Freed from Worry

June 6, 2021 Background Scripture: Matthew 6:19 – 34 Lesson Passage: Matthew 6:25 – 34 We live in a very busy world. People are constantly moving here and there. There are deadlines and time schedules everywhere. The stress of this rapid-pace environment shows on the faces of those in the crowds. You either keep pace or you will get trampled by the masses. But is this what life is supposed to be about? Life can feel like a merry-go-round that never stops. What happened to the “good old days”? Does an evening spent sitting on the porch and enjoying the weather feel like wasted time? Who decided that life should move at such a crazy pace? Everyone who participates in the “rat race” makes that decision. And that decision affects the quality of one’s life. One day during his ministry, Jesus sat on the side of a hill and taught a group of people who gathered around him. One of the topics he addressed is the cure for anxiety or worry. Essentially, we have priorities in our lives that determine how we use our time and resources. When our priorities are mostly based on earthly living, then we become anxious about the outcome. People in this world can affect worldly outcomes. Put another way, we don’t always have control over situations that affect our emotional wellbeing. This is a major source of stress, and it affects our quality of life. We worry about the prospect of having a poor quality of life. Jesus addressed this very problem. Simply put, we need to adjust our priorities. If we make God and His kingdom a higher priority, then our stress level will diminish. That’s because people in this world cannot affect outcomes in God’s kingdom. Everything in the kingdom of God happens according to the will of God. Jesus encouraged his listeners to set their affections on the kingdom of God. This would cause living in this world to be less stressful. Creatures living in this world who are not dependent on people do not stress about life. They receive the food they need without worrying about it. They are arrayed in the finest of attire. And life in general is good for them. They have been freed from worry. Jesus used birds and flowers as simple examples of this. These are part of God’s creation, and He takes care of them. Jesus’ hillside chat is often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. It is godly advice for the God-fearing. It is amazing how we can know these principles and still be challenged in our attempt to live by them. We know that it is right to trust God. We also know that God truly cares for us. However, we often have the mistaken notion that we have earned God’s favor. When we remember God’s omniscience, then we are reminded that God knows all about us. He knows our thoughts, our actions, our plans, and our intentions. When those things are not aligned with God’s word, then we feel unworthy of God’s favor. And that’s the point we don’t get. We are always unworthy of God’s favor. Even at our best, we don’t deserve to experience the goodness of God. There is never any need to fear that God will discover some unholy motive in us. There is nothing within us that God has not already discovered. Where there is goodness within us, God placed it there. Where there is darkness within us, God desires to replace it with His light. We must release the darkness in order to embrace God’s light. Then we will be freed from worry. Robert C. Hudson May 8, 2021

Preaching to Enemies

May 30, 2021 Background Scripture: Jonah 3 Lesson Passage: Jonah 3 Go warn the enemy of your people that they are headed for danger. That was the assignment God gave to Jonah. Jonah was a prophet of God who was from the northern portion of the northern kingdom of Israel. That region, that would later be known as Galilee, was prone to attacks by Israel’s enemies to the north. At that point in time, disaster had recently been averted when the Assyrians had defeated the Arameans. The Arameans had wage war over the years with Israel. Having another potential threat to the north was no comfort to Israel. It was in that political climate that the word of the Lord came to Jonah. “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you.” Nineveh was Assyria’s capitol city. With the Arameans out of the picture, Assyria was a growing threat to Israel. To preach to Nineveh was the same as preaching to the Assyrian kingdom. Again, Assyria was a threat to Israel’s security. Any danger Assyria faced would have been to Israel’s advantage. Afterall, it has been said “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This only mattered because Israel trusted in herself for her security. It should be noted that these were God’s people who were attempting to live independent of God. As a prophet of God, Jonah knew all too well that the word of God would accomplish whatever God sends it to do. For this reason, Jonah decided to travel in the opposite direction from Nineveh. To be clear, Jonah was not running from his calling to be a prophet. Jonah was already serving God as a prophet as noted in 2 Kings. Jonah was running from the assignment to warn the enemy of his people. At that point, Jonah felt more patriotism towards Israel than loyalty to his calling to obey God. If Nineveh is destroyed, then Israel would be even safer as a result. No kingdom could stand if it could not defend its capitol city where the king and his family resided. If Nineveh is destroyed, then the Assyrian empire would fall apart, and Israel would not have an enemy on its northern border. However, this thinking does not consider that God desires mercy—even when He is about to deliver judgment. There is no biblical record that Jonah, as a prophet of God, ever resisted an assignment to preach to the people of God. But this assignment was to preach to the enemy of God’s people. Again, Jonah’s patriotism for the nation of Israel was stronger than his desire to warn Israel’s enemy as an assignment from God. After three days and nights in the belly of a large fish, Jonah repented. Jonah cried out to God from within the fish. God commanded the fish to regurgitate Jonah. Our lesson passage finds a repentant Jonah receiving God’s calling for the second time to go and warn Nineveh. Jonah went into Nineveh and preached the message God had given him. The results of Jonah’s preaching were powerful. That city of Gentiles responded in a remarkable way. The king declared a fast that involved people and livestock. Both people and livestock were ordered to be covered with sackcloth as a sign of repentance. The entire city of Gentiles humbled themselves before God. And to think, this was a God they did not even know. They believed the word of God proclaimed by God’s prophet and prayed that God would not destroy them. Their response was greater than is often seen in the people of God. God’s word accomplished what He sent it to accomplish. God’s message to Nineveh was delivered because the prophet preached to the enemies of his people. Robert C. Hudson April 21, 2021