A Sermon for Worriers
Matthew 6:24-34
September 8, 2024 anno Domini
You are not in charge. That’s the first truth from Jesus in today’s Gospel reading. No one can serve two masters. If you have a master, it means you are either a slave or a servant. You’re not the ruler. You are the ruled.
The other truth is that there is no middle ground. You serve one master or the other. There is no in between with God and mammon and notice the word I used there – mammon. Money is too narrow a translation. Money might be our most tempting master, but by no means is it the only object that can own and rule us. It’s best to leave it as mammon because that word can refer to any of the rich gifts God gives us for our temporary joy and sustenance in this life. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Yet, the Devil will preach that you can. You can serve God and your happiness, God and your riches, God and your family, God and your success. The Devil wants you to forget the first commandment, “You shall have no other Gods.” He wants you to forget God’s jealousy. Oh God doesn’t mind if you fool around with other gods. You’re spiritual, but that doesn’t mean you have to be religious or faithful. God can’t provide everything you need. What’s a little mammon alongside of God. You can serve both. To preach that sermon of lies the devil must preach fear.
Sometimes he preaches little fears. You go out to eat. It might be Arbys or it might be Antoines. You don’t eat out often so you pour over the menu. You go back and forth with your choices. You’re afraid you might miss out on some really great sandwich or entre. The pressures on to make the right choice. Jesus says, “Is not life more than food?” Have you ever poured over the books of the Bible with the fear of missing out on some choice portion of God’s Word?
The Devil preaches larger fears. He tells you that you need something – you have to retire, your child needs to excel in sports, you need this experience or that possession. He preaches fear. If you don’t do this your life will be ruined, your child will fail, you’ll be unhappy. So, you work toward it. You plan toward it. You sacrifice for it. You evaluate it. And you’ve got it all under control, until you don’t because the Feds raise the interest rate, or the Stock Market crashes or the housing bubble bursts or you kid gets his fifth concussion and his sporting days are done. The god that you thought you ruled rules you.
Politics is the greatest pulpit of the Devil. Do you know what’s going to happen if Donald Trump is elected? It will be the end of democracy. Do you know what’s going to happen if Governor Walz ends up in the White House? America as we know it will cease to exist. Sell your 401K and invest in gold. Buy 3 years supply of freeze-dried food. Watch, listen, and learn how horrible your respective opponent is. You’d better stock up on ammo or confiscate every gun in the nation depending on your brand of fear. Don’t tell me you don’t serve mammon.
Jesus says, “Stop it.” Stop being anxious. There’s one reason to stop being anxious – Jesus. When the angels told the women outside the tomb to stop being afraid there was a reason – Jesus had risen form the dead. When Jesus told the disciples on the storm-tossed sea “stop being afraid” there was a reason. It was Him walking toward them on the water and not some ghost.
Jesus’ resurrection and His presence change everything, including you. Stop your worrying. Why? Because you are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. The moment you were baptized you were changed. God changed you from an unbeliever to a believer, from a slave of mammon to a servant of the Most High God. Most importantly, He changed you from a slave of mammon to a child of your heavenly Father. You are still ruled, but now you are ruled by a gracious Father.
Jesus preaches a few different sermons to convince you to stop worrying. The first sermon is a lesser to greater sermon. Look at the birds. You ever see a bird driving a combine? Or a bird filling a grain bin? Look at the cardinal the comes to your bird feeder. First, he sings to God and serves the Lord with his song. Then he comes to the feeder and gets his fill. When the time comes, he’ll fly south and do the same there. No suitcase, no cooler filled with food. Yet God feeds him.
Now Jesus is not giving you an excuse to be lazy and have someone else pay for your groceries. His Word makes it clear – if you do not work neither shall you eat. Before sin entered the world God gave Adam a way to receive his food. It is called work. This is not God’s Word against owning a freezer or canning tomatoes. It is His Word against worry, against letting your livelihood and your belly rule your life and being afraid for your future. If God feeds the cardinal (who is much less than you) will He not feed you?.
Then check out the flowers. And these are the little flowers. The flowers you don’t notice. The flowers that the county mows in ditches and no one even sees. The flowers that bloom one day and dry up the next. No one pays attention to those flowers, except God. He clothes even those littlest, here-today-mowed-down-tomorrow flowers with a beauty that no weaver could duplicate. And you, you’re more than a flower. You are a man or a woman. You are God’s foremost creature. So don’t get your skirt in a bunch about your skirt. God clothes the flowers. He’ll clothe you.
Once again, that isn’t an excuse to be a slob or walk around half naked, as is the custom of many in the summer. God provides your clothing the same way as your food. You work. Some of you can sew. The rest of us rely on the deals at Costco.
After preaching from the lesser to the greater Jesus concludes by preaching a greater to lesser sermon. God is not merely your Creator and Provider He is your heavenly Father. Jesus says it twice in case you missed it. Your heavenly Father feeds the birds. Your heavenly Father knows what you need.
God is your Father through His Son Jesus Christ. This is the greater thing, the greatest reason to stop worrying. God has given you far more than the birds and the flowers. He has given you His Son. The Son of God became a man. It may sound silly, but Jesus did not become a bird or a flower. He didn’t come to earth to rescue the mallards and the mums. He came to save you, to deliver you, to set you free from slavery to sin and death, free from worrying about making a life for yourself with pleasure, money, or family. Jesus Christ died for your sin, the sin that destroys every good gift of God, the sin that puts an end to everything you’ve sought and stored, and stock piled. On the day you die, it won’t matter how full your pantry is or how much return you got on your investments, or whether your son won all-conference. It’s all over, unless God is your Father, then you will possess gifts you never imagined. You will be without sin. You will never see death. Your body will rise glorious and be made new. If God would give you these great and eternal things (and He has) won’t He also supply you the little things like food and clothing? Absolutely. That is why Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Be ruled by God and you can stop worrying. In the name of Jesus. Amen.