I. Intro:
A. In agrarian cultures, summer is the peak season for labor, growth and vigilance.
1. Our modern life has shifted away from our agrarian roots and we have lost the lessons that our ancestors learned from it.
2. Form them, summer was the time of increased attention to the work of our hands, a time to weed and cultivate our fields until the full harvest.
B. The summer ‘spirit’.
1. For many of us, the summer is a time for vacation and rest. It’s a good time to enjoy the outdoors with our families and friends and take a break from the demands of work and school.
2. But while rest from our labor is important for our spirit, soul and body, we are often tempted to take rest to the level of casting off restraint and we take our hands off the plow.
3. If we’re not careful, we can easily drift away from the Lord, because as we take a break from our labor, we often let our prayer and devotional times slide as sell.
4. Don’t let a change in season become a change in devotion!
C. Quote from George Müller about travel, vacation and leisure time.
1. The great evangelist and preacher, George Müller made this observation in the 1800’s. In his writings, He wrote about traveling and leisure time. He said: “The next thing I would advise with reference to traveling is, with all one’s might to seek morning by morning, before setting out, to take time for meditation and prayer, and reading the word of God; for although we are always exposed to temptation, yet we are so especially in traveling. Traveling is one of the devil’s especial opportunities for tempting us.”
2. Müller noticed that when we take a break from our normal routines, our devotional times and godly commitments tend to fall away as well.
3. We might think that there is no harm in pausing from our spiritual activities for a while, but we must remember that our enemy never takes a day off.
4. I don’t say this to make us afraid, I say this so that we can be intentional with our rest. While we rest from the pressure and demands of work and school, we rest in the presence and grace of the Lord our Shepherd, Who restores souls.
5. The Spiritual life is not something we rest from, it is something we rest in.
D. In our culture, summer is a time when people cast off restraint.
1. I lived for more than a decade in a summer holiday area. When I lived at the New Jersey shore, the entire area would change into a summer escape for the NY and Philly metro areas.
2. Living at the Jersey Shore taught me something. Vacation doesn’t simply change people’s location—it often changes their standards. People who are disciplined the other eleven months suddenly become people who excuse almost anything because ‘I’m on vacation.’
3. As Christians, we too have to guard against this tendency. Sometimes we feel entitled to gratify the desires of the flesh because we’ve been living such godly lives, but this is a temptation from our adversary.
E. Faithful in every season.
1. The scriptures tell us to be ready in season and out of season. (2 Tim 4:2)
a. This word ‘ready’ means to be standing by, be paying attention to the still small voice of God so that He can call upon you and use you.
b. The scriptures make no exclusion to this for times of rest or vacation.
c. Wherever we are, in our hearts we should be standing by and paying attention.
2. Vacation is permission to rest, not permission to drift. Discipleship doesn’t change with the seasons.
3. If we continue to abide in the Vine, we can rest and be ready to serve the Lord.
4. With this in mind, I want to give you three things to put into practice this summer, but one way to live in every season.
II. First: Rest from worry and Seek first the kingdom.
A. Rest from labor is good, but rest from worry is even better.
1. Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
1. Jesus doesn’t say “Stop caring about your life.” He says “Stop carrying the things that only God can carry.”
B. The White Bear Effect.
1. We often try to obey this command to not worry by trying not to think of things that cause us to worry. This is called ‘thought suppression’. But this approach doesn’t work because our brains don’t work this way.
2. There is a concept in psychology called the Ironic Process Theory, or The White Bear Effect.
a. “Try not to think of a white bear.” (You may have heard “of pink elephants”.)
b. When this happens our brains has to do two conflicting processes- push the thought away while simultaneously monitoring our thoughts to see of we’re thinking about it.
c. Your brain is saying “I’m not going to think about a white bear” which means, it is actually thinking about a white bear.
3. The things that we worry about are just like the white bear. We try not to think about them but that just forces our brains to go on the hunt for anxious thoughts about them.
4. We can’t empty our minds, we fill them with something greater than our worries.
5. In this passage, Jesus is teaching us to redirect our attention on His rule and righteousness.
C. Resting from worry by seeking the kingdom instead.
1. So what do we do instead? How can we obey the Lord when He tells us not to worry?
2. Jesus is my favorite psychologist. He tells us how to do this in the context of this passage, when He says “Seek first the kingdom.”
3. In order to stop worrying, we have to think about something else. We have to give our busy minds and anxious hearts another task to take their focus away from worry.
4. And Jesus tells us what to focus on instead of the things that make us worry- seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
5. Think about and seek the rule and reign of Jesus Christ and the righteousness that He shows and teaches us, and everything else will be given to us.
6. Jesus says that if we seek His rule and righteousness first, we will not worry about…
a. life, food, drink, our body, our clothing.
b. God already knows we need them, and He will provide them all.
