Treasure in Heaven | Sunday, May 1, 2022

Welcome to Cross Connection Church online. I'm Pastor Garrett, and we at Cross Connection Church are so grateful that you are joining us for our service today. If you'd like to know more about Cross Connection Church, please check us out on our website at lifeinconnection.com, where you'll find out more about us, events coming up, and ways to get plugged in.

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You call the sun to rise, and you lay it down to rest. You hold this heart of mine, and you hold my every breath. Such an awesome God, so mighty, so holy, so wonderful. Such an awesome God, so selfless, so generous, and so faithful.

Yes, so wonderful! Such an awesome guy, so selfless. You're so generous, and nothing comes close to the Lord Almighty. Nothing is as sweet as Your love and mercy; nothing comes close to the Lord.

In our time together last week, we began a new series here at Cross Connection Church in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters five, six, and seven. We are considering there Jesus' teaching in a passage that is called the Sermon on the Mount. In chapter five, last week, we saw Jesus describing the way into true righteousness.

A righteousness that exceeds the surface-level religious righteousness of the religious leaders of Jesus's day, those referred to as the scribes and the Pharisees, is what Jesus speaks about to a group of his followers—his disciples—who were just normal people: fishermen, farmers, carpenters, and others like them. He says in Matthew chapter 5, verse 20, "For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

In contrast to those words in Matthew 5:20, Jesus opens his sermon on the mount just a couple of paragraphs earlier by saying in Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We have a clear contrast between these two passages: Matthew chapter 5, verse 20 and Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. According to Jesus, the religious behavior of the hyper-religious scribes and Pharisees of his day was not worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Instead, Jesus states in verse 3 of chapter 5 that the kingdom of heaven is granted to those who, as he says, are poor in spirit.

I can guarantee that this was a novel and even revolutionary teaching when Jesus presented it to those listening to him on that day. The scribes and the Pharisees were the teachers and keepers of the law; for all intents and purposes, they were good people. If you were to observe the scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus's day, they would likely appear to be the most righteous sort of people—good people. However, Luke's Gospel says of this group, the religious scribes and Pharisees, that they trusted in themselves that they were righteous and, as a result, despised other people.

These are among the great pitfalls of self-righteousness: arrogance and unkindness, looking down upon others. Such attitudes are not accepted in the kingdom of God or in heaven. Therefore, in Matthew 5, Jesus opens his sermon on the mount by addressing these critical issues.

I believe giving us insight into the proper path of righteousness ultimately leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven. True righteousness is that kind of righteousness that is imparted or imputed to us. It is for those who recognize their lack, their poverty of spirit. As they recognize this lack, they humbly grieve over their destitution and the absence of spiritual reality and vitality in their lives. They are humbly grieving over their destitution, and as a result, they hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is not their own, which is ultimately given to them by Christ.

It is my conviction that the law of God was given not to make us righteous. As Paul says in Galatians, if righteousness could come by the law, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to come and die on the cross. Rather, the law was given, as the Apostle Paul explains in his letter to the church at Galatia, as a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. It is like a sign directing us to Jesus because the law is crafted by God to reveal our lack. It shows us that we are spiritually destitute and causes us to humbly mourn over our lostness, leading us to hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is not our own.

In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul writes in Romans chapter 3, verse 20, "Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." It is very clear in that verse that the law helps us see just how truly bad we are. Again, in Romans, Paul writes that sin, through the commandment, becomes exceedingly sinful, which is found in Romans chapter 7.

So, what is Paul saying there in Romans chapter 7 when he states that sin, through the commandment, becomes exceedingly sinful? The law causes our sin to be revealed. It is as if the law is a bright shining light illuminating the depths of our brokenness and sin. The law makes us see just how truly bad we actually are. Properly applied, the law causes us to echo Paul’s words at the end of Romans chapter 7: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Death, and I say that the law, properly applied, does that. There are certainly ways in which we can use the law improperly, which is what I think the religious leaders in Jesus's day were doing. The scribes and the Pharisees thought and taught that the law was given to make us righteous. Therefore, they taught that you had to keep the law perfectly, in such a way that you would be holy and righteous before God.

Of course, they were saying that according to their own interpretations of the law, which oftentimes were a little bit off from the true spirit of God's law when He gave it. The scribes and the Pharisees taught that you could become righteous if you just kept all the right laws in all the right ways at all the right times. Because they believed that they were doing that, they thought they were blameless according to the law. As Jesus reveals in Luke's Gospel, these individuals trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they looked down upon other people.

