Dear saints, we confess concerning the First Commandment that we are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. In our Gospel lesson, from the midportion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, “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.” Perhaps this reminds you of St. Paul’s writing to St. Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil.
Everyone must decide who or what his or her god will be. Will it be the Creator of the universe? Or will it be mammon? It cannot be both. One God brings eternal life, and the other god brings anxiety leading to eternal death. It seems like a simple choice. But look at the world around you and see what it serves. See the anxiety the world has and what it fears. The choices it makes to avoid trial and death. What it seeks businesses or governments to enforce that will create the feeling of safety, even where no safety can be guaranteed. And consider what the world considers good and sacred. The desires that it has. And what disdain and hatred these things have toward God and His people. People like you and me.
But let’s not only consider the world. We must also consider ourselves. We still battle with our flesh. We still find ourselves tempted to serve mammon. And when we are honest with ourselves, we must confess that we do, at times, serve mammon. This burden of sin, sin against the First Commandment, produces anxiety. Therefore, we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And why we trust that our Father does forgive.
The forgiveness we receive on account of Jesus calms our souls. It lifts the burden of our sin and removes our anxiety. Those who serve mammon, however, have no outlet when they are burdened or anxious. They cannot look to their god for absolution. They can only grasp for more of whatever they seek. More money. More popularity. More restrictions they think will give them safety. And sometimes more freedom to do what they should know is wrong but be lauded for their abominations anyway.
Jesus goes on in the lesson: “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?” He goes on to explain God’s provisions for us. The birds of the air do not labor. They do not till, plant, or harvest. And yet they are provided for; they are fed by God. But you are more valuable than these, who do not fall to the ground without the Father’s knowledge. Next, we consider the lilies of the field. They also only receive from God, and they are more beautiful than even Solomon in all his splendor. Such beautiful flowers, who are there today and burned for warmth tomorrow, are provided for by God and yet you are still more valuable than they.
The point is that God provides for both the just and the unjust. He sustains life, even the universe, out of His goodness. He provides your daily bread. It is what we confess concerning the Frist Article of the Apostles’ Creed. Though admittedly easy, it is useless to worry and be anxious about food and clothes. About health or safety for freedom. But God knows you need these things. They are not to be your worry, as they are the pagan.
Your concern rather is the righteousness of God. Instead of fretting about every little thing around you, you seek what God desires to give you: Love. Mercy. Grace. Righteousness. Eternal life. Jesus ends our lesson by saying, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
There will always be something around us that causes strife. There will always be danger. Sometimes it will be real and other times imagined. Sometimes it will be less than we think, and other times more than we think. I am not saying we should simply ignore these things. I am, however, saying that your life and actions should not be dictated by them. They should be dictated by who you belong to. By remembering what He has done for you. As our Lord said, “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Trouble will, indeed, always be around us.
As an example, I present a sample of C. S. Lewis’s writings from 1948. It is from an essay entitled, “On Living in an Atomic Age.” Perhaps you saw this last year when it started circulating, but for many of you, you will hear it for the first time today, as I did a few weeks ago:
“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: ‘Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’
“In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
“This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb – when it comes – find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
As bad as things are today, they are much better than they used to be. Sometimes I think that is to our disadvantage. We do not really know what it means to rely on daily bread, for we have days or weeks of provisions in our homes, let alone our grocery stores. I am not sure we truly resonate with the part of the prayer asking God to “graciously keep us this night from all harm and danger,” as the harm and danger we face today in America is very low.
There is, however, a clear and present danger always around us. And that danger is the one going around like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour. That danger is the devil and his demons. They would have us seek after mammon. They would have us doubt the Word of the Lord. They would have us look for our righteousness in ourselves and from the world.
Seek, therefore fellow saint of God, the righteousness of God. Seek after the blood of Christ, which has washed you clean and saves you. Cling to the promises of your Lord, that He has died for you and atones for your sin not with the blood of goats and bulls, but with His blood shed upon the cross. Come to His table and receive the forgiveness of sin which He has spread out for you. For you cannot continue in safety without His aide. Praise God for His help and goodness! Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD
©2021 Brent Keller. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.
This is very true. I think in America the norm is to build up wealth for security and comfort. To put our trust in Jesus, and not in our possessions, means recognizing that our money can’t save us – that we are totally depended on God and Christ for our security, meaning, and fulfillment in life! There is no other path to eternal life than that of trusting in Jesus!