! (SLIDE 5c) So don’t let a lie creep into your mind that you don’t matter to God. As Jesus says in verse 30, “If God clothes the grass of the field…how much more will he clothe you?”
SECOND — When Jesus says, “Don’t worry,” he is is not saying that worry is always sinful. (SLIDE 5d) This word “worry” in the Bible can be used both positively and negatively, and it can be helpful to use different English words to help us understand the nuance:
Positively = Concern (SLIDE 5e) — Paul uses this word in 1 Corinthians 12:5 to explain that members of a church should have concern for each other. In other words, they should care deeply about each other and come together in unity to help each other in the Body. This kind of worry is wonderful!
Negatively = Anxious (SLIDE 5e) — Paul uses this word in Philippians 4:6 to say that we shouldn’t have anxious fear, but that we can bring our concerns before God in prayer. This kind of worry is a misplaced apprehensiveness that usually drives us to try to protect ourselves against whatever confronts us.
Again, Warren Wiersbe is helpful here. He says that this kind of anxious fear distorts life (SLIDE 5f) because it causes us to lose our horizon of significance. Just look at verses 25-27:
Verse 25 — We begin to think that life is about material things.
Verse 26 — We forget that God provides for all his creatures.
Verse 27 — We think we can change the future.
We can get these things backwards and is will diminish our view of God and his ability to care for us, and elevate ourselves and our power to care for our own needs.
APPLY: Friends, I know anxious fear can be paralyzing. Many of you who have experienced anxiety know that you’re sometimes not deliberately choosing to diminish your view of God’s power or elevate yourself, you just feel overwhelmed and afraid, and in your flesh you feel anxiety welling up from within.
KEY: The answer to worry is to reorient your heart. But it often feels like this world is spinning out of control, and you feel like you’re spinning with it.
ILLUST — You all know I love everything about NASA’s Apollo moon missions. The first thing that Apollo astronauts did after they launched and they entered earth orbit was to use their instruments to orient to certain stars. They needed to ensure their spacecraft was oriented to fixed locations that were NOT spinning around! Once they confirmed their ship was oriented to the fixed points in the heavens, they could exit earth orbit and propel themselves to the moon. If they only looked at the earth, another rotating and orbiting body, or even other planets within our solar system, they would be disoriented relative to the rest of the galaxy and the universe. You see, it matters what you fix your orientation upon!
ILLUST — One of my favorite pastor-scholars is Don Carson, and he describes the reality that we tend to move toward the things we fix our eyes upon. He’s from Canada, and I hate to remind you about winter, but Don described how a fresh snowfall will leave a perfect white blanket of snow on a field. You could trudge through that snow and make whatever pattern of footprints you want. But if you want to make a straight line and you look down at your feet, you will inevitably make a terribly crooked path of footprints! But if you fix your eyes on a tree or a barn across the field, you will make a remarkably straight line of footprints!
Here’s the point: Jesus is speaking about what Augustine called “rightly ordered love.”
We often get our “loves” out of order! Jesus says in verse 32 that worrying about all your material needs and slipping into anxious fear about the future are the things the pagans run after! Your heavenly Father knows your needs!
Jesus is calling us to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
In other words, love God first and foremost. Obey him and seek his kingdom! He will take care of your material needs because he cares for you! There is great comfort in that! There is great joy in the truth that God knows your needs and will care for you!
You see, when we know God’s presence and his power, it radically changes where our heart is pointing.
ILLUST — Anna Waring, Welsh poet and hymn writer, once wrote this that captures this reality, “In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, for nothing changes here: The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?”
When God is with me, can I be dismayed? Friends, we need to fix our hearts and steadily point our whole lives toward Jesus.
Let me conclude by encouraging you with how you can find your horizon of significance in His Kingdom and His righteousness (SLIDE 6a) in two aspects: present and future.
Present — Remember that Jesus reigns today! (SLIDE 6b)
Is your whole life surrendered to Jesus today?
Do you feel a sense of urgency to tell others about King Jesus?
ILLUST — John Stott wrote about how we can turn our treasure-building and our worry/concern into something worthwhile and eternal. He wrote, “Ambitions for God, if they are to be worthy, can never be modest…once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honor, and accord his true place, which is the supreme place. We become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere.”
In other words, the only worthwhile thing to be ambitious about is God’s glory! Invest in kingdom-work that will spread the gospel, be concerned for the things that God is concerned about! Live with your eyes fixed on Jesus!
Future — Remember that Jesus will reign forever! (SLIDE 6c)
Are your belief, attitudes, and actions oriented to the “horizon of significance” of the coming of the new heavens and new earth, and the coming King who will judge and purify and renew and establish his Kingdom forever?
Friends, we have a hope that changes everything today and changes everything in the future. Let’s be a church that stores up treasure in heaven and is concerned about God’s priorities and the spread of the gospel until Jesus comes.