What? Me Worry? Matthew 6:24-34 (main text); 1 Cor. 4:1-13 Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Anoka, MN

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1 What? Me Worry? Matthew 6:24-34 (main text); 1 Cor. 4:1-13 Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Anoka, MN Don t worry, be happy. Are you kidding? Give me a break! Have you read the newspapers lately? Have you watched the news? Egypt crumbling around the people as we speak. Sudan north and south probably going to start fighting again re-igniting a 20 year war. Pakistan and Afghanistan how many years now? Iraq still unstable. North Korea are they going to escalate the bombing and rhetoric? Earthquake in Haiti. Oil spill in the gulf. Senator Gifford shot in the head at point blank range. This week alone, 3 apartment fires in the Twin Cities. One house fire killed a man. A younger man was accused was killing an infant beating the child to death. One guy robbed a convenience store, apologizing while he did so. We have locks on our doors and seat belts in our cars. We buy insurance to cover sickness, car accidents, and untimely death. Our passwords are being breached and our banks accounts are emptied. Global warming is melting our polar ice caps and below zero freezing temperatures continue to batter our bodies. The economy continues to try and recover, income covers less and less of the expenses, while more and more people either cannot find jobs or have just given up looking. The rich get richer while the poor and middle class continue to get less and less. Schools are struggling to pay teachers with fewer and fewer resources and rising class sizes. During the war in Liberia, lots of people were worried. They ran and hid. Some fought out of fear. Many went to witch doctors and got medicine and magic to make them invisible or to make them impenetrable to a bullet. They were terribly worried. Don t worry? Be happy? I don t think so! Yet, that is exactly what Jesus says to His listeners. Don t worry about your clothes or food or drink or your body. It ain t that big a deal. Well, maybe for Him it isn t, but we are living here. We have needs and necessities. We have things with which we cannot live without, like an HDTV, A/C, two cars, a house with a spare bedroom, 24/7 electricity, a boat/snowmobile/atv you get my point by now. What is necessary? What is essential? What do we need? Jesus simply says take a look around at My creation. Do you see any of the flowers or birds worrying? They seem to get along just fine. And are you not worth much more than those things which wither and die and are then thrown into the fire to burn for heat or cooking? It sounds so easy. So, let s take a look at the more reasonable necessities. Wouldn t it be nice to come home every day from work and just relax no worries about paying the bills, heating 1 P a g e

2 the house, repairing the car, paying for kids school activities, cleaning the house, finding time for church stuff, feeling guilty about not investing in your kids concerts or plays or sporting events. Don t get me wrong, God, but there is a lot of stuff to do in order to make certain just the basic things work out ok. Are you just saying we should nonchalantly go through life expecting you to take care of everything without our investment in it as well? I mean the flowers don t seem to do anything. Is that the posture we should take as well? God knows that His people live here in this world and have to deal with earthly things. The person who says, Ok then, I will be like the sparrow. I won t sow, or reap, or gather will reap the rewards of that laziness. The person who says, I will go and be like the flower of the field. I won t toil or spin, will soon see the folly of such a posture in this life. What is God trying to say? Our God is not telling us to ignore the future. He is not asking us to lay down our tools and find an easy chair while letting God do the work of providing for us. You should not say that because God cares, you do not need to provide for your wife or kids or husband. No one should start talking about the evil of having life or home or car insurance. No one should talk negatively about planning for the future or saving for a rainy day. Paul writes, If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). In fact, the reading through the Bible you did this last week and again you will do during this upcoming week seems to focus on items which the Israelites were required to do. They surely were not to sit back and watch life go by while God managed it. The rules and laws and regulations and the building of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant all of that was very clearly regulated and laid out. The Israelites needed to follow those tightly crafted rules. And if they didn t, there were consequences to pay! Remember in your reading this past week what happened to all of those who decided to mold a golden calf and worship it instead of Yahweh? The whole teaching of Jesus is not that we are not to reap, sow, gather, toil, spin, but that while we toil and plan and plant and reap and gather we do so without anxiety, without fear, without being anxious, without worry. Rather while we work, we do so with a sense of peace and comfort in our efforts, knowing that our work stores up for us treasures in heaven while we do our daily work. When Jesus said the birds of the air do not sow or reap or store away in barns, he was implying that these were normal and necessary human activities for us as well. But He was indicating that people must live in complete trust in God s providence rather than finding their security in their own ability to make a living and being anxious and nervous about our own abilities to succeed. The disciples must pray, Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Why? Paul writes, For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! (1 Corinthians 4:7-8). God provides not simply because people plant crops and work, as necessary as that is, but because they are more valuable than birds and flowers. Paul reminds his readers that God has already given to 2 P a g e

