What is on of the biggest hindrances to being continual “Good Ground People?”
Consider this possibility.
Worry!
Worry is what slows down many “Good Ground People” delaying their harvest.
Jesus had some things to say about worry.
Mt. 6:24-34
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. KJV
NT:3126 Word is “mammon”.
(an Aramaic word): wealth and riches, with a strongly negative connotation - 'worldly wealth, riches.
(from Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domain. Copyright © 1988 United Bible Societies, New York. Used by permission.)
A strongly negative connotation. The negative is not toward wealth and riches! God does not mind for His children to have wealth and riches!
The Bible says Prov 10:22
The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. KJV
OT:6238 Word is “maketh rich”
to be rich, to become rich or wealthy, to enrich, to make rich; to gain riches;
(from The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
OT:4620 Word is “sorrow”
ma`atsebah — a place of pain, a place of grief
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says “terror”
(from The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
Back to The Word “Mammon”
Lets get a little closer to what is being said here.
NT:3126
"that which is to be trusted";
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Mt. 6:24 The word was used to denote wealth. The meaning is, ye cannot serve the true God, and at the same time be supremely engaged in obtaining the riches of this world. One must interfere with the other.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Who are we serving in reality? Are we supremely engaged in obtaining the riches of this world?
OR:
Are we supremely engaged in seeking God?
Matt 6:25
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? KJV
What does He mean “take no thought”? I’ve got to think about what I am going to eat, drink wear!
That’s true! One says “what do you want to eat for dinner today”? Other one says “I don’t care what do you want to eat, etc. Someone has to make a decision!
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Get the right focus from this verse, the focus is on “your heavenly Father feeds them(provides for them).
However the avenues of provision are different. Birds do not sow nor reap nor gather, but men do!
God provides the seed and the seasons to sow, reap. The rains to water and the ground to grow.
Man sows seed that God provided, reaps and gathers, all with what God provided or gave.
Man has greater responsibility in life and its issues than birds.
OK, that is great for the farmer. I don’t own a farm, don’t even have room for a garden. Guess I’m left out!
God will provide for you, how you might ask. We are getting there! Hold on!
So, that scripture tells us that we are better than the birds and God has provided for us as well.
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
What does He mean by “taking thought?”
NT:3309 Word is “by taking thought”
NT:3309 is a derivative of word (me/rimna) which means worry, The word “by taking thought” means to have an anxious concern, based on apprehension about possible danger or misfortune - 'to be worried about, to be anxious about.'
(from Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domain. Copyright © 1988 United Bible Societies, New York. Used by permission.)
The “b” part of the verse “can add one cubit unto his stature means “can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?”
(From the same source as above)
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (Little understanding of faith)
Matt 8:10
When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. (Great understanding of Faith). KJV
Listen! God spends all this effort, wisdom, power, know how, Just to create a flower, beautiful as it is. Even though all that effort and smarts was put into it. It isn’t going to last, it is cast into the oven.
Grass of the field includes wild flowers.
[Is cast into the oven] The Jews had different modes of baking. In early times they frequently baked in the sand, warmed with the heat of the sun. They constructed, also, movable ovens made of clay, brick, or plates of iron. But the most common kind, and the one here probably referred to, was made by excavating the ground 2 ½ feet in diameter, and from 5 to 6 feet deep. This kind of oven still exists in Persia. The bottom was paved with stones. It was heated by putting wood or dry grass into the oven, and, when heated, the ashes were removed and the bread was placed on the heated stones. Frequently, however, the oven was an earthen vessel without a bottom, about 3 feet high, smeared outside and inside with clay, and placed upon a frame or support. Fire was made within or below it. When the sides were sufficiently heated, thin patches of dough were spread on the inside, and the top was covered, without removing the fire as in the other cases, and the bread was quickly baked.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
If the oven doesn’t get it the withering heat of the sun will.
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
OK, now we know this is worrying. I know that I have “taken thought” when I start “saying”. I know that I have started worrying when I start saying. Based on the definitions we studied and their use. I know that I have started worrying when I start speaking about my anxious concern, which is based on apprehension about possible danger or misfortune – I’m worried about it.
Can you see that?
So, we have “by taking thought” understood.
32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek
for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
What things? The needs of life. Food, drink, clothing, shelter.
Now! What else are “basic” needs of life today. Job, car, gas.
OK, Here comes the BIG one, Now He is going to tell us how to get all these needs taken care of.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. KJV
So, the question is Who are we going to put our confidence in to provide house, food, drink, clothes?
God? Or Money?
Seeking the kingdom of God is seeking how the kingdom of God operates.
When one learns how the kingdom operates all those things are added to you.
How does the kingdom operate?
Like a garden. The sower sows the seed.
The seed is the word of God.
The sower sows the word.
Next time.