Maybe you've had that experience in your own life, where you were keeping all the rules, or you thought you were keeping all the rules in the right way. You thought yourself to be holy and perfect and just, and you looked down at other people because they weren't keeping the rules or the laws in the way that you thought they should. Or perhaps you were on the receiving end of being judged by someone—a self-righteous person in your life—who thought they were keeping all the rules in the right way at the right time and looked down on you because you weren't.

There is a good Pharisee test for us in this passage. If you find in yourself an arrogance and think that you are all that, that you've got it all figured out, and that you are a good person, then you mockingly look down on other people. You might be a Pharisee, and that's a dangerous place to be in. Jesus later on in the Gospel of Matthew speaks a curse against the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, where He calls them hypocrites.

In Matthew chapter 5, as we considered last time if you were with us, Jesus makes the law exceedingly weighty so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. He shows us just how heavy the law really is so that we can see that we have transgressed it at every point. Jesus teaches in Matthew chapter 5 that anger...

Lust is like murder before God, which makes you, me, and all of us murderers before a holy God. Jesus teaches that lust—desiring after some person, whether of the opposite sex or the same sex—is the same as adultery. By that, He renders every single person an adulterer. He says that breaking your vow, breaking your covenants and your oaths, is evil, and we've all done that in some way or another. So, we've all practiced evil in that way.

He teaches that retaliation is wrong and that we are to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us. When Jesus lays out the law in this way in Matthew chapter 5, the law of God becomes exceedingly heavy. This heaviness is intended to help us see the reality of the depth of our brokenness and our sin.

It is my conviction that each of Jesus's teachings through Matthew chapter 5 is meant to bring us back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, which calls for a humble admission of and grief over our own lack of righteousness. Blessed are the poor in spirit; we are grieving over the poverty of our spirit. Blessed are those who mourn; we are mourning over our brokenness and our sin. Blessed are the meek; we come to a place of humble acknowledgment of just how broken we are.

Then, we begin to hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is not our own—a righteousness that can be given to us, not manufactured by us. That is the kind of righteousness that we need to have. It exceeds the religious righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

At that point, when we are poor in spirit, mourning over it, and made humble or meek, when we begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness, the saving power of God's mercy and grace begins to work in our lives. For the follower, the disciple of Christ, this is how God's sanctifying work is accomplished. God wants to continue to do this work in my life on a daily basis as I walk with Him, as I behold the Lord's glory, as He has revealed Himself to me in the Scriptures, in His Word, as I behold His glory.

Through His Word, I see myself for who I really am in the light of His great glory. As I begin to see who He is and as He really is, I start to understand just how far removed I am from Him. In that place of realizing my poverty of spirit, mourning over it, and humbly confessing my sin to Him, I cry out to God in my despair for His forgiving and transforming grace. Graciously, He cleanses, changes, and transforms me more and more into the image and likeness of His child, into the image and likeness of Christ, so that I would be more Christ-like.

That's what God does when He brings us to the place of first trusting in Him for salvation. But that's also what God does every single step of our lives as we walk with Christ. When you walk with Jesus and get to know Him through His Word, He reveals Himself. His Word is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and it is able to reveal to me the depths of my brokenness and my sin. God already knows it's there; He knows everything about me. However, a lot of times, I don't realize the full depths of the brokenness of my life and my sin.

God's Word exposes that; it shines a light so that sin will become exceedingly sinful. This leads me to mourn over it and call out to God for His righteousness and forgiveness. God then begins to work a work of transformation and cleansing. As God accomplishes His work in us, He is making us more like Him. That is God's goal.

This is key: God desires to magnify Himself in me so that He might glorify Himself through me to others. He wants me to radiate or reflect His glory in this world. As I shared in my message last time, if you were here with us, that's exactly what God wants to do with us at this time. He wants people to see Him in us on a daily basis. I mentioned last time that our culture desperately needs to see the forgiving, cleansing, transforming grace of God at work in God's people.

Now, with all of that as kind of an inlet to where we're going to be today, we come to Matthew chapter six. The religious leaders of Jesus' day, the scribes and the Pharisees, have already been discussed. They not only sought to be righteous by...

The keeping of the law was a significant aspect of the religious leaders' lives, but they made a show of their religious adherence in their daily actions. Their aim was not to give glory to God. It is one thing to observe religious rituals and practices to honor God in all that we do, but that was not the aim of the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, in Jesus' day. Their goal was not to glorify God but to receive the glory of men.

