The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Jesse Jacobsen

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Time-stamp: "Sat Sep 3 19:31:32 2005"

Matthew 6:24–34



“No one 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.

“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? 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? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Why worry?

Before I say anything else, you should all know that it was pleasant to be on vacation recently. A great highlight was visiting one of our synod's churches and seeing how we are blessed in so many of the same ways. It was also nice to take a short break from preaching and conducting services. But it seems my subconscious mind was still convinced that I should be working. I had a few of what you might call nightmares that suddenly I was called upon to conduct a service and preach a sermon with no preparation at all. As far as I know, I wasn't really worried about that, but the experience shows that there are worries inside us that we don't even realize.

To anyone who pays attention to the news, there seems to be a lot you can worry about. It seems that gas prices have been climbing about a quarter a day this week. The aftermath of hurricane Katrina has been worse than the storm itself, with a severe toll in lives and property, and the effect upon the whole economy is uncertain. Meanwhile, we still have loved ones who are in harm's way in the effort to establish a second peaceful democracy in the Middle East. On top of that, there are still murderous madmen who want to kill us in the name of a false god. The problems Jesus mentions in our text seem basic: food and clothing. Maybe you think you've got bigger worries than that, but who really knows what may worry you in your dreams at night? I think we do worry about all of it on some level.

Add to that any worries we may have about God's Church here at Grace. We're starting a preschool. We haven't tried something so daring since the addition was put on the church building twenty years ago. We pray for God's blessings, and we work for success, but we don't know how that story will end.

But why worry? Jesus teaches us that worry is connected to serving Mammon — mere money. That's a form of idolatry, having a false god! Meanwhile, the God we already have, who created us and the whole world, also promises to care for us. He will keep His promise. Our theme this morning is simply the question, “Why worry?” Worry leads to idolatry, but the true God will deliver.

Worry leads to idolatry

It may be hard to believe, but I used to worry a lot back in high school. Sometimes I'd even stay up almost to the break of day, trying to get my homework done. It's hard to say if it even helped me. Everyone else said it was high time to quit worrying so much, and after my first year in college, I think I did. I just couldn't carry on that way. Now I think I worry about as much as the average person, which is still not a good thing. Why tell you this? You need to know that you're listening to a recovering worry wart, first-class.

Now, Jesus connects two little sermons together in our text. The first is about the idolatry of mammon, the love of mere money and worldly wealth. He says we can't keep that up and be Christians at the same time. One or the other has to go. In the second sermon, Jesus tells us many reasons why we should not worry about food, clothing, and the like. Basically, His message there is “Don't worry about the future.” Then, Jesus connects the two sermons with the famous passage, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Jesus is connecting worry — even about the basics — with the love of mammon, which He says is a kind of idolatry. Mammon is like a false god, because those who serve mammon cannot be Christians. Isn't that a harsh thing to say about people who worry? We all worry, even in ways that we don't realize! So are we really serving Mammon that way? Or did Jesus go too far? Sometimes when we hear something that makes us uncomfortable, it's easier to say the speaker went too far than to face the facts. But it's hard to say that about Jesus, isn't it? If He went too far, then why be a Christian?

No, He didn't go too far. It's true that even our most basic and secret worries are a form of idolatry. They break the First Commandment, where God tells us that we must fear, love, and trust Him above all things. It's amazing, but we have trouble fearing God above all things. Other fears seem so much more practical.

But consider. It was God who allowed hurricanes (and tornados) to exist. In His unfathomable wisdom, it was He who sent Katrina to the most fragile part of our Gulf coast. I don't know His reasons any more than you do, but this act of God clearly reminds us of two things: First, God is to be feared; Second, we must repent of our sins before His righteous throne.

Or do you think He was unjust to do this thing? Is God unjust? Absolutely not. We all deserve much worse, but after He destroyed the whole world in water the first time, God vowed not to do it again. We still have the rainbow as the sign of that vow. It is not an injustice that some perish, and many suffer. Rather, it is a great act of His mercy that many more have not perished, and many endure suffering. He could with perfect justice reject and condemn us for all eternity, even only for the fact that we sometimes fear other things more than we fear Him. But He does not, for He is merciful.

So He calls upon us all to repent before Him, and to accept mercy on the terms that He will give. Turn from the idolatry of mammon, even the kind that we call worry. Cast all your cares and hopes and fears upon Him, and He will answer them with the perfect justice of His love.

The true God will deliver

I remember in 1978 or 1979, a hurricane came pretty close to the south coast of Massachusetts. I don't know why, but they didn't close school. So my sister and I walked a block and a half down Mulberry Street, leaning into the wind like the TV reporters you might have seen this week. Only we were about half that size. My dad was probably out to sea on a scalloper. I think my mom was pretty nervous about letting us go to school. But for us, it was fun.

Why do children generally have an easier time trusting that everything's in God's control, even when it looks pretty bad? Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Apparently, there's something we can lose as we grow, and take on more responsibilities, something that helps us to trust God's Word, whatever may come. We all need to realize that next to God, we are little children. What can we do, compared to His power? What do we know, next to His knowledge? So doesn't it make sense for us to let Him do His job and take care of us? Doesn't it make sense for us to stay busy with our appointed tasks, and stop worrying whether this or that will happen?

I said before that we don't know the end of the story concerning our new preschool. The same can be said of many things. As far as we're concerned, our story is still being written. But God knows the end. He always does, and He's told us some of it already.

After mankind first sinned, Adam and Eve were forced to stand before God and give an account. But God knew all along what He was going to do. He told them about it: His Son would be born into the world, and would destroy our worst enemy. That's what He did. We live on the other side of that history. It happened. Jesus came into the world, almighty God born as a little baby. He did the job He was sent for, and He obediently gave His life as a ransom for many. He paid for the sin of Adam and Eve, and every transgression since. Then the Father raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand to reign over all the heavens, and all the earth. He's the one standing at the helm and guiding our vessel the Church to the shores of paradise.

Why worry? We have a God whose love is deeper than the oceans, and stronger than the winds. It's no wonder we can't understand His ways. He has told us that in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. It has been sealed by His death, confirmed on Easter Day, and now given to His Church in Word and Sacrament. Don't be afraid. Why worry? The true god will deliver.

Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.