3 them all they need. He is their King. So while reaping, we praise God for our return. While sowing, we know that God will make it grow. While working, we know we do it to God s glory, not ours. The focus is not on what you can do and gather and reap it is on what God is doing through you. It is on God and His righteousness in you. It is on God who made possible what you have received. It still begs the question: how you can live and work and not worry? How can someone reap and sow and toil and not be concerned about the future? Well, Jesus gives the prescription. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). Thomas Kempis said, Seek God, not happiness. We have it all backwards. We seek happiness and hope to have God thrown in as a bonus. But we end up with neither. The paradox of the gospel is that when we truly seek God, we find him, and we get happiness, too. But it takes years for many of us to figure that out, and some of us never get it straight. To the very end, we pursue earthly happiness and our own agendas and we wonder why life leaves us frustrated and disillusioned. Let s take a closer look at this oft repeated and quoted verse. What is His kingdom? You can t seek something if you don t know what you are looking for! What is a kingdom? It is a place, a spot. In the world, it is a geographic location on map a country or nation or land mass. It is also ruled by a king or lord or master or ruler. People are citizens of such a kingdom and then give their allegiance to the ruler from whom they expect peace, comfort, safety, no worries, low taxes, protection, and the continued assurance of such things in the future. In some ways, it might describe how you see the church a place where you have joined/live and then you give to the pastor your allegiance expecting him to make your life comfortable. Too bad if this is your definition of the kingdom of the church! But there are still kingdoms in the world. Quite a few actually. They include well known ones like Sweden, Belgium, Bahrain, and the United Kingdom Britain. These places and many others have kings or queens ruling them. So, where is that kingdom we are to seek? When it will be established? Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, Here it is, or There it is, because the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20). Obviously, Jesus was talking about a different kind of kingdom than the one I just described above, and the one the Pharisees envisioned. There are at least two distinct teachings in this verse. First, Jesus notes that the kingdom is not a place on earth, a location on some land mass. The Pharisees were looking for that place and all along hoping it would be right where they were in Israel. They were all waiting for the Messiah to come, the Anointed One, the Christ, to re-establish the kingdom of the past, the Davidic Kingdom, the rule of the great King David, the glory days of King Solomon and all his wealth and splendor. That was the promise found in the Old Testament from prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah. At least that is how the Pharisees interpreted the Scripture. It was the promise given to Abraham you will receive this land, Canaan, the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey, your future kingdom. You are presently reading about the 3 P a g e

4 Israelite s journey through the wilderness to get that to Promised Land. And that is what the Pharisees and almost all Jews were waiting for to get back their land, their kingdom which was taken away from them by the Assyrians and Babylonians and now the Romans. And Jesus addresses his answer to that very interpretation: the Kingdom of God it is not here or there. You can t find it on land or sea. It isn t this place where you stand. It is not where the temple is located. Rather, Jesus says it is within you! And that throws a whole different understanding into the words Kingdom of God. How can a kingdom not be associated with land? And even more strange, how can it be within you? Secondly, Jesus indicates that the kingdom would not be ruled by an earthly king or queen. It would not be administered by a lord or master or Pharaoh. Rather, it will be governed by God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the Kingdom of God, God s kingdom. He is the King. He is the Ruler. He will govern it. And even though the Pharisees question included the words Kingdom of God, their meaning was tied to a place on earth ruled by an earthly king who followed God. They knew Jesus was claiming to be this King. They even indicated that to the world which watched. Above his head on the cross they placed the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews (Matthew 27:37). But they could not comprehend that the Kingdom of God was a place in the heart ruled by God. It is the place where Christ rules and governs and leads. Paul writes, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace (Colossians 3:1-2,15). Notice that your heart and your mind is where this kingdom rules. And notice the kingdom talk: Christ rules, sitting at the right hand of God as He is ruling from His throne. He is our King. And He is our loving King, not a despot or tyrant. Christ encourages you to seek Him first for your answers from worry or trouble or desperation. And all the other stuff will be given to you as well. And to become a citizen of that kingdom requires nothing on your part. Seek out that city and you will find it. Show up at the front gate of the city wall, knock, and it will be opened to you. Ask what you will and it will be given to you. Moses wrote, Seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul (Deut 4:29). All you need to do is trust in your King. Believe that He will manage your sinful life and make it perfect. The work has been done by His Son, Jesus Christ. He went to battle for you in Satan s kingdom. He won the war though it took His own 4 P a g e

5 life. Yet He rose from the dead and as a result has conquered sin, death, and the power of Satan. If God is ruling your heart as Lord and King and Master, then you are a citizen of His Kingdom. Paul writes, Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God s people (Philippians 2:19). And once we become citizens of the kingdom through faith, once God rules in our hearts and minds, those victories are yours as well. All that the King wants to give you is yours. And what can a citizen expect? I listed them earlier: peace, comfort, safety, no worries, protection, and a continued assurance of such things in the future. This is God s promise to all who are members and citizens of God s Kingdom. He made a covenant with us. He guarantees our future. God is in control. He is our King. We can rest in that knowledge through faith. So Jesus tells His listeners don t worry, be happy. Set your sights on His Kingdom. Let Christ rule your life. Let Christ be your King. He s got it taken care of for you. And all these things will be given unto you as well. Amen. 5 P a g e