This was evident in the way they gave to the poor, their charity, as well as in their prayers, religious fasting, and displays of wealth, which they considered to be blessings from God. Just as Jesus provides clarifying teaching on the law and its proper use in Matthew chapter 5, He also clarifies charity, prayer, fasting, and wealth in chapter 6.

Jesus' teaching here is quite clear. He points out that the hypocritical religious leaders perform their charitable deeds before men to be seen by them and to gain the adulation of those watching. In Matthew chapter 6, verse 3, He states, "But when you do your charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

The hypocritical religious leaders of Jesus' day were indeed giving to the poor and performing acts of charity, but they did so not out of a desire to obey or glorify God. Instead, they sought the approval of others, hoping for a pat on the back for their supposed spirituality.

Furthermore, we find in this passage that these religious leaders prayed in a manner designed to be seen by others. They would perform long prayers, standing in the synagogues or on the streets, praying loudly to attract attention. Their motivation was purely to be seen by people, so that others would exclaim, "Oh, how holy that person is!"

They are so righteous that they would pray to be seen by people. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, verse 6, "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

They are doing good things; they are performing charitable deeds and praying—religious acts that you would expect from religious people. However, their intent, their motivation behind these actions, was not good. It was not to honor God, to connect with God, or to take care of the poor. Instead, it was to receive the pat on the back from others.

In their charitable deeds and prayers, as well as in their fasting, the religious leaders fasted in such a way that they might appear more holy to people. Jesus says to His disciples in Matthew 6, verse 17, "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

Jesus's teaching could not be clearer in this passage. The children of God are to provide charitably to those in need. We give to the poor, but not so that we can receive some sort of earthly or external reward from people. We do not perform these acts to be seen by others and receive praise for being spiritual or wise.

As God's children, we are to pray to our Father in heaven, but we do not do this to be seen by people or to be considered notoriously spiritual because our prayers are long or loud. Disciples of Jesus Christ fast.

What is fasting? It is abstaining from food; most of the time, when you fast, you are abstaining from food or some other earthly pleasure to satisfy your appetites and control your flesh. You would abstain from these things to afflict your soul or bring your body under control.

Disciples and followers of Christ fast, but we do not fast to be seen by others or to be praised for our faithfulness. Notice that Jesus, in each of these passages, says, "When you do your charitable deed," or "When you pray," or "When you fast." He does not say, "If you do a charitable deed," or "If you pray."

If you fast, He says, "when," and I think there's kind of a side point here for us to consider. For Jesus, it seems that these are normal and regular behaviors for His followers: charity, prayer, and fasting. As disciples, we enjoy our relationship with God, and we express our relationship and connection with God and our devotion to Him through giving, prayer, and fasting. These are normal sorts of things that Christians are to do, but none of these actions are to be done to receive the admiration, congratulations, or adulation of other people. However, God does reward openly those who give, pray, and fast, and that's a whole other story or study to consider.

All of these objects of religious devotion—fasting, prayer, and giving—should be a regular part of my Christian faith as I follow Jesus and as I am a disciple of Christ. We pray, and in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus even gives us a pattern or a model for prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." You may have heard that prayer before; we call it the Our Father or the Lord's Prayer. It is a very good model for prayer and even a great prayer that you could pray yourself to the Lord.

It is important that we pray, and I think that fasting could probably be an important part of our lives as Christians. It may even become a more regular part—maybe something you have never thought about before. There are some good things to think about regarding fasting.

Then there is giving—giving to those who are poor. These are regular parts of our faith as Christians. It is a part of the practical and tangible living out of our mission as a church. Our mission here at Cross Connection Church is to live life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus.

So how do we connect with God? One of the ways we connect with God is through prayer. You can even connect with God, or really deny your flesh and draw closer to Him, through fasting. We connect with this world and with others by giving to them charitably and taking care of their needs.

All those great things in Matthew chapter 6, the first two-thirds of the chapter, are really good to read through. I hope you'll take some time later to read through Matthew chapter 6 on your own. But I want to spend the remaining time that we have today looking at the final third or the final section of Matthew chapter 6.

Jesus talks about wealth in the opening of our Unmasking Jesus series. Last week, I shared that I want to look at some of the passages in the Sermon on the Mount that I believe God would have us consider for such a time as this in 2022. Jesus's teaching on wealth is, I’m convinced, imminently applicable to us at this moment. He has something He wants to speak to us as we are living here in the United States, in the West, in 2022.

