Sunday October 16th: Ambition, Anxiety and the Church

What is the link between our ambitions and our anxieties? And what has that to do with the Kingdom of God?

In the Morning Service we will continue our series in the Gospel According to Matthew, and we will look at Ambition and the Abolition of Anxiety.

You can download sermon summary notes in English here, or you can read them below.

In the Evening Service we will continue our series on Foundations for Life and we'll be looking at God's Church, Our family.

You can download sermon summary notes in English here, and in French here.

 

Ambition and the Abolition of Anxiety

Matthew 6:25-34

On the surface, this passage is about anxiety. But Jesus goes deeper: our anxieties are linked to our ambitions.

Ambitious for Stuff

As we get older, our ambitions become more tied to money and to getting. If we make material comfort or security our ambition we will find worry increasing: do I have enough?

Jesus says such anxiety is wrong for two reasons:

1. Anxiety fails to understand your heavenly Father’s care, or your value. At times we think we are like God, and that having more will help us control things, but we’re not God. But neither are we sparrows. Jesus says we are of much greater value. If God cares for them, he will care for us. In saying this, Jesus is not saying that we don’t have to work to provide for ourselves; or that we should not plan; or that life will be trouble free. Rather, he is saying that you don’t need to find your security, or your significance, in stuff.

2. Anxiety is wrong because it doesn’t work. We hope that by worrying we will make the future better. Instead it just adds to our troubles. Being anxious for more stuff will not make us happy. Rather, it robs us of inner peace and happiness.

So Jesus says we must be different. The ambition of other people for more stuff should not be our ambition.

Ambitious for God

Jesus says we should replace the pursuit of materialism, and the anxiety it brings, with the pursuit of God’s kingdom. That will result in an inner attitude that puts God’s concerns first; it will change how we pray – for God’s kingdom to come, not our own; we will use our resources to see God’s kingdom extend.

Seeking God’s kingdom will also treat our tendency to worry. Knowing that God is nearer than our troubles will dispel our worries – it will also means we are more gentle with others.

But how can we know God cares? Why should we swap our ambition for the accumulation of more for the pursuit of God’s kingdom?

Christ Seeks and Cares for You

Jesus came to do God’s will. That will was to seek and save the lost – including you. We should seek his kingdom because he came to seek us. He did that by dying for us. God gave his Son to make us his sons and daughters. He has shown us at the cross how much he cares for us.

So, which ambition will you live for? Financial comfort and security, and the worry that it brings? Or the kingdom of God, and the peace that surpasses understanding?