“Priorities”
Matthew 6:24-34
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
St. Matthew 6:32-33 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Whenever anything catastrophic happens, either in our personal lives or in the lives of others around us or, for that matter, in the world, we take a moment to re-evaluate things. For example, after 9-11 when our nation came under attack and thousands of lives were lost in New York, D.C., and Pennsylvania, we all looked at our country, our world, and our lives with a different perspective. Everything seemed to change. People reassessed their priorities. Things that once seemed so important were put into a different perspective. Who shows up on Hollywood’s best and worst dressed list seemed now rather shallow. Reality TV didn’t seem so real or interesting with its artificial crises and challenges.
Even in sports, fans continued to enjoy rooting for their teams, but it seemed at the time to be more of a healthy diversion rather than as an all-important event. Despite the abject horror of it all, in a backward way the events of September 11, 2001, have had the good effect of causing many to rethink their priorities toward what is meaningful and enduring and true.
It is important to understand that Jesus is clearly addressing Christians – you and me, as well as His disciples – here in Matthew 6; what He says here does not refer to unbelievers. Therefore, in today’s Gospel Jesus tells us something about priorities, about what we put first in our lives. He says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.” The Lord is to come first in your life; you are to seek after His holiness and the things that put you right with Him. And then you are to trust in Him that the other necessities of life will be provided also, for certainly He can be trusted above all other tthings.
You see, Jesus knows that we fallen human beings usually get it wrong. We seek first the things of this world and our necessities and wants; and then once that is taken care of, then we’ll give more time and attention to the Lord and His Word.
Jesus references clothing and food, things which we really don’t worry about, do we? Which if us has a completely empty pantry or closet? Truth be told, we have full closets and bins full of unused clothing. And, as smart consumers, we also have at least some “backup” food stashed in our homes somewhere…maybe even several weeks’ or several months’ worth. So, do we trust in our full pantry and closet and extra stash? Do we want to make sure that those things are well in place, and are they more important to us than God? If so, repent, for you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.
Further, we sometimes worry about getting the house paid for and providing for the kids and paying the bills and saving for college or retirement; first we do all the things WE want to do, and then we devote ourselves to God and His kingdom. That, dear fellow redeemed, is wrong thinking. We, along with the disciples in our text, are those of “little faith.” Not NO faith, but little faith – a faith that is there, but not focused. We’re not unbelievers, just distracted believers. Repent of that also.
The problem is that those worries just mentioned never really go away, do they? There is always more that needs to get done, there is always something else to acquire or achieve before you are truly happy. But to live that way, especially giving NO thought to the God who provides for us, is nothing but gross idolatry. It is to conduct your life by attempting to serve two masters; that simply cannot be done. To say that it can be done goes directly against our Lord who says, “No one can serve two masters.” The Greek is clear: you are not able; it is not possible. “For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
Mammon is money and possessions. It is the most common idol that people bow down to in this world, for it gives us most directly what pleases the god of the self. But no matter how much we try to convince ourselves that we can give our hearts to such worldly things and love and trust in God as well, it simply cannot be done; folks who try to pull that off are simply beating their heads against the wall. The pursuit of one will always overshadow the other. Only one can come first, for they are opposite loves. Your loyalty to one is going to end up causing you to detest the other, or at least to esteem it less.
Either you are going to end up despising God because of how He supposedly limits your freedom or because He isn’t coming through for you like you want, or you are going to despise mammon because of the temptations that it puts before you and the effect it has on your relationship with God. Either your devotion and love will be with your worldly commitments, or your loyalty and love will be with God and His Word and His heavenly gifts. “No one can serve two masters.” No matter how hard you try, you can’t have it both ways.
God and mammon cannot both be served at the same time because they require opposite and conflicting forms of service, or dare we say worship. The worship that the false god of mammon requires is worry and stress about money and possessions. Even when all is going well and the finances are looking good, mammon still requires you to be consumed by it, so you hold on to it and do everything in your power not to lose it. Mammon is a greedy, self-consuming little tyrant of a god which always asks for more and more of your time and attention, drawing you away from Christ and His gifts. The thirst for mammon is like the thirst for saltwater: the more you drink, the thirstier you are. And in the end, it kills you.
The worship that the true God requires, however, is faith – a constant and confident trust that He is a loving Father who cares for all our needs of both body and soul. Even when all is not going well, His Gospel presence grants real, genuine comfort and the peace that passes all understanding. The true God does not consume us like mammon; rather, He is consumed for us and gives us of Himself so that we are not overwhelmed. Faith relies on God’s wisdom, goodness, and providence. The faithful believe that the God who made all things – the God who has given us our bodies and souls, our hearts and minds, our talents and powers, and everything we have – that same God will also sustain us according to His gracious purposes. And even when terror and tragedy, sickness and death come, faith trusts that He who created us can also REcreate us in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day. That is the calm certainty of faith.
