Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they?

27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes?

See how the lilies of the field grow.

They do not labor or spin.

29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

(Matthew 6:25–34, NIV84)

Theme: The kingdom of God in this world comes through the reign of God in the believer’s heart.

Date: 08/26/2018 File name: TheChristianAndTheKingdomOfGod04.wpd

ID Number:

In the Christian life we frequently become preoccupied with the vain things of the world.

We allow our lives to become so cluttered with materialistic and insignificant concerns that we lose perspective of the things that endure.

In this section of his Sermon on the Mount Jesus is telling his listeners their perspective on life in out of wack.

Their focus is on the wrong things.

We are all too preoccupied with food and drink, and clothing and shelter, and sowing and reaping.

It’s not that those things are unimportant.

Certainly not.

But when they become our primary focus, then our perspective on life is myopic — that is short-sighted.

As we contemplate the theme: The Christian and the Kingdom of God, we’ve previously considered three questions.

1) Do I Have a Kingdom Identity?

2) Do I Have Kingdom Character?

and 3) Do I Have Kingdom Priority?

This evening I want you to consider Do I have a Kingdom Perspective?

In other words, do you look at things from God’s point of view or from the world’s?

In Psalm 119:37, the writer asks God for help in fixing his attention on developing a Godly or Kingdom perspective: "Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word."

NIV

I. DO YOU HAVE A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE?

1. the dictionary defines perspective this way: The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance

ILLUS.

Perspective can be seen in the following letter a daughter, away at college, sent to her parents.

It goes like this: Dear Mom and Dad:

I'm sorry to be so long in writing again, but all my stationary was lost the night my dormitory was burned down by demonstrators.

I'm out of the hospital now, and the doctor says my eyesight should be back to normal sooner or later.

(Another reason I’ve not written sooner!)

The wonderful boy, Bill, who rescued me from the fire kindly offered to share his little apartment with me until the dorm is rebuilt.

He comes from a good family, so you don’t need to worry when I tell you we are going to get married.

In fact, you always wanted a grandchild, so you will be glad to know that you will be grandparents in about five months.

When they flipped the letter over, they read: Please disregard the previous page.

There was no fire, I haven't been in the hospital, I'm not blind.

I'm not pregnant, and I don't even have a boyfriend.

But, I did get a "D" in French and an "F" in Chemistry, and I wanted to be sure you received this news in its proper perspective.

Love, Mary.

2. the Apostle Paul was a believer who understood the comparative importance between his relationship with God and his relationship with the world

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ," (Philippians 3:7-8, NASB95)

3. do you have that kind of Kingdom perspective?

A. DO YOU HAVE A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE IN REGARD TO TIME AND ETERNITY?

1. from the world’s perspective, most men live life as though they think they will live forever

a. the result is that their focus is on worldly success rather than eternal life

b.

Jesus told a parable about such a man

". . .

“The land of a rich man was very productive.

“And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”

’ (Luke 12:16-19, NASB95)

2. here is an attitude that says, “What’s mine is mine and I have lots of time to enjoy it.”

a. what’s the problem with that attitude?

1) listen to the Apostle James

"Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment," (Hebrews 9:27, NIV)

b. when you stand before God on judgment day, your car, your house, your stylish clothes, your college diploma — all the things that are so significant to you and define you to the world — are all going to be worthless

3. the basic problem is that we are self-centered creatures

a. like Jesus’ twelve disciples we get caught up in the world’s preoccupation with who is the greatest and how to climb the ladder of success

b.

God sees time and eternity differently than we do

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."

(2 Peter 3:8, NIV)

4. do you view time and eternity from God’s perspective or the world’s?

a. do you make time for kingdom activities in you life?

5. do you have a kingdom perspective in regard to time and eternity?

B. DO YOU HAVE A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE IN REGARD TO YOUR CAREER?

1. having a kingdom perspective in regard to our jobs means working hard at all you do for the Lord's sake

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

(Colossians 3:23-24, NIV)

2. no matter what you are doing as a career choice, if it’s honorable work, if it’s moral and ethical work, then serve the Lord in your doing of it

a. it may appear that you are working for a government agency, or a paint company, or an accounting firm, or a home builder, or a school district, or an insurance company, or a software company, or a retail store, or a hospital — but you don't

3. if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you work for him

a. that place where you work is just the specific location where you work for Jesus

b. this has several implications

4. First, it gives the quality of your work new importance

a. if you're working for Jesus Christ, then it matters how you do your job

1) He cares whether you're working diligently or goofing off

2) He cares whether you are doing your best, or just getting by

3) He cares whether you are doing the right thing, or just doing the easy thing

b. the quality of your work matters to Him

1) Why?

2) because all honorable work, done well as an expression of devotion to Christ, brings honor and glory to Him

3) your conduct on the job either honors Christ or dishonors Him

4) He cares about that

ILLUS.

Novelist and author, John Gardner once said, "The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy.