"Resting in the Question of Jesus” W/Pastor Brad

In this final message from the “Questions Jesus Asked” series, we explore Jesus’ words in Matthew 6: where He asks eight questions in nine verses regarding worry. Together, we reflect on how anxiety reveals our struggle to trust God and how Jesus redirects our hearts toward Him. Through Scripture, real-life application, and the testimonies of servant leaders like Laura Whaley and Dr. John Perkins, we are invited to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Transcript

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We are in the last sermon in this series that we've been in called The Questions That Jesus Asked. And there are many questions, right? 305 questions that Jesus asked. And we've been in this for about two and a half months, and we've just really skimmed the surface on these. Jesus asks curious questions, open-ended questions, and challenging questions for his followers. And if you have your word, please turn to Matthew 6. Matthew 6 today. And as you turn to that, I've been waiting on this last one. Been waiting on this last one, and glad that we can dive into this passage for such a time as this. And before we read God's word, also every once in a while, as a response to the message, I close in prayer and then we pass the mic. We pass the mic around for a time of joys and concerns. And this is a beautiful opportunity, an intentional opportunity to lift up what is on the hearts and the minds of the congregation to hear what God is doing and how to intercede from the very front to the back and everything in between. And so if you have a joy or concern that's on your heart to share, there are many within the body and in our community. And I invite you to share when we open that up. Also, near the end of my message, I want to speak about the gospel witness of two people. Two people whose impact has been massive around us. And I pray that the lives that we will soon hear about will encourage you, comfort you, and strengthen you in this very hour. Because Jesus is our hope, the hope of the world. And I pray that that goes down deep today. And so let's dive in today's passage from Matthew 6. And as I do, let me prepare it this way. Is there something that you are anxious about? Is there something that you are feeling a lot of stress over? Worry and anxiety. If there is something or maybe a whole set of things, Pastor Brad, these nine verses are exactly for you in this very relevant time. Because in our passage, Jesus has a few questions about our worry. And there are a couple of questions. And see if you can actually see the amount of questions that Jesus brings up in these nine verses. So see if you can catch that. And so, in honor of God's holy word, if you're able, please stand. And I'll read the first couple of verses, and I'm gonna need your help on the end. This is Matthew 6. This is the great Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is speaking to a multitude of people. And in the middle of the great, greatest sermon the world has ever known, Jesus says this. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. And now I want to invite you to just open up your hands with whatever you are worried about today. Lord help us. Hear Jesus speak directly to what's in your hands. 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 than food and the body more than clothes. So take a look. Get a bird's eye view. 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? Can any one of you, by worrying, help us, Lord, add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown to the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. Let's read these last two verses together. Three, two, one. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is the holy word of God. Thanks be to God, you may be seated. Yeah. Today's title on this last message in this series is called Resting in the Questions of Jesus. And maybe you caught that. Did you see how many questions Jesus asks in these nine verses? Yeah, I think I might have heard someone say it. It's eight. That's a lot. And each one is incredibly relevant for us. So let's dig into this. Let's do some expositional work here and go section by section because each one builds upon the next. Verse 25, Jesus says this. Therefore, because every time you see a therefore, you gotta ask, what's it therefore? Well done. Jesus says, Do not worry about your life. What you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear, is not life more than food and the body more than clothes. So everybody, just take a breath for a moment. Just a slow, deep breath. And exhale too. You want to do that? Right. God has given you that ability to just breathe with the lungs that He has given you. The same God who has given you the ability to breathe can be trusted with the details of your life, with whatever you may be facing. And church family, we need constant reminders of this. I know I do. Um, I know I need this as much as anybody because confession, I worry. I wake up anxious often. It's probably some weird quirk about me, and maybe you've heard this before, because I resonate with it, that says, I tried to give up worrying, but I'm worried it might not work, right? That's my dad joke. My kids point out that to me often. I got a couple of those. Or this one. I'm not a worrier, I'm just extremely imaginative about negative outcomes, right? Little cheesy, little finger snaps for the cheesy points, right? Uh so I don't know. Worry is something that's common to Brad. But I think it's more likely because there is sin in my heart and mind that needs the redemption of Jesus every day. Like my lungs need breath. But I I think it's beyond me. Uh kids worry about toys, right? Students worry about grades, high schoolers worry about what's after school. 