May 25, 2008

Don’t Be Anxious About Tomorrow

by Rev. Dr. Jim Carlson

Matthew 6:24-34

Opening Illustration –

Passage addresses the question of how Jesus’ followers view the relationship between their faith and their basic bodily needs.

Is food and clothing a gift from God? Is it given to those who are most faithful? If you’re really obedient, do you get more?

Questions still asked by Christians today. How do we balance our responsibility to work for a living with the image of God as provider?

Jesus frames question in terms of loyalty and devotion. Like having two jobs that mutually exclude the other. You have to pick between one or the other.

Your loyalty in life is to God. If the pursuit of food and clothing and wealth gets in the way of your calling, your loyalties are divided.

Jesus’ disciples will be going to various places after his death to spread his teachings. They must remember where their loyalties lie. They must not compromise their mission out of fear that they will not have enough to eat.

Sounds noble – real world is difficult.

What analogy should we use when we start to worry?

Birds – reap without planting. Lilies – grow without effort. Slide

Jewish belief – humanity is crown of created being. If lesser creatures are provided for in God’s providence, shouldn’t we expect people to do fine?

Not saying – “Don’t work – God will give you everything you need.” We all must work. Disciples of Jesus worked as teachers and ministers. God would provide for them.

Nations around them filled with people who worry about their future. People stressed and depressed over food and clothing. Doesn’t God know they need these things to live?

First loyalty of Jesus’ disciples is to their calling – to telling people that God’s kingdom has arrived.

Food and clothing are secondary, and will take care of themselves.

Worry for the future should not compromise his disciples’ ministries.

Again, sounds noble. But worry about food and clothing and shelter are tough to avoid, even for long-time Christians.

Gas - $4 a gallon; Average price of homes listed for sale in this zip code - $207,000. Average property taxes paid - $3850.

The most recent survey of 20 food items in 26 communities gathered by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation shows that the overall price of the items increased $5.42 when compared to the first quarter of 2007.

People are feeling the pinch. What does this passage tell us about the question of our attitude toward money and the responsibility to meet our own basic needs?

First – Jesus tells his disciples to view the quest to find food, clothing and shelter as participants within God’s created order.

What I mean is – we tend to think we can control our own future and existence through our own effort. If we work hard enough, if we live frugally, if we achieve a certain level of financial success in this world, we will be able to distinguish ourselves from the animals and other people who aren’t able to control their own destiny.

Jesus says we can’t avoid the fact that we are part of the created order; that we are dependent on God and the rest of creation for our living, however abundant or sparse it may be.

Example – lots of hard working people in China and Myanmar are dead because of natural forces.

Jesus tells us to work hard, but be content with ourselves as part of God’s creation. God provides for the smallest of creatures. Wouldn’t God take even better care of us?

Second – Concern over making ends meet should never be more important than following whatever calling God has on your life. Expand.

Final Illustration –

Jesus’ disciples were taught not to worry about the future. If they really believed it was in God’s hands, then there was nothing to worry about.

In tough times, we are tempted to think we can overcome all obstacles and be the masters of our own destinies. Jesus taught that such an approach to life only leads to anxiousness, worry, and desperation.

We are part of God’s created order. Every spring the leaves sprout on the trees, the grass comes up, the birds migrate back, the mosquitoes breed, the rain falls. We have no doubts or stress about those processes. We trust God that those natural forces will continue to work as they always have. Jesus is just saying to us, “Why would you think your own life would be of any less concern to God?”