Don't Worry; Be Content
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Dearly loved people of God,
Fires in BC
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus sits on the hillside above the Sea of Galilee teaching a large crowd of his followers about his heavenly Father’s care for them. He points to the birds of the air. Without combines or barns, wild birds get enough to eat.
Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Irma
And flowers, without fashion boutiques, earrings, or tattoos, somehow they look really beautiful. At times they take your breath away. Pointing to the creation and Creator like this, Jesus gives the assurance
Flooding in Windsor
Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Earthquake in Mexico city
terrorism in Edmonton
(NIV)
Mass shooting in Las Vegas
And on a Sunday morning, dressed comfortably with a good breakfast in our belly and the prospect of a turkey dinner sometime this weekend, we can nod wisely and agree that God provides generously. But you know, and I know, that life isn’t always comfortable. Not all of us have everything we want at our fingertips. And that’s part of the challenge.
A lot of people have lost a whole lot of stuff. some people lost everything and have no insurance to replace it. Sometimes as we turn away from the news, we shudder a little, saying, “Wow, I’m glad that didn’t happen to me! I don’t know what I’d do.”
How do you explain Jesus’ reassurances to you neighbor if they’ve been working at Siemens for the past number of years making wind turbines on Hwy 3? Now because of low demand, if they haven’t gotten their pink layoff notice yet, they expect it by year’s end?
It’s true of course. You don’t know what you’d do.
Or the girl on your curling team who works at Cami: the union members are on strike right now, worrying that GM will move Equinox production and her job down to Mexico.
Then there’s the story of the couple in Alberta who won $60 000 000 in the lottery. Whew, that’s a lot of money. It gets your mind going, doesn’t it? What would you do with $60 million?
Isn’t that where the rubber hits the road? What assurances can you give?
Don’t look now, but we’ve gone from considering losing everything to having more money than you know what to do with in a few minutes. With the levels of insurance we buy and the social safety net we enjoy, it’s rare for people around here to lose everything, but it happens.
Does it help to say, “When God closes a door, he opens a window”? Even if it’s true, doesn’t it sound a little flippant?
Now consider Jesus’ instructions to the people who followed him to a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
And yet Jesus tells his followers not to worry. Your heavenly Father knows what you need. In my experience that’s easier said than done. We are all looking for some kind of security in the world.
Mt 6:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
We think that it would be good to have a good solid nest-egg to fall back on. We’re tempted to think that having a lot of money and investments will make us feel secure. If I would just win the lottery, all my worries would be over, right?
Jesus mentions that earthly investments are relatively insecure. We could add to Jesus’ list of risks: inflation, natural disaster, war.
So maybe you heard in the news of the couple in Alberta who won $60 million in the lottery. Did that spark your imagination? Tell me, I’m not the only one who started daydreaming of what I could do with that kind of money! Never mind $60 million; “If I had a million dollars . . .”
In addition, Jesus challenges the consumer mentality of our culture.
Yet it isn’t just Jesus who tells us that money isn’t the answer to happiness and security. Go ahead and Google it like I did. Many people who win big money in the lottery end up bankrupt or divorced or both. Statistics say, the larger the win, the more likely people will end up bankrupt within 5 years. And happiness seems unlikely: there’s a large correlation between big lottery wins and depression, addiction, and suicide. Yet somehow, those details don’t show up in lottery advertisements.
: 31
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
Jesus speaks pretty bluntly about the insecurity of earthly wealth.
What does he propose as a solution?
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
(NIV)
mt 6: 2and
Jesus points to his heavenly Father’s providence. You’ve probably marvelled at birds, haven’t you. Jesus points to them and says,
From watching the news in the past few months, we could add the dangers of floods, fires, and earthquakes. Earthly treasures might be nice, but they don’t offer security. So Jesus offers his followers an alternative:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
mt
And most people admire flowers. Yet we also get caught up in the need to have good clothes, fashionable clothes. Jesus pokes at those appetites as well.
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
mt 6.28-30
The answer to worrying about food and clothing is trust. Jesus’ speaks of God’s providence for birds, plants, and his image-bearers, the stewards of his creation. God takes care of his people. Some people receive the bare minimum for survival. Some receive enormous gifts of wisdom and knowledge, property and responsibility. All of it comes from God as a gift.