20-somethings worry about jobs, college, relationships, and adults, where do we begin? In fact, there's just one hashtag, adulting, right? And then for older folks here today, there's a lot to worry about. From health to medical and financial security and the state of our world. And we live in the age of worry, don't we? Algorithms market us with fear, with bold headlines constantly, and then promote antidepressants in ads. Coincidence? I think not. Now we have devices, sleek devices that organize all of our worry for us, right? One of the tactics of the enemy today is to keep us chained to worry. One of my friends is giving up social media for Lent, and he said this past week, you know what, my my shoulders feel a bit lighter. My study Bible says worry reduces the ability to trust God. Or here's another one I came across in another devotional this quote that says the following. Not once in the Bible does it say worry about it, stress about it, or figure it out. But over and over again, it says trust God. Let me say that again. Not once in the Bible does it say to worry about it, stress over it, or figure it out. I love Pastor Daryl. He had an ism about this, that God has already figured out the figuring out. But over and over it clearly says to trust God, let the church say trust God. Here's one example of this in the middle of Proverbs, Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, a very important and timely scripture for us. It says, Trust in the Lord, not self. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. So when we worry, because that's a given, we need something to anchor us. We need God's word to anchor us. And are there scriptures that you can go to, that you can cling to and recite and when when the going gets tough? This is why we have scripture like Psalm 23: the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Or in other words, I shall not be in worry. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, and he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And even though I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, I will worry about no evil, because he is with us, his rod and staff comforts us, right? That's Psalm 23, or here's another good one to know from Romans 8. And we know that God calls all things together for the Lord, God works all things together for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Here's another solid testimony that has really stood the test of time with the catechism. Question answer one. I love to quote this. I need it for my own heart too. Uh, what is your only comfort in life and death? Or in other words, um, when you face worry, what is your only comfort? When you're in the middle of it. And let's uh let's recite this together as one. Here we go. Here's the answer that's scripture-based. Three, two, one. That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. Amen. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. And one more, because I belong to him, Christ by his Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. These truths keep us anchored in the midst of worry from scripture to testimonies like this. And so if we worry, Jesus says, look up, look at the birds. Continue with me, verse 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Help us, Lord. Uh so on this, just by a show of hands, if if you've worshiped before at the Ford School, before we were here, raise your hand. Yeah, yeah, that's a that's a good number of folks there. I want to take you through a little bit of a story. Uh, it's worth repeating every once in a while. Um, as a part of being in the school throughout the week, we would serve the school. And various needs would come up through teachers and an admin, the principals, a lot of coaching and tutoring would take place at the Ford School. And um I remember one particular year, this is quite a while ago, more than a decade, but there was a student, a student named Raul in sixth grade. He was living over here on Delaware. While he and his uh siblings were at school, and his mother no longer at home too on that day, um, their house burned down right here in Delaware. And it was a huge rocker for him and his family and his mom. And um the community came around Raul and supported him and helped them get back on their feet, not just for a couple of weeks, but for many months and for that entire year. During that season, um we had uh an art teacher within the church, Jonathan Quist, who was doing five murals with a bunch of different students in the building. And you can go there today too, and you can see all these different murals that were created by JQ and a whole team of students. And one was about this, Raul, and this passage. That if our Lord takes care of the birds of the air, how much more will he take care of you? I'll be your neighbor and say, that means you. That means you. Yeah, yeah. Let's continue, verse 28. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon and all these and all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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? You of little faith. The enemy today wants nothing more for us to plan our entire week, go through each day without recognizing God. He loves when we are distracted from being a God-dependent people. He simply is satisfied if we forget about him. To go through A, B, C, D, E, F, G, X, Y, Z, and not lift our head or recognize him. Because underneath that is that we have this temptation to believe that we know what's best. And confession, I have no idea what's best for me. God does. This is why there's Psalm 25, 4 through 5. Ooh, this is so good. This is so good. If you're taking notes, you want to circle, underline Psalm 25, 4 through 5. Show me your ways, Lord. Teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. This scripture gets us off of ourselves and our own clinging to our own. But show me your ways, teach me your paths, Lord. Teach me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long. This is a scripture that reminds us to get our hope off of hope of self and relying on the Lord. So today, in this mid-March Sunday, right, grass is starting to get a little bit greener. Right? Tulips are on their way, spring blossoms before us, and yet how much more does he take care of us? In fact, that's why you can tell the enemy that he cannot set up here. This is the Lord's. In fact, turn to your neighbor and say, This mind is God's property. This mind is God's property. So let me close with this powerful truth from verses 33 and 34, where Jesus is speaking about worry, right? But then he invites us to seek something first, which says the following But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for