Readings: 1 Kings 17: 8-16 | Galatians 5:25-6:10 | Matthew 6:24-34
Text: Matthew 6:24-34
We’re so stressed today. There are so many things to be worried about, fueling anxiety, so that you don’t even want to get out of bed! Can you relate?
What I wonder is, Is it that the world is more complex, or harder than it used to be? Are there exponentially more things to juggle? That may be true if we compare adulthood to childhood. But that’s not everything. For adults, is the world more stressful than it used to be? I would argue not.
Remember what we have in common with every generation: We are human beings who are born, raised, work jobs, get married, have children, face adversity, face aging, and die. The words of Psalm 90 are relatable to us today:
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Technologies like running water may have changed how we plan our daily life, but they don’t “change everything,” like the trite phrase we’ve been hearing for years.
What is different today is what we consider most important. What is it that keeps us up at night? What cripples you with fear?
To consider that, it might help to see some contrast. In the Old Testament, we heard about a poor widow during a drought. God miraculously provided for her, even when all she could foresee was the death of herself and her son from starvation.
The words of Elijah did not dismiss her very reasonable estimate of her situation. How could she foresee a miracle? It showed that God intended to provide for this woman and her son, and that her perspective was not the only factor at work.
This difference of what’s most important comes across even more clearly in the Epistle:
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
If you were asked the question, What is more important in this passage? How would you answer? What are those things for which people provoke and envy one another? Isn’t it worldly trifles? Possessions, family, social advantage? But while you’re scrambling after those things, there are far more weighty matters: There are brothers and sisters who are deceived in their sin and teetering on the brink of eternal destruction. We have turned things upside down! [Isaiah 29:16] While we’re distracted on ultimately meaningless, temporal concerns, people are dying in their sin. They are bearing their own burdens—of their mistakes and failures, of their fears—without a Father in heaven to commit them to, and all of this to their own destruction!
In so many ways, we’re taught that money is important. It opens doors, and makes for security. The rich have advantages which the poor do not. The one who has ample funds has it easier than the one who can’t make it paycheck to paycheck. However, no matter how many examples are thrown out, is a lie that money gives security. It isn’t our own efforts, or income, or savings which make us and make our lives. You would still be you, a child of God and heir of eternal life, even if you suffered bankruptcy, or suffered from some wasting disease, or if your skills came to nothing.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 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?
Is not life more than food, more than clothing? If this is what fills the balance of our thoughts, our heart is in the wrong place, and our mind follows where our heart is.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Our problem is deeper than retraining our behavior to think about those right things. Our sinful hearts have been consumed with concerns about keeping up a certain level of material comfort. We have worried ourselves to death about not catching illnesses, not taking risks that might cause adversity, not being inconvenienced by other people’s messy lives. And what has it gotten us? Service to a selfish and fleeting idol.
God, whom our sinful hearts have shuffled to the bottom of the priority list, thankfully has not done the same. He has never strayed on His desire to save us from these rusty and moth-eaten gods. Because our flaw permeates our whole nature, Christ has been born of woman and fully stood in our place. For you, He resisted the Tempter and His heart did not serve food, or money, glory, or self-preservation. When He began His passion, He prayed three times, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39) By His selfless suffering, you have been redeemed from your slavery to false gods.
They are powerless over you. You have the True God on your side, who has given His all to give you eternal life, will faithfully give to you all that you need for your body and life now.
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
You, who were once alienated from God, now have a Father in heaven. Cast your anxiety on Him, and have rest knowing that your life is fully in His care. Commit these words to your heart:
1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
Hebrews 13: 5-6: 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen..
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