Monday, September 30, 2013

Don't Worry! Part 31 of 31

TEXT: "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:25-34).

IDEA: It may be harder to think of the providence of God in our modern world.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that it may be harder to believe in God's providence today.

Would you agree that many of us were brought up believing in the providence of God?

I. What do we mean by the "providence of God"?

Common to us was that God sat on a great throne with angels gathered around him. He was old, somewhat like Santa Claus. He listened patiently to our prayers. If we attended Sunday school and church regularly, he would perform a miracle of providence for us or he would send an angel in his place. That's what angels were for.

When we read in Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things [i.e., your physical needs--what you eat and drink] will be added to you," what picture comes to your mind?

Many people have rejected the idea of God's providence.

A New York minister preached a sermon on the topic, "Is there anything left of the providence of God?"

Why would people reject the idea of God's providence? We view the earth in a way different from the people of the Bible, so we reject their idea of God.

II. How does God work His providence?

We have changed our language. We could not exist without God, but we talk about "laws."

Ask a boy in New York where milk comes from and he may answer, "the grocery store." In a world that couldn't exist without the activity of God, we have conditioned our minds to a way of thinking that leaves no room for God.

We talk about Mother Nature, but not "Our Father God." Why?