Pentecost 9 (Proper 14C)

Text: “32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

Your Worries

Let’s cut right to the chase. The list of things that you worry about is long and varied.

Some of it you, yourself realize is not really a big deal. Still, you worry about it. You worry about softball tournaments. You worry about the next season of the latest television series you’ve discovered. You worry about whether the Tigers will ever make the playoffs. But, in the end, you know that none of that really makes a huge difference in your life.

But there are other things that you’re anxious about. And you worry about them as if your life and your future depended upon them. You worry about that kitchen renovation your house desperately needs. You worry about getting a nicer car. You worry about whether you’ll still be able to eat the food that you really like or if prices will get so high that you’ll be stuck eating whatever is cheap enough.

You worry about the big promotion at work. Or you worry about the ups and downs that your business goes through day to day and week to week.

You worry about your candidate’s or your party’s prospects in the next election. You worry about the latest wars and rumors of wars. You worry about when we’ll enter the next recession (or, perhaps, whether we’re already in one).

Some of you are worried about your children. You’re worried about their grades. You’re worried about the jobs they might be able to get with their grades. You’re worried about which sports teams they’re on, how much playing time they get, and how good they are.

Some of you are worried about how well you’ll do in your classes. You’re worried about the making the right choices. You’re worried about what your parents expect. You’re worried about what school you should go to. You’re worried about what kind of job you might be able to get with your grades. You’re worried about finding the right person to marry some day. You’re worried about whether you’ll ever get married at all. You’re worried about moving out on your own.

And then there are others of you who are worried about an entirely different category of things. You’re worried about the strange lump you felt the other day. You’re worried about how much your parents have declined physically and mentally and how much further they can go. You’re worried about whether the next treatment will be any more effective than the others you’ve tried.

You worry about money and health and reputation and comfort....

You’re worried. You are worried and anxious about a great many things. And all of it— all of your worrying— is not able to add a single hour to your span of life— or the lives of your children, or the lives of your parents, or the lives of those you love. As a comedian recently pointed out (although I’m paraphrasing slightly now) we’re worried about the fact that 44% of marriages reportedly end in divorce. While we’re worrying about that, we overlook the other side of that statistic: that means that 56% of marriages end in death. In other words:

Absolutely none of your worrying can add even the smallest measure to your life.

Your Heavenly Father’s Worry

Today’s text provides an interesting antidote to those worries. That antidote comes in the form of an answer to an unexpected question: What is your Heavenly Father worried about?

It’s a question that you and I rarely ask. It’s a question that Jesus, Himself, doesn’t actually give voice to explicitly. But it’s a question that He answers. And that answer, in His mind, should give you tremendous peace. In fact, it has such power to frees you from worry that, when you hear it, you can sell everything have and give it to the needy. That’s how little cause you’ll have for worry.

Are you ready to hear that answer? Ok. Let’s hear it.

What is your Heavenly Father worried about? Giving you His Kingdom.

Although God doesn’t worry. He plans. Even before creation, He saw your sin. He saw that, because of your sin, the eternal life He intended for you would be cut short. And so He planned. He planned and He promised. Over the course of thousands of years, He directed events of nations and the details of individual lives so that His promise would come true. And, when the fullness of time had come, He gave the most precious thing that He could give: His Son.

Whatever it is that you’re worried that God may or may not give you— a bigger income, a nicer house, a better reputation, even healing or strength—

Whatever it is that you’re worried God may not give you, He has already given you His beloved Son.

While you worried about the next softball tournament, the plot line of the next season of your favorite series, and what trades the Tigers were making at the deadline last week, He was worried about keeping His promise to save you.

While you worried about fixing up your house, He was busy preparing for you a mansion in heaven. While you were worried about that pay raise, He was busy earning for you all the riches of heaven. While you were worried about the next election, He was busy preparing for you an eternal Kingdom that can not be shaken.

While you were worried about the shadow of death looming closer and closer each day, He was bleeding and dying in order to win for you eternal life.

Godly Worry

Do not be anxious. Have no fear. Seek His kingdom....

God’s plan to save you didn’t end at the empty tomb. It continued to the moment that eternal life was poured out for you in the waters of baptism.

It continued as you were taught the words of , as you were taught about the greatest gift that He could have possibly given you: His Son.

And as you learned the words of His Son, which are the very “words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

The Father’s plan to save you continues every time He invites you and commands you to come and eat of the Bread of Life— the medicine of immortality— from this altar as often as you desire it.

It continues through the moment that your body is laid to rest in the grave.

It is completed the moment the trumpet sounds, your name is called, and you find that you had always slept more soundly in your bed than your body has in your grave.

And yes, this promise is for you and for your children. The exact same promise is poured out for them at this font, from this pulpit, from His Word, and from this altar.

You worry about many things. Instead, seek His kingdom. Seek first the thing that your Heavenly Father most wants for you. And all these things will be added to you.

Fear not, little flock. It is your Father’s good pleasure to redeem you out of this dying world and to give you His Kingdom.

You are free to worry properly.

Free to worry, first and foremost, that you, yourself, hold on to the gift given you in baptism through regular worship.

Guarding yourself against trading your Heavenly Father’s gift for the worthless things of this world. Holding firmly to the knowledge that the promise of baptism, God’s Word, Holy Communion, and Holy Absolution is yours as surely and certainly as the water touched your head as you were called by name in baptism.

Free to worry that your children and grandchildren are brought to a font like this one and receive the gift of eternal life.

To worry that they hear and learn the words of Christ, which are the very words of eternal life. To see that they receive the bread of life from an altar like this one. Taking comfort in the fact that, as worried as you are for them, your Heavenly Father has been worried about them since even before creation, planning every possible way to give them His grace and lead them to Himself.

Free to worry about others rather than yourself.

Caring for those in need— selling your possessions, if necessary in order to feed and clothe them. Those possessions will be destroyed by moth and rust, eventually, even if they’re not carried off by a thief. How could they possibly compare to feeding and clothing someone in need?

Free to serve those around you through your business, caring for your employees, and supporting your family. Or serving those around you through your work, serving your employer faithfully. Treating employers, customers, coworkers with integrity, from the greatest to the least. And, potentially, sharing the gift of eternal life with them, as well.

Let me go one step further. You’re also free to watch the news without fear. Without fear because the One who directs the fates of nations and the details of individual lives is the same One who, from eternity, planned a way to give you His Kingdom. He does not rely on the success of any candidate. No political party stands in His way. No dictator can interfere with His plans— what they intend for evil, He uses for Good. His success does not rise or fall with the outcome of elections.

Instead of fear, the media serves you as a means for staying current on who and what you can be praying for— who and what you can be taking to your Heavenly Father in prayer as you carry out your priestly calling to intercede for this world.

The devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh will continue to throw one worry at you after another— some frivolous, some selfish, others quite real and serious. Have no fear, little flock. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And so He has. There may not be anything He can do about the Tigers (or the Cubs, for that matter), but Your Father knows what you need. Through the holy, precious blood and the innocent suffering and death of the One speaking to you today, you were redeemed out of this dying world and gathered into His Kingdom. Seek that Kingdom. He has placed it before you, here, in your midst. He has given it to you through His Son.