Sermon - Trinity XV 2024 - Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus gives us confidence in God’s providence

1. Redirect our anxious energy about this life

2. Into confident living as God’s children in His kingdom

Jesus said: “Do not be anxious about your life.” Why do you suppose He said that? Could it be that we are in fact, often, very anxious about our lives. If you had to list some stressors in life, I’m sure you could do it without much difficulty, the harder thing may be finding enough time to list them all. You would think we wouldn’t have much stress in life, especially considering all of the technological progress we’ve made and how easy our lives can be. 

You can pick up the handheld computer and order anything you want, with the press of a button you can be entertained in an instant, all without leaving your soft leather couch. You can make a meal just by opening a container or two, and heating it up for three minutes and thirty seconds in the microwave. The floor vacuums itself with a robot, the dishes and clothes need only be placed in their proper machines, so even cleaning is a snap today. If we want to leave the house and travel a hundred miles in the dead of winter or the dog days of summer, we need only sit down in a perfectly climate controlled car and perhaps one day soon we won’t even have to steer it. Yet, Americans are lonely, depressed, miserable, and anxious. In spite of all this progress we’re not happier than we were before.

We’re worried about the election, convinced that if the other candidate wins it will be the end of our country, and we’ll find ourselves in a civil war or guerilla warfare. We’re worried about the economy, since inflation has increased so dramatically that our income cannot keep up. As we age, we worry about our health and the health of others, concerned that this next illness or complication may lead to death. Perhaps at times we feel as pitiful as the widow of Zarephath, gathering some twigs to bake our last loaf of bread and die.

But this anxiety and worry over life is not befitting God’s children, for that is the way of this pagan world. “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 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? … And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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?”

This pagan world is constantly worried about stuff, assuming that life really is just about worldly pleasures such as food and clothes. These worldly goods however do not truly satisfy. This is obvious because the richest people in the world are the most miserable and anxious. All of this stuff we’ve accumulated hasn’t progressively made us happier, but progressively made us unhappy and pagan. Just look at the fruits of what has been sown and see that being more busy with this world, having more activities and events, having more money and possessions, has only reduced our joy. What do you really have to show for all of your years of toil and worry? “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

Therefore, redirect this anxious energy about the cares of this life, and turn it into confident living as God’s children in His kingdom. Afterall, “The Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Unbelievers worry about this world and all of their stuff because for them this world is all that they have. After an unbeliever dies he goes to hell for eternity, so of course he’s going to worry about his bank account and our government, because what he has here is as good as it’s ever going to get.

But that’s not true for you Christians. Rather than seeking after mammon and an earthly kingdom, you have God’s kingdom awaiting you as a gift because of Christ’s righteousness which covers all of your sins. Even if this life is going very poorly and you’re living in a cardboard box behind the grocery store, you have the eternal kingdom of heaven awaiting you! Of course your earthly troubles impact you now, and the Lord knows that, He knows everything you need and are lacking, and He promises to supply all good things to you in the proper time. But ultimately God’s goal isn’t that you have everything you need or want on earth, His goal is that you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, because He wants to save you eternally. He may send you times of famine, just as the widow of Zarephath experienced, because He wants to fill you with His righteousness instead of food.

Take a moment today to ponder your life’s choices, your priorities, your worries. Remember that God will provide for all of your needs, so do the work set before you, and trust in His providence. Use that energy you were exerting on anxiety, in order to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness. Set strict limits on how much time you can spend in front of a screen, how much time you can read the news, or how much time you can even think about politics and the election. Satan intentionally uses media to distract you from what’s really important. He wants you to think about all of your problems, he wants you to despair, he wants you to be anxious, he wants you to lie awake worrying, because the more you think about the cares of this life the less you seek first the kingdom of God. So do battle against the devil today and turn off a screen for a few minutes.

Aside from the ordinary cares of this life, the elephant in the room right now is that today is my last Sunday as your pastor, and you will now undergo a vacancy and the call process to receive your next pastor. Jesus’ words apply here as well: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” My leaving may cause some of you a bit of anxiety, worries about the future, worries about what tomorrow or the next year may hold.

But I’m not the first pastor to depart from one field of ministry and go to another. St. Paul, when leaving Ephesus to go to Jerusalem, explained the situation. He said, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable… testifying… of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” 

Now, the Spirit hasn’t spoken directly to me about going to prison, but the Lord has told us that following Him means we must take up our crosses. Where I live there will be troubles and people who curse my name, yet what matters is that I must continue the work of the ministry entrusted to me by Christ. 

After I depart from you, the Lord will continue to provide for you, another pastor will serve you, and other pastors after him, as long as you live. Your vacancy pastor, Pastor Christiansen, will baptize your babies, absolve your sins, feed you the Supper, and preach the full counsel of God. What is pastor Christiansen? What is Pastor Koopman? What were all of your other pastors you’ve had? “Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

Even during your vacancy, as stressful as it may be, do not be anxious. The Lord knows what you need and He will provide according to His wisdom. All you need to concern yourself with is seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

Of course for the moment it may sting. When Paul left Ephesus, it was  the last time he ever saw them. He knelt down and prayed and there was much weeping on the part of all. Even though they had faith in God to provide for them, sorrow still filled their hearts, as it does mine to leave you. I will miss you and I will miss serving as your pastor. Your love, compassion, generosity, and faithfulness to God have meant the world to me. While I am excited to begin the work of the ministry in Mankato, my heart is filled with sorrow to leave you.

Yet we do not give way to sadness, fear, nor worry, for Christ is King and the Lord of His church! Just as Jesus ascended to heaven, so shall He descend and bring us all with Him into paradise. Jesus’ righteousness is your ticket to the Kingdom. We shall see Christ one day, and by God’s grace we shall see one another as well. My departure, not unlike death, is for but a moment as Christ shall soon return. “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”