Welcome to the Together on Mission Podcast, where we seek to be with and we seek to be like Jesus, as we begin our conversations each day with Jesus through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then we continue that conversation with Him throughout the rest of our day. Your host is Travis Twynman, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. In this season of the podcast, we will be traveling through the Sermon on the Mount, which is Jesus' most famous teaching, and we will be talking about what it looks like to be citizens of heaven while living in America. Welcome, everyone, to the Together on Mission Podcasts, Travis, and we are about to do what friends that our friends of Jesus do.
We're going to take a look at a passage of scripture, a bit of teaching from Jesus of Nazareth in the famous teaching that he gave called the Sermon on the Mount, that Matthew, one of his students, organized and chronicled and wrote up for us. Thank you, Matthew, because it's brilliant. And then we're going to apply it to our lives and talk about what it looks like to be citizens of heaven living in America. We're going to talk about or continue talking about what it looks like to be students of Jesus within our modern world.
Now, the topic that we're going to take a look at, let me give you the title, the title of the podcast this morning is Back From The Future. Back from the future, very similar to a great movie that came out in the mid-80s, Back From The Future. And I'm going to give you the line that Jesus gives us, and it's in Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse 34. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.
For tomorrow, we'll worry about itself. Each day has plenty of trouble of its own. Now, that is a profoundly deep line. And that is Jesus inviting his students to come back from the future and invest in the present moment.
Now, one of the things that is unarguably the case about our modern culture is how future oriented we are. And that is not necessarily entirely bad to think about the future, to plan for the future. One of the things that I have always loved about America, one of the things that makes America such a wonderful nation is the opportunity that our American system affords people. America has often been called the land of opportunity.
And that's beautiful. And that needs to be noted. And at the same time, it can be so easy and so tempting to constantly be thinking about tomorrow, the future, and what the future is going to look like. And won't that be great when we're there or I am there or when we get that or when we get beyond here.
And it can be so tempting to be so focused on the future. When it comes to our vocation, our relationships, our children, our financial situation, maybe a situation concerning our health or anything really. It can be so tempting to be in the future that we miss the moment. And I think part of what Jesus is saying when he says in Matthew chapter six verse 34, don't worry about tomorrow.
For tomorrow, we'll worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. One of the things that Jesus is doing is he's saying, hey, don't be so preoccupied with tomorrow that you exist in the future and therefore miss what is happening and the good things that are happening right here, right now in this present moment. In other words, get back from the future and get into the now.
Now, just to back the passage up a little bit, Jesus in this passage is talking about worry. And he says, don't worry. Now worry is a result of being in the future. When we are consumed with what tomorrow will look like, we will find ourselves worrying today.
If we're consumed with how our kids will turn out in the future, we will find ourselves racked with worry today. If we're consumed about our financial situation tomorrow, we will find ourselves anxious today and on and on it goes, doesn't matter whether it's marriage or friendship or vocation or parenting or money or whatever, when we find ourselves consumed with the future, right? Worrying about tomorrow. We're going to be completely and totally taken out of today.
And what today will involve is a whole bunch of worry. And I think Jesus tongue in cheek says, hey, each day has got enough trouble of its own. Don't bring the worry of the future into the present because each day has plenty of trouble of its own. But this teaching that Jesus is conducting with his students is all about a life of being free from worry as a result of getting out of the future and into the present moment.
Jesus says things like, look at the birds of the air. They don't reap or store away in barns. Yet your father feeds them. Look at the lilies of the field.
They don't labor or spend yet was Solomon clothed in the glory of the lilies of the field. So Jesus says, don't worry. Don't be consumed with tomorrow. Right?
What am I going to eat tomorrow? What am I going to drink? What am I going to wear? Jesus says that the Gentiles or the pagans think about all of that.
And then here's a great line, but your heavenly father knows what you need. And there's this incredible teaching about Jesus's father caring for his children right here, right now. And if the father is caring for his children right here and right now, you can better believe that he's going to care for his kids tomorrow. And Jesus is inviting his students into the present.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow, we'll worry about itself. Come into the present, he's saying to his disciples. And this is one of the essential teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, because when we watch Jesus live throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Luke, John, Mark, whatever, Jesus is a man that's present, he's not worried about tomorrow and he's not consumed with the odds and the should of yesterday.
It's like he's not caught in the past, nor is Jesus thrust into the future. And what we find is Jesus, a man in the moment, trusting his heavenly father, and Jesus can remind us of the past. He can give us hope for the future. But Jesus is telling his disciples that life only happens right here and right now.
Life happens in the moment. God knows that. The father knows that. And the world that we live in, and I would probably say that any world that anyone has ever lived in, any place, in any time, there's either a consumption with the future.
Like I'm consumed with the future, and it's robbing me of the now, or I'm consumed with the past, and it's robbing me of life that is happening right here and right now. So Jesus just says bluntly in Matthew chapter six, don't worry. You don't need to worry. Can worrying add a single hour to your life?
Your heavenly father knows what you need. Seek first his kingdom right here, right now, in this moment, in that which you need will be added unto you as well. And then one last time, Jesus says to his disciples gathered around this hill as he's teaching. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow.
Come back from the future. Tomorrow, Jesus says, I think tongue and cheek, it'll worry about itself. And then he says, hey, today has got plenty of trouble of its own. So don't add to today worry concerning tomorrow.
Come into the moment, experience life in the present, experience the glory and the mystery and the beauty and the transcendency of this present moment. Life is happening right now. God is experiencing life right now. The kingdom of God is in your midst right here right now.
And so let's live with God in this present moment, experiencing a life of much less worry and much more peace. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Together on Mission podcast. We hope that you are truly blessed and encouraged by it today. If you had any questions about Inland Vineyard, our ministries are Sunday services.
Connect with us on our app which you can find in the Apple and Google Play app stores. We also have a social media page which you can find with the tag At Inland Vineyard just to see what's going on with our community. Within our church events, our revival as well as our children's ministry. Or you can just check us out on our website at inlandvignard.org.