“Cleaning to Breathe Deeper”
Theme: Spring Cleaning
Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34
Things I’d like to remember from today’s sermon:
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MeditationMoments
Family Activity for the Week: As a family, ask yourselves how your closets look. Assess how full the game and toy cabinets are. How about the number of shoes or coats you have? Has anyone outgrown some clothes or shoes? Are you holding onto some games and toys no one plays with anymore? Imagine boys and girls, women and men whose closets and cabinets aren’t so full. Could they benefit from receiving some of what you have? Together, sort through your possessions and create tubs of gently used treasures someone else needs or would enjoy. Pray over the items and ask God to bless the people who will be receiving them. Take those gently used items to a mission site or a thrift store as a donation. Commit to repeating this often.
Monday, April 16- Read Philippians 2:3-11. Many times, we’d like to reduce this to just “be nice to each other.” But it speaksmore radically to our acquisitive hearts. Jesus once said, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). To save us, he truly released his grasp, not just on “stuff,” but on all the prerogatives of being God!
- Paul valued healthy self-esteem (of which he and Jesus had plenty). The Common English Biblecaptures his sense in verse 4 well: “instead of each person watching out for their own good,watch out for what is better for others.” How can living with an eye to the good of othersdeepen our self-respect and inner health, rather than shrinking it?
- Jesus said, “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me—I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:17-18). What contrast do you see between living as a helpless, worthless victim, and the kind of triumphant self-giving spirit Jesus had? What takes greater strength—living solely for self, or offering yourself to God and others?
Prayer: Dear God, help me to find my worth in you, letting go of stuff that has claimed my heart.
Tuesday, April 17- Read Luke 12:13-21.In this story Jesus did not say God killed the wealthy man as a punishment for having large cropswhich he hoarded solely for his own benefit. He said God rebuked the man for living in a foolish, shortsighted way. He assumed he could enjoy his hoarded wealth forever. He overlooked a fundamental fact of life—death.
- Jesus warned us to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” What different kinds of greed have you experienced? How can you assess whether you are getting your sense of meaning and value from material things? How easy or hard do you find it to accept Jesus’ teaching that “life does not consist of an abundance of possessions”?
- What choices do you believe the rich man in Jesus’ parable could have made to be “rich toward God”? In light of the Bible’s concern for justice and care for the poor, are there ever times when having surplus goods, and keeping them for ourselves is a godly thing to do, or not? In what ways are you building Jesus’ teaching into your financial life?
Prayer: Gracious God, help me to remember that you own everything, and you give everything to me, from the breath I breathe to the food I eat. May I be generous like you as I see others in need.
Wednesday, April 18- Read Luke 12:32-34. Our culture often acts as though one of the most precious English words is “mine.” Jesus alwayschallenged that all-too-human possessiveness. When we loosen our grasp, he said, we can livelight lives, free of worry and stress. Investing our treasure, time and talent in the things of heaven is, according to Jesus, the one truly safe investment we can make.
- “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Do you find that to be true the other way as well—that you tend to send your treasure where your heart is? Are you putting any part of your treasure toward causes or activities that you really don’t care about? To what extent does your checkbook accurately reflect your heart?
- In The Message, Luke 12:33 reads, “Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bank robbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on.” How have financial events since 2008 underscored Jesus’ wisdom? How can using your assets to help others instead of piling them up for yourself lower your stress?
Thursday, April19- Read 1 John 3:11-18, Acts 4:31-35.In the Roman Empire, the wealthy lived out “conspicuous consumption,” while the early Christians chose a different standard. “No needy persons among them” is a striking claim for any group of several thousand people! It seems to have worked because the Christians were focused more onsharing than on accumulating for themselves.
- Right after saying “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters,” John began talking about sharing material possessions. What items or objects do you love so much that sharing them would feel like “laying down your life”? How can God nurture our spiritual health as we share some things we really want, rather than just the stuff we didn’t plan to use anyway?
- Acts said there were no needy persons among them because “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” How does God’s grace at work in your life affect the level of human need you’re willing to accept in your world without trying to help?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to see you at work in the world in a way that pushes me to be involved in what you are doing, realizing I am blessed to be a blessing.
Friday, April 20 - ReadHebrews 10:32-35.Jesus taught that his followers can rejoice even when they are wronged (Matthew 5:11-12). So, Paul and Silas sang hymns in prison after a flogging (Acts 16:23-25). Today’s text shows us thatChrist’s early followers “joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property.” Clearly these Christ followers were “banking on” the world to become more than this one, an approach to material goods quite different from what most of us are usually taught.
- In 2 Corinthians 8:2, Paul wrote of Christians that “in the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” How deeply do you trust, down deep, that financial losses or reverses cannot touch your real treasure?
- Hebrews said its readers could joyfully accept the confiscation of property “because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.” What better and lasting possessions had they put their confidence in? To what extent do you, too, have those better and lasting possessions as the basis for your security in life?
Prayer:Dear God, while I (hopefully) won’t end up in prison after a flogging, there are times I feel broken and can’t rejoice. In those moments, may I create space to turn toward you. Amen.
Saturday,April 21– Read Philippians 4:4-13, 19.Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Paul, a driven Pharisee, responded to that call heart and soul. Today we read this gifted, active man’s witness to the kind of rest Jesus gave. “Rejoice…gentleness…do not be anxious…the peace ofGod…true, noble, right, pure, lovely…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”How did he live that way? Paul identified his trust clearly: “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
- For this three-week series on Spring Cleaning we are asking you to reflect on how you might clean out things in your life to make room for God. End in prayer, inviting God to…
- Slow the pace of your life and create more margin so you can listen to God and bless others…
- Share responsibilities and set aside the sense that you must do everything yourself…
- Seek to build your trust in God so that you can live free of anxiety and fear...
- Lessen the hold of material things on your heart and live more freely and generously…
(Message Notes and Meditation Moments for April 14-15, 2018 – For more, go to )