D. True rest comes by seeking His rule and righteousness.
1. So if you want true rest this summer, focus on the Lord’s rule and righteousness instead of the things that stress you out.
2. One of the ways that we can keep this in mind this summer is praying the Lord’s Prayer. In it, Jesus brings our focus back to the kingdom by teaching us to pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done…”
III. Steward what you have.
A. A steward must be faithful to keep what they’ve been given.
1. 1 Cor 4:2 “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”
2. A steward is a manager. It is someone who has been entrusted to manage and care for what they have been given.
3. The Lord has made each of us a steward.
a. 1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
4. God has trusted each one of us with a gift that we are supposed to use in ministry to one another.
B. Trust is a compliment in the kingdom of God.
1. George McDonald: “To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”
2. By entrusting us with time, talent and resources, the Lord has given us more than a
compliment, He has given us opportunities to serve Him and the body of Christ.
3. In Luke 16:10-13, Jesus give us a critical principal of stewardship.
10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
4. We have to prove that we are trustworthy and faithful in the little things before God will entrust with more.
5. In Vs 12 Jesus gives the right perspective on all that we have. He says “If you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you your own?”
6. Everything we have has been given to us by God, and we must steward it well. Everything I call mine is really something that God has trusted me with.
7. Faithfulness is not measured by how much you’ve been given, but by how well you care for what you’ve been given.
IV. Keep building.
A. God builds us, and we build ourselves and one another.
1. 1 Cor 3:19 “…you are God’s building.”
2. God has gathered us from different backgrounds, cultures and walks of life, and He is building us into a house for Himself.
a. This is true individually, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
b. But also corporately, as the body of Christ, the community of saints.
3. Ephesians 2:22 “in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
B. God builds His church and He uses builders to work with Him.
1. While God is building us together into His dwelling place, He has charged us with the work of building ourselves and one another.
2. Building ourselves.
a. Jude 1:20&21
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
b. Colossians 2:6&7
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
3. How do we build ourselves? We have to assume responsibility for our own spiritual growth & development.
4. We do this by:
a. praying in the Spirit (not with our head, not by repetition, etc.)
b. reminding ourselves of God’s love for us
c. keeping our hearts free the love of this world by looking for the Lord’s return.
d. In short, walking in the way of Jesus, practicing what He taught us.
5. Building others.
a. 1 Thess 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up…”
b. Eph 4:16
“…the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” 6. We build one another up by speaking and doing anything that promotes their growth in the Lord.
C. Tips on building from Nehemiah.
1. We learn a great deal about building ourselves and one another from the book of Nehemiah. This book records how the Jews who returned from captivity in Babylon rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.
2. #1: Focus on building what is right in front of you.
a. In Neh 3, they each worked on the section of wall in front of their house.
b. This shows that they were personally invested in the strength of that wall section.
c. Build yourself, your family, your HUB group and church.
d. One day you may need to take shelter behind that wall of people, so build them well.
2. #2: Build with one hand, fight with the other.
a. In Neh 4, they were instructed to wear a sword as they built.
b. They carried a weapon in one hand and building materials in the other.
c. We have to be ready to defend what we are building and keep it from being torn back down.
3. #3: Don’t let the evil one distract or stop you with threats and accusations.
a. All throughout the book, their enemies would taunt them, threaten and accuse them and fall out lie about them.
b. The bible calls our enemy “…the accuser of the brethren.”
c. Jesus said that our enemy was “…a liar from the beginning.”
d. So don’t let the lies, accusations and fears of the evil one keep you from building.
V. Closing.
A. Remember that summer is a time for rest, but also a time for vigilance.
1. Although we rest from the pressures and demands of work and school, we rest in the Lord and His love.
2. We want to be faithful in every season by abiding in the vine. Always on stand by for the Lord to call us and put us to work for His kingdom.
B. 3 Points Recap.
1. We’re going to keep seeking the rule of God first and His righteousness in our lives. This will keep us from worry and anxiety.
2. We’re going to continue to steward what we’ve been given and show the Lord that we are faithful keepers of His trust.
3. We’re going to keep building. As the Lord builds us all, we take responsibility for ourselves and one another.
4. Always be ready to resist the evil one and protect what you have in Christ.
C. All of this is about abiding in the Vine.
1. There is theme that runs through this whole message and it is abiding.
a. Rest in Christ.
b. Seek first the kingdom.
c. Steward what He’s given us.
d. Keep building.
e. Bear fruit in every season.
2. These are all description of what happens when we only John 15:5 “Abide in Me and you will bear much fruit.”
3. Summer may change our schedule, but it should never change our priorities.
4. Remember, summer was the time that our ancestors worked the hardest. No farmer wakes up in September wishing he had spent less time tending the field.
5. And one day none of us will stand before Christ wishing we had prayed less, loved less, served less, given less or obeyed less.
6. The harvest will always reveal how we planted.