If I Could Tell You One Thing...Introduction (Matthew 6:33)

(these are my notes for the introductory message at the Cornerstone Family Camp)

 

You are picked up off the street, brought down to the police station in the back of a black and white squad car. After taking inventory of what was in your pockets and taking your picture, you are one phone call. Better make the right choice.

 

When Helen and I thought we were about to head to the Philippines as missionaries I called my high-school English teacher, who was a Christian. About to retire, she had encouraged me so much. I wanted so much to let her know about what was happening in my life!

 

Here it is. This place. This evening. My channel. If I could tell you one thing, what would it be? We are going to unpack that question of “the one thing” over the next few days. But if I could tell you one thing, tonight, here it is: Trust God.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:33

Jesus tells us, in his most famous sermon, to seek God first. If you just walked up to someone on the street and told them, "You know, you should really put God first in your life." you are likely to get a variety of puzzled responses, ranging from "God who?" to "I'm doing all right on my own right now" More telling, though, are those people whose response is some variety of: "If I really got to know God well, would I like him?" Is God good? Does God really have my best interests at heart? Is it worth finding out the question to that answer?

That's part of the reason God put down the good, the bad and the ugly of his relationships with people in the Bible. If you compare the Bible with any other work of "religious" writings, you will notice that (a) the people are pretty messed up and (b) God deals with them in a straight-forward manner. That's a 2,000 - 3,000 year track record. Why? Because he want's us to seek him first. And if we are going to seek him, we are going to have to trust him.

 

From the survey that folks filled out before this camp:

“If I could tell my friend one thing about God, it would be that He will never disappoint you and He is the only one who won’t. Let yourself trust in Him.”

 

“If I could tell my mom or dad one thing about parenting, it would be that…Let go and trust God in what He has begun. He will finish”

When Paul re-told the good news about Jesus to the people of Corinth, here's what he said:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared – 1 Cor. 15:3-5b

Notice that phrase: "according to the Scriptures" What Paul is referring to are all of the promises and prophecies in the 1st half of the Bible, talking about Jesus, his life, death and return from death. Why did he say that? Because God keeps his promises. Why is that important? Because God wants us to trust him. Paul goes on in that same chapter to describe how Jesus was seen by hundreds of people after he came back to life. Promises kept and verified.

 

When we were in Shonto, AZ, working among the Navajo, we were working up on 20 foot ladders, painting the trim on a mobile home. We would work in shifts of 2, one of us would hold the ladder and the other climbed up with the paint and the brush. I had Ryan Sullivan on my team and he was always saying to me “I’ve got your back.” You want God have your back. But you have to trust him.
 
You have to trust him in the three areas that Jesus mentioned in his sermon:  

1. You have to trust God that: You Are Loved
2. You have to trust God that: You Can Change.
3. You have to trust God that: You Have A Purpose. 

You Are Loved


Let's work backwards from the end of that verse:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:33

If you are going to seek God first; if you are going to put God as the top priority in your life, then you have to trust that God really loves you. You don't want to second guess God's opinion of you.

Earlier in his sermon, in Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus has gone through a laundry list of things that people worry about--food, shelter, clothing, personal safety--and says (vs. 32) “…your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” God knows that we need them, and Jesus reassures us in verse 33, that if we seek God first, he will take care of all of our needs.

It says: "all of these things". Not some of them--all of them.

Take a moment. Get out a pen and a piece of paper. We're going to construct a worry list. Before you came to camp today, you were worried about something. Maybe it was your job, or a money situation. Maybe it was a health situation. Maybe it was a relationship situation. Write them down. If there is something you're worried about that's not on the list, your list is too short.

That's part of the trust: can you place your livelihood and your safety into His hands? Do you trust God? Do you believe he knows what you really need? Do you believe that he will take care of them? Seek him first and all these things will be added. Why? Because God loves you.

 

You Can Change

 

“But seek first...his righteousness” – Matt. 6:33

 

You can trust God to change you. It says to seek first his righteousness. Inside you is a bubbling stew. It is bubbling because, when you trust God, and Jesus has paid your debt, he changes your insides, your want-to. But that changed inside still needs to work its way out and convince the rest of you, your attitudes, your habits and your behaviors, to get with the program.

 

Sometimes we want to short-cut the process, by saying that “the stew is good enough” or “it will get there anyway” Sometimes we want to renegotiate. When we say that we are saying that we really don’t want the kind of person that God is making us into, or that it is not worth it.

That's part of the trust: Am I willing to place my personality into his hands. God knows what kind of person you could be and God knows the kind of person you are now and God knows the best way to get you from point A to point B. He is less concerned about what things you can do than what kind of person you are. That's righteousness: turning you into the kind of person who does the right thing at the right time for the right reason.

 

You Have A Purpose

 

Seek first his kingdom... Matthew 6:33

 

You can trust God’s plan for your life. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, what do we say at the very beginning: “Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Did you catch that? God’s kingdom comes when what He wants happens here just like it already does in heaven.

 

We have had many examples in recent weeks of people who live in a kingdom; in a nation; but are actively working against it (Russian spies, Hutaree)

 

God’s kingdom advances, not with the shifting of political borders, but in the shifting of allegiance, the transformation of hearts; the step across the border from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And when you have a ‘kingdom’ soul, the kingdom goes wherever you go. When you are with God, every place you go can become ground-zero for new life, for transformation.

 

But what about you? Did you spend so many years in school, so you could get a job, so you could work really hard, so you could retire, so you could die? Is that your purpose? Some people wish they could take it easy. Some people wish they could get some rest. But I want my life to count.

 

God wants to change the world one heart at a time. Not to make people crabby, self-righteous, pessimistic and socially awkward, but to make them into joyful, humble and fully alive. That is why you have a job. That is why you have a family. That is why you have neighbors and relationships and money.

Conclusion

 

God calls each one of us to seek him first. In order to do that, we have to trust God. It is not an easy thing.

 

Maybe it is hard for you to trust that God loves you, either because you don’t feel loveable, or because love has always been such a fickle, disappointing thing, or because God doesn’t seem real. That’s honest. But he has a remarkable track record of adopting new children and loving them.

 

Maybe it is hard for you to trust that God can change you. But he can. He created you. But don’t tell God “I’ll trust when you change so-and-sos heart” Ask him to work on your heart. On your attitudes.

 

Maybe it is hard for you to trust that God is taking you anywhere. Maybe your life seems aimless. But God has a plan and he delights in asking each one of us to take part with him, changing the world one heart at the time.

Is your heart ready to change? Maybe you haven't come to the point where you are ready to trust God. Let me ask you a question: what would it take for you to be convinced? Be honest. If that happened, are you ready to accept the consequences and seek God first? I warn you, don't answer my question unless you are ready to follow through. Because God "rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Heb 11:6)

Make the choice. Trust God. Seek him first.