As I said earlier, the Pharisees and the scribes believed that righteousness was directly connected to their observance of the law, as they interpreted it. They felt that if they kept the laws and the ways they interpreted, then that would make them right before God. Not only did they believe that their righteousness was directly connected to their religious or legal observance, but they also believed that their righteousness was directly connected to their ritualistic expression of their faith. They were self-righteous, believing themselves to be blameless and perfect according to the law, and they loved the praise and glory of other people. They enjoyed when others would congratulate them and admire them for their religious devotion.

Additionally, they, like most people all over the world, connected worldly wealth to God’s blessing. If you have wealth, then that must mean that God loves you or blesses you. This mindset is pretty simple and is basically the same mindset that drives what we call prosperity theology or prosperity gospel here in the United States in the 21st century. Sadly, I would say that probably the biggest Christian export from the United States in the last 40 years or so has been prosperity theology, and it is not good.

The teaching of prosperity gospel goes against much of what we find in the Scriptures. I think it takes passages out of context and uses them in a way that they are not meant to be used. The idea that many of the religious leaders in Jesus's day carried is very much the same as what we see in prosperity gospel. So, what is this idea? Well, the idea is simple: if I am wealthy, then that must mean that I am blessed by God.

I am in good standing with Him, and if that teaching is true—which I don't believe it is—then what would I want? I would want to be wealthy because that would prove I am righteous. In the context of today, it would prove that I have the right kind of faith or that I am faithful. However, Jesus turns this idea upside down, just as you would expect Him to do.

In Matthew chapter 6, verse 19, we read: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

What Jesus presents to us in these verses, Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 21, is a call to have a proper focus. This isn't entirely or necessarily about wealth or riches, though it is; it really is a call to have a proper focus. The wording in the original Greek suggests that Jesus is saying, "Do not treasure up for yourselves treasures on earth."

If I believe that wealth and earthly treasures are proof of my righteousness or faithfulness, and that they are proof of God's blessing, then you can be sure that my focus will probably be on my holdings, on my treasures, on my wealth here upon the earth. But Jesus says not to treasure earthly treasures because they are temporary. They rust, they get destroyed by moths, and they can be stolen by thieves.

From the beginning of this sermon, Jesus has been seeking to shift the focus of His followers away from this world and to another. We saw that back in Matthew chapter 5, verse 3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The very opening words of the Sermon on the Mount redirect the attention of Jesus' followers to the kingdom of heaven.

Yet, my flesh is pretty much always focused on this world, as you would expect. My flesh only knows this world and will only know this world. This flesh will not go on into eternity, so it is entirely absorbed with this world, focused on this world.

Not only is my flesh focused on this world, but the world we live in, the culture we live in, is structured in such a way—especially 21st-century Western culture here in the United States—that it constantly keeps me focused on the treasures I treasure here and now in this life. Jesus aims to change my focus because He makes it very clear that my focus determines my devotion. We attend to those things that we give our attention to. Jesus says it like this in this passage: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

So, what is that? My focus, what I'm focused on, determines my devotion. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Now, listen, this teaching does not mean that earthly wealth and treasures are necessarily wrong or evil. Jesus's focus isn't really on treasure or wealth as much as it is on devotion and loyalty. One commentator writing on this passage of Scripture noted that it is not so much the disciple's wealth that Jesus is concerned with as He is with their loyalty.

Materialism is in direct conflict with loyalty to God, or at least I would say it can be. It doesn't necessarily have to be, but it certainly can be. If we have a fully materialistic bent, we are going to have a serious problem that will distract us from our devotion to the Lord. In one of Paul's letters in the New Testament, in 1 Timothy chapter 6, we read these words: "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful desires, lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

In the same passage in 1 Timothy chapter 6, the Apostle Paul reminds us of the temporary nature of our earthly treasures. He says this in 1 Timothy 6:7: "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. So having food and clothing, with these we shall be content."

I think it's important to note that earthly goods and treasures are not in and of themselves bad, wrong, or evil. However, they can become dangerous in my life if we attend to or give our attention entirely to these things—our earthly possessions—thinking that these things are going to satisfy.

If we think that our possessions are going to be proof of our faith and faithfulness to God, or that they will reveal God's divine blessing in our lives, then we are really in a danger zone. Jesus's teaching here is important. He continues in verse 22 of Matthew chapter six: "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness."

