Pastor Cofer
Matthew 6:19-34
Sermon on the Mount Part 8
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In light of our Gospel lesson for today, I feel like I should share a story with you all. I was involved in planning a wedding with a groom, his bride-to-be, and his future mother-in-law. Suffice it to say, having a mother-in-law in the process can complicate things.
There was one day in particular that I recall, in which the bride and groom were exceptionally even-keeled, and the mother-in-law was… not. She had, in fact whipped herself into a bit of a frenzy, sobbing uncontrollably over whether they had ordered a large enough cheese ball or some other earth-shattering crisis of that caliber.
The crying and ranting would have been funny, if it wasn’t happening right in front of me, but that wasn’t the memorable part. The thing that stuck in my memory was this. The mother said to the couple, “Look at you both, you couldn’t care less… nothing will ever get done.” The bride-to-be gave a little exasperated sigh and held up her faithfully and thoroughly kept notebook. “We have a plan. Everything is under control.” And the mother furrowed her brow and said very matter-of-fact-ly, “Well if I don’t worry, no one else will!”
Worry – it’s one of the most righteous-feeling sins there is. We worry about our families, we worry about our jobs, we worry about the future of our church. We think that to love is to worry.
Jesus, however, speaks out pretty strongly against the practice of worry. But to get a good angle on what he’s saying to us, I think it’s worth taking a broader view of the text for today. Worry is a symptom of a much deeper issue: a lack of trust in God. I know that sounds harsh, but hear me out.
People like to think they are in control of much more than they actually are. Take, for example, the crazy football fan who wears the same socks every time his team plays. He sits at home, watching the game on his TV (which cost more than his car), and yells at the referees. He chants, and cheers, does the wave, and paints his face. He does it all because he hopes his cheers, and raving, and his face paint and lucky socks are all going to help his team win. In reality, nobody on the field sees him, hears him, or even knows he’s out there. But he feels like he’s making a difference.
We do that with worry in our own lives. When you lie awake all night worried about their kid’s first day of school, when you keep rehearsing silently the words of the email you just sent, when you live in fear about lay offs or cutbacks at work… Worry isn’t making anything better, but it gives you the false sense that you are making a difference by twisting your stomach in knots.
I find as I talk interact with folks here at the church, that families are busy – stretched-to-the-breaking-point-busy. I don’t think it was always that way, but now it seems to be the norm. Family time, quiet time, and rest seem to be nice ideas, and the stuff that vacations are made for, but not a part of everyday life.
That makes me feel a little concerned, though. Jesus says that where you invest yourself is where your heart is at. And if you are investing yourself in a dozen different places, what must that be doing to your heart?
I find that when Jesus talks about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field there is a chord struck deep inside me. Of course it’s easy to abuse this section of scripture – to use it as an excuse to be lazy or negligent. But Jesus isn’t an advocate of laziness or negligence. The simple fact is that God desires that we are good stewards with what he entrusts us. That means that we ought to plan ahead. We ought to try and make wise decisions. But all of that must follow the recognition that He is ultimately in control, and all that we have is on loan from Him. You cease to be a steward if you claim that what God has entrusted you with is yours and not His.
The reason that birds and lilies don’t worry is that they live in open dependance on God. People, do as well, of course, but worry is the result of pretending like we don’t. When we forget that God is in control, and that he gives us our daily bread, we try to take on God’s job. And of course that results in fear, anxiety, and worry.
This happens in another way too. An addiction to “stuff” is a surefire road to anxious living. Let’s try an experiment: think about something you worried about last week. Be as specific as you can. Now, if things turned out badly – if the thing you worried about actually happened – what would the result be? Was it a literal life-and-death situation?
If it wasn’t, then was it worth worrying about? If it was life-or-death, how did your worry improve the situation?
We could eliminate so much anxiety in our lives if we could learn to simplify our lifestyles and our desires. God didn’t promise you a new car, or an ipad, or popularity, or a college education. Those things are nice, but you can get by happily without them. What God promises is His love, the basic necessities of living, and a home in heaven at life’s end. If we could learn to desire these things, then we would daily be receiving our hearts’ desires. It is discontent, it is the serving of too many masters that drives us into anxiety and worry.
That’s why Jesus instructs us to store up treasures in heaven. It’s not that earthly treasure are necessarily bad. After all, whatever earthly treasures we have came from God. But they don’t bring satisfaction, joy, and peace. Did you know that studies have shown that over 75% of lottery winners spend their entire winnings in a few years? How is that possible? Simply put, earthly treasures don’t really satisfy. They are all temporary… even with great financial planning, you can’t take it with you when you die. But treasures in heaven last. There is no inflation in heaven. There is no recession in heaven.
Remember the story of Jesus are Mary and Martha’s house? Martha is busily doing dusting and washing dishes and vacuuming or whatever sort of household chores folks did back then. Mary, on the other hand, is just sitting and talking to Jesus. And which of them was doing, “what is needful?” It’s not that housework shouldn’t be done. It’s that we like to have nice homes, but we need to spend time with Jesus.
Christ calls us to trust in our heavenly Father, and to prioritize what matters to Him. When we learn to value what He values, then we experience the simple and pure joys of just being God’s children. He provides our daily needs, and that frees us up to think about more important stuff than food and clothes. It frees us up to spend our efforts on things that truly last.