It isn’t possession lots or little that determines where your heart is. It’s the place of that earthly treasure in your heart and hopes and sense of security. ***
and
and
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
What is Jesus’ instruction for storing up treasures in heaven?
(NIV)
mt 6.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
What kind of treasure can you store up in heaven? How would you do that?
Some of you have heard this phrase many times over the years. There’s the song we sing: seek ye first . . .
Jesus supplies the answer later on in vs 33.
What is the Kingdom of God?
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
This doesn’t just mean the place the God rules, it speaks of God’s reign, his ownership being recognized. The Kingdom of God can expand over the globe as people profess faith in God, but it also needs to expand in our minds, over our possessions, and in our imaginations. I’ve heard a financial adviser joke that the last part of a person to be converted is their wallet. I’m not sure if that’s true. I think our sense of security takes a long time.
(NIV)
The house where we live was completely wired with a security system when we bought it. Robin and I found out why.
God’s Kingdom is the space where God’s rule, his lordship is recognized. We pray for God’s Kingdom to come in the Lord’s Prayer.
Two owners before us experienced a break-in one night. The owners were held hostage at gunpoint. They lost possessions, but even worse they lost their sense of being secure in their own home. All the security lights, alarms, and locks cannot really fix that feeling of violation and vulnerability.
Now the world is God’s because he made it. Yet it’s disputed territory because people rebelled against God. They weren’t happy with God’s instructions for life, so they rejected God’s rule. Ever since our first parents declared their independence of God, generations of people have lived in rebellion. We don’t live up to God’s call to goodness.
The same thing happens with fire or flood. We bravely say that stuff can be replaced, and that’s true of course. But the sense of being vulnerable doesn’t go away quickly.
As rebels and traitors, we deserve to die. Not just physical death but an eternity being cut off from God’s goodness and grace. God’s justice demands that the penalty be paid.
But, because of his great love and mercy, God became human and took the punishment upon himself. At the cross, Jesus suffers the agony of hell and dies for humankind’s sin. He takes the penalty I deserve.
Yet in his resurrection, Jesu opens the way for us to enjoy God’s rule both now and for all eternity. As we pledge allegiance to Jesus as Lord of our life, we become citizens of the Kingdom of God. Yet sometimes it seems to take a while for us to surrender control of everything in our life to God’s providence and good plans. The Holy Spirit has come to help convert us to become more like Jesus, but each of us remains a work in progress.
Yet there are encouraging stories. I know of a number of couples longing for a child, praying for a baby, and going through a monthly rollercoaster of hope and disappointment. Some of them have celebrated a pregnancy, but then had their hopes dashed with a miscarriage.
It leaves them wondering if God does really answer prayers. Does God hear our cries?
Then I was greatly encouraged by a story I was told this week of someone longing to become a mother who found peace despite the repeated disappointments and heartbreak. She hasn’t stopped hoping and praying for a child, but on her good days she’s content for God’s will to be done. By God’s grace, she is able to accept God’s timing and God’s plan. She’s able to confess that God is in control of family planning.
It reminded me of the way that even Jesus learned obedience. Jesus exercised the discipline of submitting to God’s good plan. In the garden of Gethsemane, before he was arrested and crucified, knowing what was about to happen, Jesus prayed:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
(NIV)
Three times Jesus prayed that way. Because of Jesus’ obedience, because of Jesus’ willingness to do things according to the plan of salvation, he has provided what we most desperately need. Through Jesus’ suffering and death, we have been given life and hope and a future.
The vast majority of the time, God answers our prayers for daily food. As we celebrate this Thanksgiving weekend, God has given most of us not just daily bread, but all kinds of delicacies as well.
Having a glimpse of the way God’s hand has provided all the stuff we have gives us confidence to trust God to care for us tomorrow and the day after that. If God has brought us this far, if God has provided life and hope through Jesus’ resurrection, he’s not going to let go of us. He will continue to be our refuge and strength, our fortress in times of trouble.
Even if we receive a pink lay-off notice this week, if we are diagnosed with cancer, or if an earthquake reduces our whole community to rubble, we will trust in God’s goodness and providence. Our Heavenly Father knows what we need and because he is loving and good, we trust that he’ll provide us with everything we need.
As his dearly loved children, he carries us in his arms – come hell or high water – that’s a safe place to be.