I think this is kind of a strange saying from Jesus. The idea that the eye of the body is like the lamp of the body can lead to the wrong image, as if the eye is a lamp shining out into the world. However, that's not really what Jesus is picturing here. He says that the lamp of the body is the eye by which light comes into your body, either making it full of light or full of darkness.

This goes back to the idea of focus. Our eyes are what we use to focus on things in this world; this is where our attention is found. We look upon things and set our attention or gaze upon something. Your focus will be on the things that you attend to—those things that you treasure. If your focus is on good things, those things will enlighten your body and your life, such that, as Jesus says, you are full of light.

However, if your eye, or your focus, is intently directed toward the wrong things, or if it is inordinately focused on certain things, then your whole body will be full of darkness. Good things can become bad things if you make them the main thing, and we have to be really careful about this. If your eye is focused on the wrong thing, then, as Jesus says, your whole body will be full of darkness.

The mindset of many religious people in Jesus's day, and in our day as well, here 2,000 years later, was that faith, faithfulness, and blessing would be measured by how much wealth you have and how many things you possess.

Therefore, people both then and now would be focused on earthly wealth and treasure. Those things would absorb their attention, and they would attend to and focus on those things because they thought these were the things that made them righteous. That kind of focus can have a detrimental effect in our lives; it can be quite harmful to us.

Jesus continues in Matthew chapter 6, verse 24: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Jesus returns to the discussion of wealth here with the word "mammon," which means money, wealth, or riches. Previously, we read, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Now, Jesus informs us that it is impossible for us to serve both God and riches.

I do think that you can serve God with riches, but you can't serve God and riches and be totally devoted to both of these things. So, what is Jesus talking about here in this passage? Again, I think He is addressing the issue of love, loyalty, and devotion. The focus of our lives determines our devotion, but our devotion cannot be divided between God and riches. This is a hard truth for us, but it is a very important truth.

My flesh wants a lot of things, and this world has a lot of things to offer. Our culture is fixated on things and constantly marketing those things to us. We can trick ourselves into thinking that the things available to us in this world, which my flesh desires, will satisfy me. We may believe that they will bring satisfying joy or that they will be indicators of God's blessing upon my faith and faithfulness. However, the love of those things and devotion to them—these temporary things that can be destroyed by moth or rust or stolen by thieves—can hinder my walk and relationship with God.

A wrong focus on riches and wealth can become a great temptation and a snare, leading, as Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, to many harmful desires and lusts which can overtake and drown us.

Lives, as I said previously, riches are not bad or evil in and of themselves, but they can be dangerous. The clear exhortation is to not be divided in our affection and in our devotion to the Lord in our lives. However, the inherent challenge in that exhortation—don't be given to divided affection or entirely to these things—is a normal human concern. If I'm not going to be focused on all of these things that this world has to offer, then you begin to worry: What about my life? How will I take care of myself? How will I provide for myself? Isn't that where your mind goes? That's where my mind goes.

The world around us, especially in 2022, is often very focused upon possessions, riches, and wealth—bank accounts, 401(k)s, real estate, interest rates, inflation, and all the things. It has been even more difficult in the last four or five months because we've been seeing the increase of inflation and the increase of interest rates. Things are getting expensive, and it's challenging. People start to get worried that there's going to be a recession coming. There was a lot of stuff in the news this last week because GDP was down in the first quarter of 2022, and Deutsche Bank and other banks are saying we're headed towards a big recession. So, there are people who are concerned. Even though things seem to be going pretty well right now, there's still this undercurrent of concern.

People can begin to be very focused on their riches, their wealth, and their bank accounts. We wonder, how are we going to take care of ourselves? We worry about these things. For a lot of people right now, there are many cares, concerns, and worries surrounding these issues. But Jesus has a word on this in Matthew chapter 6.

Look at verse 25: "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 the 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?"

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 or unbelievers seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 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 the trouble thereof. This is an essential and important lesson for us to learn: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you.

What things? Well, what you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, where you're going to sleep—these are all the things that we worry about and get consumed with. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

What is this but a commandment to have the right focus? A proper focus will direct me into the blessedness of peace and rest. When I say the blessedness of peace and rest, Jesus says, "Do not worry, do not worry, do not worry." He does not want us to be absorbed with concern over all of these things.

He says, "Do not worry, but seek first the kingdom." I believe that this is an important truth for us to learn, especially for such a time as this, as we are in the midst of all the things that we are experiencing in our culture. So many of us, or the people that we know and interact with, are struggling and striving to get the right degree, the right job, the right house, the right spouse, the new car, the better computer, a nicer watch—whatever it may be.