Worry says, “I need to be in control. I have to do something, or everything is going to fall apart. It’s all on my shoulders.” And that weight and that burden are constantly grinding away and wearing you down. But faith says, “The ascended Lord Jesus is in control. He has promised to take care of me, and He will do what is necessary to accomplish His good and perfect will. It is all in His nail-scarred hands.”
Worry is a First Commandment violation, for all the focus is everywhere BUT on God. Worry constantly dwells upon the festering and all-consuming problem. But faith prays about the problem and entrusts it completely to God. Worry focuses inwardly and produces stress. Faith focuses outwardly on the Lord and thus brings peace. Worry centers on what is temporal and passing. Faith focuses on what is eternal and solid and sure.
Now, when Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow,” He certainly does not mean that we should be lazy and take it easy and wait for the groceries to fall from the sky and the bills to pay themselves. He is not saying we should not use the minds He has given us to plan ahead and to use the abilities He has given us to work and be productive in fulfilling our vocations. When Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow” He means that we should not get all anxious and worked up and out of sorts about the future and our material necessities as if we were unsure or doubtful of God’s care. Rather, we are to trust that God will meet our every need; we are to trust in God’s promises of care and providence.
Remember this: in and of itself mammon is not evil. We need it to live in this world. But the problem comes when we give our loyalty to creation rather than to the Creator. It is not money but the love of money that is a root of all evils (I Tim 6:10). Unbelievers see their money as something they have acquired for themselves and with their own abilities and skills, and it is to be used according to their will. Believers see their money as a gift from God that is to be used according to His will. Unbelievers view their job as a means of achieving their own goals. Believers view their job as a vocation, a calling from God through which God achieves His goal of providing for them and serving their neighbor through them.
And when the job doesn’t seem so secure, when the economy falters, when you are tempted to worry about how you are going to make ends meet, Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Since God provides for and feeds ordinary little birds, you have every confidence and certainty that He will also provide for and feed you – you who are of much greater worth.
Furthermore, our Lord says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” It is a simple but profound truth: Since God “dresses” the wildflowers and the fields so marvelously, which eventually are burned up or dry up, you have every confidence that He will dress you and provide for your bodily needs. Therefore, do not be anxious about such things, but trust in the Lord. Like the birds and the flowers, simply look to Him and receive the gifts which freely come from His hand.
After all, life is more than food; the body is more than clothing. Sooner or later, these things will all be gone. Let the pagans, let the unbelievers run after what passes away; let them run after the things of the flesh that lead to corruption. But you, dear child of God, cling to what endures; cling to the things of the Spirit that lead to life. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
And to seek the kingdom of God is very simply to seek the things of Jesus. For He is the King of this kingdom. He is the Righteous One. He freely gives you true righteousness. God made you His #1 priority. He sought first your salvation. He sent Jesus to take on your perishable flesh and blood in order to rescue you from the hellish punishment your sins of misguided faith and overly-zealous worry about the things of this world deserved.
Jesus bore in His own body the corruption and the decay and the mortality that your sin brings, and He put it all to death on the cross. In Christ the old perishable order of things has passed away and all things have become new. His resurrection has conquered the old order of death and brought forth a new order of invincible life for you and all who believe. You who are in Christ are righteous in God’s sight. You who are in Christ are a new creation.
In this new creation our Lord clothes you and feeds you marvelously and abundantly. You do not worry about food because Christ faithfully gives you to eat of His body and drink of His blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Your life is forever safeguarded by His own life which He puts into you under the bread and wine. We are not anxious about daily bread because we are given to partake of the Living Bread which came down from heaven. Even in the face of earthly hunger, we dwell upon Christ’s words, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54).
Likewise, we do not worry about clothing either, for it is written, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). You have been robed in Christ’s righteousness. At the baptismal font you were dressed in the garments of the Savior that will never wear out or fade. Your value and your worth do not come from your earthly clothes or your earthly possessions. Your value and your worth come from the fact that Christ became your brother in that baptismal water and made you an eternal child of the heavenly Father.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, in these uncertain times, do not worry. Let your fears be turned to faith. Let your worries be turned to confidence in the Father’s loving care. Cast all your care on Him, for He cares for you. He will sustain you through His Gospel of forgiveness and His Sacramental gifts which deliver Him to you in all the ways He wants you to have Him. Of that you may be absolutely certain.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
