25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?
For this reason
Since being greedy for gain is ________________ in disciples, then we can’t act as if our possessions are our be-all and end-all of life. We cannot let our possessions ________________ us!
See Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:22 We learned that the seed of the word, when scattered among thorns, becomes unfruitful: And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. If we’re busy trying to “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps”. And so, we look just like the world, who spends it’s time doing the very same thing, then our ______________ for Christ is diminished. We have a ____________-God or greed.
I say to you
Jesus uses this phrase “I say to you” 14 times in the Sermon on the Mount. And each time, He uses it to emphasize His ___________________ as Messiah, as the Son of God, One with the Father to correct the people’s misunderstanding of God.
do not be worried about your life
Jesus calls us not to be worried about our life. Self-preservation is the most ________________________ of all preoccupations of our existence, and the thing that occupies us, in one way or another, most of the time. See Matthew 10:37-38. It’s a change of _________________ that Jesus is looking for in our lives. Let’s get back to what’s really important in our lives. And the first, and most important thing is walking _______________ with Jesus. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, then everything else will be put in its ________________ perspective. Hebrews 12:1 12 by saying: Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, Jesus has paid for us to walk in ________________, not to walk encumbered.
as to what you will eat or what you will drink;
See Genesis 2:8:1:29: If we believe that He created all plants good for food out of nothing, then it goes without saying that we can _____________ Him to be able to supply our individual needs.
Biblical Examples: Waters of Mara Gen 15:23-26; Manna in Exodus 16 beginning with verse 3; God had the ravens feed Elijah in 1st Kings 17; God supplied Elijah and the widow in 1st Kings 17; Elisha threw salt into a poisonous spring in 2nd Kings 2; God provided for a poor widow in 2nd Kings 4 by telling Elisha to have her borrow many jars and containers so that the little oil in the bottom of a jar could be multiplied to fill them all; Jesus multiplied fish and loaves to feed hungry people (Matthew 14,15,16; Luke 9; Mark 6; John 6). God ordained from the beginning that food would be the key element to nourish our physical bodies. HE can _____________ for us much better than we can provide for ourselves (Prov 10:3; Psalm 37:25). :
nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
Neither clothes nor the present extremes of climate that we experience were originally part of God’s ____________. When Adam and Eve fell, we find immediately in Genesis 3:7 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings. They made clothes for themselves. Their provision for the covering of themselves was completely _______________. The first thing that God does for them after the fall is to replace the clothing that they attempted to _________________ for themselves. In Genesis 3:21 we read: 21 And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. The clothing was needed because of sin. Man’s inability to do anything about his sin, and his shame because of sin required a sacrifice. So, when Jesus tells us not to be concerned and worry and fail to trust God about what we will wear, He means that we need to ________________why we’re wearing clothes in the first place—because of sin and shame. And so, because this was all due to Adam and Eve not _______________ God in the first place, then maybe we shouldn’t _____________their mistake.
And this is why, in our modern society, we can understand Jesus’ words concerning clothes to stand for any basic ___________in our lives. God will provide all of our basic needs. And if we have wants more than these, we’d better be willing to part with them when we see people in __________ around us. Psalm 41:1-2GOD’S PROMISE TO THE GENEROUS: Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?
God created life, so creating food is no _____________. God created our body, so clothing it is _____________. We should trust the same God who created everything to be able to ________________ for our needs.