Do Not Be Anxious – You’re More than That
Matthew 6:24-34
Sept 20, 2020 anno Domini
You can only have one God and the problem is you have two. As a baptized child of your heavenly Father you are double minded. You want your life full of everything your large selfish heart desires and at the same time you love God with your puny little heart of faith.
That is why Jesus says, “Do not be anxious!” That word literally means to have a divided mind. Your mind is all over the place. Isn’t that what anxiety is? Some of you are doing it right now. As soon as the sermon starts your anxious daydreams begin. You may not do it deliberately. It just happens. All of a sudden it pops into your mind. Oh no, tomorrow is Monday. It’s back to work and I’ll have to deal with fill in the blank. And let’s see – the weather looks good this week so maybe I can get in a round of golf, but I also need to start cleaning up the yard. Oh and that one downspout is leaking. And I need to finish that library book. And we’re out of flour. And I need to make an eye appointment and order my new contacts. And. And. And. And anxiety.
“Stop it,” says Jesus to his disciples. You’re Christians. Act like it. But you can’t can you? You cannot stop worrying. It’s like there’s some unseen force at work on you. I’m sleeping peacefully on my Stearns and Foster mattress and then I’m awake. Oh no. I forgot to stop by the hospital for that visit. I didn’t call that shut-in member. Did I get all the announcements right in the bulletin? What’s going to happen if someone gets Covid at Redeemer? What if I get Covid? Do I have everything ready for deer hunting? When should I winterize my boat? How am I going to get Bible study ready this week? The Devil’s sinister voice is always preaching to you and your old Adam ears itch for his word.
Which is why you need to be here to hear. This is the time when Jesus calls you apart, like He did the disciples in the text to teach you His Word, to strengthen your faith, to perform a surgical strike on your sins and excise them from your life by His forgiveness.
God does not work like the Devil. The Devil is sneaky. He’ll use your dreams, your indigestion, your getting up at night to go to the bathroom, or your check engine light. He will use whatever he can to whisper sweet worries in your ear and divide your mind into a million fractions of anxiety and fear. God has chosen NOT to use dreams, visions, and feelings. He has chosen one place to speak to you – in His Word so that you know it is Him and you know it is true. God doesn’t sneak around like the Devil. He comes in the flesh of His Son and in the truth of His Word. He’s not in the woods, under your covers, at your place on the lake, or US Bank Stadium. He is here and everywhere where His Word is preached truthfully and His Sacraments administered rightly. So if you want help with your divided mind you need His Word in your ears to challenge the Devil’s Word and unite you to Christ.
This is Jesus’ Word for your anxiety. Do not be anxious. … Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26, ESV) Jesus is preaching to His disciples, but since they and we are “little faithed” it’s like a children’s sermon. Look at the birds little ones. You don’t see them driving combines or shopping all the sales at Coborn’s, do you? They don’t have big freezers in their nests or an air fryer, do they? Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
You are not a sparrow. You’re a human being – the only creature made in the image of God. You are more than a baby seal, a cuddly cat, or your favorite Labrador. God put you at the head and top of His creation and when you fell He did not stop loving you. He sent His Son, who took on human flesh, who went without food for forty days, who never had a divided mind, but followed His Father’s will perfectly. God purchased your life back with the holy and precious blood of His Son and His innocent suffering and death. You’re not going to fall to the ground like a sparrow because of sin. You’re going to rise from the grave to live as a true human for all eternity, without sin, with your mind fully set on the glory of God, because you are worth the sacrifice of God’s Son. You’re more than an animal. You’re human in Christ.
Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin…. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:30, ESV)
The lilies don’t own spinning wheels. They don’t have closets full of clothes. The lilies don’t ask their husbands, “Does orange make me look fat?” Yet, even the beautiful dress of the smallest flower puts the ornate robes of King Solomon to shame. You are more than lilies. God clothed you in His image. And when you forfeited that image through sin, He sent His Son to clothe you in the beautiful colors of His righteousness. You’re covered with Christ – His perfect life, His sin forgiving death, and His demonstrative resurrection. Flowers are here today and gone with the frost tomorrow in Minnesota (or with the fires in California). That is not so for you, O you little faithed ones.
Why do our garages, closets, pantries and portfolios look no different than our neighbors? Perhaps because the devil has our ears most of the time and Jesus only has them an hour a week. Perhaps because we fear losing our stuff more than we fear losing our Jesus. Perhaps because we can see our bank account, but we cannot see the righteousness of Christ with which we are clothed, nor can we taste eternal life in the body and blood of Christ. Perhaps we have forgotten that we are more than the birds and flowers. What do we need? We need more Jesus in our ears. We need to come apart from the world and the Devil’s sermons, to hear that if God feeds the sparrows and clothes the lilies, He will most certainly feed and clothe you for life because you are more. You are a human – created in the image of God and redeemed by the blood of His Son. Do not be anxious you are more than that. In the name of Jesus. Amen.