worry

January 27, 2025

Everyday Disciple: A Tale of Two Kingdoms

Matthew 6.19-34

Jesus makes it pretty clear. We either pursue an earthly kingdom where we are the hero…everything is geared toward our own glory…we’re the main character in our story, or we pursue the kingdom that Jesus came to bring where He is the Hero…everything is geared toward bringing glory to the Father…where He alone is the Main Character of the Story. There is no middle ground.

While Jesus primarily addresses a religious audience, He also mentions the Gentiles, who were running their own kingdoms as well. You don’t have to be religious to seek the favor of men. The desire to build our own kingdoms has plagued us since our first parents decided that being image bearers wasn’t enough…they wanted to be their own gods. And we’ve been building kingdoms ever since.

Why are we so stressed? Maybe…just maybe it’s because we are busy trying to build our own kingdom. Hard not to do particularly when, as a society, we’ve made it pretty clear  “it’s all about me”. The American Dream has made earthly kingdom-building a virtue. And for many of us, we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking we can pursue both. We fail to see the impossibility of pursuing our own agenda, our own kingdom, while at the same time claiming citizenry in the kingdom of heaven. We compartmentalize our lives so that God gets Sunday morning, maybe a night during the week for youth group or small group, but then the rest is ours. And we build our kingdoms. A quick glance at our calendar or our checkbook is a pretty good indication of where and what kingdom we’re investing in. That and of course our level of stress.

You can’t pursue both kingdoms successfully…eventually your true loyalties will become clear. As kingdom citizens/everyday disciples, Jesus wants us to live worry-free lives, but that’s only possible as we learn to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…then everything else falls into place.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our Everyday Disciple series: Songs of the Season. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

August 28, 2023

Think Excellently

Philippians 4.1-9

The cure for anxiety…for worry…that trials and suffering often cause is prayer. It’s crying out to God and asking for help. We don’t pray because God doesn’t know, but we pray to show our dependence on Him. God knows our needs, He cares about them, and He provides for them. Just like the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

And when we rest secure knowing that God will take care of us, then we realize the peace of God. We already have peace with God because of Jesus, but when trust in the midst of the trial we can experience His peace in the midst of the trial. Sounds kind of crazy, but it’s the same thing with joy. And this peace guards our minds. Again super important idea. Because our minds can go all over the place when we are in a tough situation, but when we turn to prayer and trust the Lord through it, our minds can settle.

Along with prayer, Paul says we are “to think excellently”, focusing on the things that reflect the true, the honorable, the right, the pure, the beautiful, the stuff of good repute, the excellent, the praiseworthy. Just imagine if those were the kinds of things that you consumed yourself with throughout the day. What difference do you think that would make? All the difference. And when we do those things, following the example of Paul and others who are doing the same, then not only do we experience the peace of God, but the God of peace is with us.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our Philippians series. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

November 7, 2016

Where Is Your Treasure?

Luke 12.13-34

Where is your treasure? What captures your heart? What consumes your time? What gets you up in the morning or keeps you up at night? Is it on earth or in heaven?

If greed says, “I can never get enough”, worry says, “I’m afraid I may not have enough.” Both reveal a wrong view of God. Greed is short-sighted and makes idols out of our stuff. Always wanting more, we think our stuff will give us life. When we do that, we forget or ignore the fact that life is so much more than the things that we have or the achievements we’ve accomplished. Life, true life, can only be found in our relationship with Jesus…the way, the truth and the Life.

Worry is similar but different. It’s constantly asking, “But what if…” It’s a failure to trust God to provide. Instead of seeing Him as a loving Father who gives good gifts to His kids, He is a distant God who is unconcerned about the day-to-day of life on the earth He created. The weeds that choke out the Word in the parable of the soils are worries and riches and pleasures of this life…worry and greed. Both keep the Word from being productive in a believer’s life.

But there is an alternative…if we want to live and love like Jesus, then we need to trust God rather than our stuff. We have to believe that God is a loving Father who loves us and cares about what’s happening in our lives. We have to trust that He can and will provide as we pursue Him and look out for the needs of others. Then we can be generous rather than greedy, helping rather than hoarding. If we want to worry less,  then give more.

BTW our stuff is neutral…it can be either good or bad. It depends on how we use/invest it. If we use our stuff to promote ourselves or our own kingdoms, then it becomes either an idol or an obstacle to fully trusting God. If we use it to promote His kingdom…if we are rich toward God and generous toward others, then our stuff becomes a vehicle for building up treasure in heaven.

Don’t be a fool. One day your life will be required of you. If your life reflects greediness and selfishness, if it’s the sum total of the stuff you’ve accumulated, if you’re trusting in your stuff, then you will be sadly disappointed. But if your life is rich toward God, if you’ve invested in His kingdom and loved people, if you’ve trusted in Jesus and allowed Him to transform you from the inside out, then yours is the kingdom.

Until next time…stay salty.

“May we store up treasure in heaven this week.”

This post is based on a sermon from our Luke series, Live & Love Like Jesus. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @ccclancaster