today is its own trouble. So to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness means to turn to God first. To have your thoughts be filled with his desires, to take his character for your pattern of life, and to serve and follow him with the best that you are able through the power of the Holy Spirit in community. Or in other words, to keep the important thing, the important thing. To let Jesus be the center of our life has something to say about the worries that we face. So here's what I'd like to do. I want to take a moment and praise God for two people. Let the church say, two people, whom the Lord has welcomed home this week. Two lives that in their own ways sought the kingdom of Jesus and his righteousness. The first is Laura Whaley. Here are two pictures of her. One of her singing in worship, and the other is of her in the beige hat, surrounded by the square campus staff. So just as a reminder here, Madison, we have three campuses. Here is South Hill, Square Campus is down the street, north is to the north, and we have staff at each campus. And the staff from each congregation, we come together once a month to support each other. Laura was the director of administration and connection at the square. In fact, she was just in February here for an all-site staff meeting in the chapel. We want to lift up our brothers and sisters at the square campus church family today. And I also want to take a moment and read a note beautifully written by Pastor Andrea from the square that was sent out this past Friday. She says, Yesterday, on Wednesday, March 11, just a couple days ago, Laura Whaley stepped over the threshold between this life and the next. She is now with Jesus, the one in whom she had placed her hope and trust. She died the same way she lived in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. We all loved her deeply, and we were well loved by her in return. May that love invested here so lavishly and caught up in God's economy among us keep paying dividends long after Laura is gone. I believe it already is. She said, I arrived shortly after Laura died on yesterday. She said, I anointed her body with oil, sealing her life once again in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. This was a way to mark our sister as God's very own, declare her life hidden with God in Christ, and to remember her baptism. In this, I claimed her already behind her burial with Jesus and her now looking ahead to resurrection with him. How faithful her family has been in journeying with her over the last few years, and how faithful they remained in vigil at her side over the last few weeks. Along with Laura, they too ministered to all who showed up, even when we thought it should be the other way around. What a gift it was to bear witness to a life being so lovingly well attended, all the way to the finish line. She says, I was. Looking at the photo chosen for the obituary today, honestly, it was almost like a Laura I don't quite remember anymore. And yet, even in these last days, with her hair gone, her skin yellowed, and her limbs impossibly thin, Laura did not wane in beauty whatsoever. She maintained the radiance of Christ until the very end. Visitation will be this Sunday, today, 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 at Mattis, Kuyper, and deGraf funeral home in Granville. Then we will gather in both grief and hope for Laura's funeral tomorrow. March 16 at 11 at the square. Over the last year, I had a habit of taking a selfie at the end of Tuesday staff meetings whenever Laura had to visit it, because had to miss it because of medical reasons. I would then send the photo to her with some version of the same message. We missed you. I wanted her to know that she was never out of sight, out of mine. My phone was full of all these weeks of staff selfies where we were all missing Laura. What an ache we feel in our hearts that this is now a permanent reality. I'm so glad that I took one more selfie at the end of Laura's final staff meeting when she came to see us off. We were able to encircle her in prayer and to love and to tell her what she has meant to our staff and this church. And she was able to encourage us and spur us on in the work that lies ahead. And so let us all pick up the work that Laura set down for us: curating beauty and joy, worship and connection, answering all of our emails in a timely and detailed manner, and then covering every bit of it in prayer. Let the church say amen. Yeah. And the second witness that also has gone before us to call us to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness is Dr. John Perkins. Dr. John Perkins was a bold evangelical voice who proclaimed the gospel against racism, and who God called home on Friday at the age of 95. His ministry and life has had a major impact on many pastors, many leaders and volunteers and mission of Madison Church and beyond. He preached the gospel of Christ and reconciliation in hundreds of communities, including Grand Rapids, where his son Derek Perkins used to attend down at the Ford for a number of years. I'd like to read an honoring of him from one of my mentors from a distance in ministry, Pastor Eric Mason of Epiphany Fellowship in Philly, who said yesterday, when people were fleeing the inner city and urban contexts, when people were quiet about racism, speaking truth to power, calling out Christian nationalism, calling the church to social action and avoiding the fringes of society and separating biblical theology from social responsibility, he was a trailblazer. Dr. John Perkins inspired generations. His civil rights activism changed generations and inspired churches to practice incarnational gospel mission in our cities and communities. He embraced, encouraged, poured into, made himself available to me and so many who are walking in his footsteps. To the Father of modern day urban ministry, we salute you and your work. Well done has got to be the words you heard when you crossed. Your work continues with so many of us who have been discouraged and challenged in urban ministry. Your example has inspired almost everything I do in Philadelphia and globally. Thank you for everything. See you in that great getting up morning. Let the church say amen.