Today, we’re going to continue looking at the theme of hope in our message series “Messengers of Hope.” Hope has to do with the future. When you look at the future today for yourself, what do you see? If you see a bright future, if you believe things will get better, than you have hope. On the other hand, if you a see a dark future or you are very concerned that things will get worse, then your mind will be filled with worry.
Today, we’re going to be talking about the topic of “Future Hope.” Statisticians try to quantify future hope with a statistic called the Consumer Confidence Index. Consumers are polled about what they think will happen in the future with regard to business conditions, jobs and incomes. When people are more hopeful about the future, the index goes up. If people are more pessimistic about the future, the index goes down. For many people, their degree of hope depends on how the economy is doing. But does your future and how you feel about it depend on the economy? If the economy is not doing well, should you be filled with worry and fear? The answer to those questions for the believer should be No. Here’s what God has to say about your future.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God has plans to give you a future hope. Today, we’re going to look at some teaching of Jesus on how we can have hope for the future found in Matthew 6. The main passage we’re going to look at beginning in verse 25, begins with the word “Therefore.” So to really understand what Jesus is saying, we need to look briefly at what Jesus has just said in verse 24.
Matthew 6:24 (NIV) No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Isn’t it interesting that before Jesus talks about our future hope, he talked about money. Jesus talked about two masters, God and Money. A master is what you live for, who you serve. Jesus said you cannot serve both God and Money. Now, many people try to serve both God and Money, but you can’t do it, according to Jesus. If you try to serve both masters, you will end up serving simply money. How do you know which master you are serving? It will depend on which master you put your trust in. If you are serving God, then you will use the money he has given you to serve Him. If you are serving money on the other hand, then you will try to stockpile as much money as you can.
This morning, I believe God wants to set free many here from worry. To begin to be set free, you need to make the choice to serve God as your one and only Master. Only then can you follow Jesus’ teaching and be set free from worry.
Listen to or watch my April 22, 2012 message Future Hope.