Inevitably, every time we see someone make it, someone gets the very thing that they've been striving and struggling to get. They have been devoting themselves to getting this career or that award, or whatever it may be. Every single time they achieve it, what is the testimony that we hear in the interviews or the books that they write? Their testimony is always the same: it doesn't satisfy.

There's always something more; there's always something better. The thing that you worked so hard to get breaks, gets scratched, gets stained—whatever it is, those things don't satisfy, and they won't ultimately satisfy. All you have to do is go and read the 3,000-year-old book of Ecclesiastes, and you'll see very clearly that the story hasn't changed in thousands of years. The struggling and the striving only lead to a life of less peace.

Less rest and less joy lead to more stress and difficulty. So, what is the alternative? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. As Paul said in Colossians chapter 3, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you shall appear with Him in glory.

My focus determines my devotion. If I am absorbed with and focused upon my riches and my wealth, well, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Those things will deceive you and pull you away from devotion to God. In that place, you will not experience joy or satisfaction; instead, you'll experience stress, worry, anxiety, and fear. God doesn't want you to experience that.

My focus determines my devotion, and it affects my entire being. My entire life comes into disarray or can be bettered depending upon my focus. If I set my focus on things above, it will change my entire being—everything about my life and my devotion. It can't be equally divided between riches and the Lord; it has to be committed entirely to the Lord. As I seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He, as a loving Father in heaven, takes care of the things that I have need of.

These are important things. With the right focus upon the Lord, it helps me come into the blessed experience of His grace, His rest, His peace, and His joy. I would think you probably want to experience God's grace, His peace, His rest, and His joy this week. So, I want to encourage you to spend some time with the Lord this week. Don't just do this one time a week on Sunday or whenever you watch this video, but actually spend some time with the Lord in prayer, reading His Word, and setting your focus upon Him. See if what He has said is not true: that He will help us to not be worried, anxious, or fearful.

Father God, I pray that You would work in our lives, that You would continue the work of transformation that You promised. You will be faithful to complete it until the day that we see You. But Lord, work that out in us so that we would reflect Your glory to the world around us, that people who know us would see You working in our lives. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.

The Son of God could hold you down. Wonderful, who You are! You're so holy, so wonderful, so generous, and so faithful. You are my awesome God.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. I pray that you were greatly encouraged by it. We here at Cross Connection Church would love to invite you to join us in person next week on Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 services. If you can make it, again, 8:30 and 10:30 services here at Cross Connection Church in Escondido, California. We'd love to see you there.

Of course, if you want any more information about Cross Connection Church, check us out on our website, lifeinconnection.com. God bless you guys and have a wonderful week!

Hey church, it's Pastor Garrett here. We're so glad that you could join us today for living life in connection.

God loves one another in the world through Jesus Christ here at Cross Connection Church. I wanted to highlight a few ways that you could get involved at Cross Connection Church, including upcoming events.

First, on May 14th, which is a Saturday, we will be having a Faith and Finances class. This will be an awesome opportunity for you to come and hear about your faith and how that ties into your finances. Pastor Miles will be teaching that class, so be sure to sign up using the link below.

If you're looking for ways to really get plugged in here at Cross Connection Church and serve, we are looking for some faithful hospitality volunteers. You can help by handing out donuts to people. I know that sounds really hard; they can be pretty heavy, so I understand it's a lot to ask. However, if you can smile and hand somebody a donut while saying, "God bless you," that's literally all that's required. We would love to have you sign up for that. We are looking for lots of volunteers, and if not, we might be out of donuts for a couple of weeks. Please sign up online at serve.lifeinconnection.com.

After the service, you might have noticed a nice barbecue smell rising into the air. It's a sweet-smelling aroma entering the throne room of heaven. We are doing a youth barbecue while we conduct our baptisms right after the service. If you haven't been baptized and you came today thinking, "I would like to be baptized," you don't have to sign up. Just meet us outside the sanctuary right after the service. Pastor Miles will be saying a few words, and we will play a couple of songs of worship while performing the baptisms. We want you to hang around and support those who are getting baptized.

If you'd like to support our youth group going to summer camp this year, we will be having a barbecue fundraiser from June 22nd to the 25th. Any donation is appreciated; there is no set limit. If you'd like to give to the youth, that would be awesome. We are really looking forward to what God is going to do through summer camp this year.