Sermon prepared for ALC Class.
We seek God’s Kingdom and Righteousness.
How many songs are there that tell us not to worry?
Two instantly spring to my mind the first being Bobby McFerrin’s Song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy, the second being “Hakuna matata” from the Lion King, where young Simba is taught the philosophy of an over active Meer Kat and a large sensitive wart hog who was hurt when his friends wouldn’t stand downwind from him. Hakuna Matata for those who don’t know means “No worries, for the rest of your days”.
But can anyone truly stop worrying?
How good would it be if by singing a song all of our cares, all of our worries, all of the pressures of life could be erased? I have found that no matter how many people tell me not to worry, I still do. In fact the more people that tell me not to worry the more I worry because they can obviously see that I have something worth worrying about.
Some people as they are reading this are thinking that at times its good to worry, that it keeps them motivated, or that worry keeps them focused on what’s important.
So why does it matter if we worry anyway?
Jesus in today’s gospel reading tells us not to worry, But to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
So what does it mean to seek something???
On the T.V. for the last couple of months there has been an ad for the website seek.com. The ad tells us that humans by nature are curious creatures as proven by the fact that we search through every milk carton on the shelf, seeking the best expiry date. It says that we as humans go through many personal relationships seeking the best matched partner. And it asks the question “why do we need to know what’s in there, up there or out there”, and the answer they give us is “because if we didn’t seek we wouldn’t find”.
What kinds of things do people seek? Seek.com says that we seek all sorts of things, because it is human nature to seek. Jesus in today’s gospel reading narrows it down to just two things. God or Money!
The word that is translated Money in this translation use to be translated as Mammon. Mammon has a far greater meaning than Money. We see money in terms of cash flow (what comes in and what goes out). Mammon however has the meaning of possessions that have taken on a personality of some kind. It has a similar understanding to that of idol worshiping; like that of the Hindu’s or Buddhist’s. These people pray and offer things to their man made statues, and they think that their idols hear and see them. Hoping that they may feed and clothe them (As if a piece of rock or stone has that kind of power). This is the meaning Jesus gives to the alternative to serving God, The serving of mammon. In a sense Jesus is asking, do you serve Me or do you serve the things which you have made?
Jesus says to serve Him alone. That we are to serve God; not Mammon. He also tells us in this text that we are not to worry, for our Father knows everything that we need. Rather, we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
How do “you” seek the Kingdom of God?
People try many things trying to seek God’s kingdom. They turn up to church with the hope that they will find God. They do good things hoping that by doing them they may get closer to God’s kingdom. Some people even try seeking the Kingdom of God by reading the Bible as if it were the key to entering it. Yet Jesus’ words ring true “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of God”.
What can “you” do to obtain the righteousness God requires?
All that God asks you to do to obtain the righteousness he requires is to live a perfect and holy life. To obey the laws he commanded, to Love the Lord your God and serve only Him. The commandment given to us by God, which teaches us to fear love and trust in Him. You cannot serve two masters, God or Mammon?
Why then does Christ say “that we can serve only one master, God or Mammon?” Quite simply because if we served anything other than God, if we trust in anything other than our Father. We are trusting in a false hope, we are trusting in things that do not have the ability to help.
If we truly serve God and serve Him alone, would we still need to worry about earthly things? About what we will eat and what we will wear?
Isn’t that what Jesus said is what the Non believers do?
Every time that we don’t believe that our Father will provide for what we need, we break God’s Law? He commands us to Love and Serve only Him. And Doesn’t that mean that we are to fear, love and trust in God above all things (above Mammon)?
So then if worrying about our lives is breaking the first commandment;
Haven’t we have already lost the “righteousness” we were trying to seek?
Haven’t we already lost the focus of seeking the kingdom of God?
You see worry takes our focus away from the Kingdom of Heaven, away from Christ. It places the burdens of life directly on our shoulders and we begin to be weighed down by our worry, by our anxiety. This worry gives birth to more worry. We begin to try and rescue ourselves from the spiral of despair which seems to have no ending, wishing that our worries would all just disappear. We try to escape this pit of despair in many ways, some try yoga, others try the self help books and others try to soothe their anxiety by singing... “
God seeks us for His kingdom and seeks to give us His righteousness.
Don’t be anxious, for we know that there is one way our worries, our anxiety and our sin can be removed. We heard it earlier at the absolution straight after we confessed our sins:
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has had mercy on us, and has given his only Son to die for us, and for his sake forgives us all our sins. To those who believe in his name he has given the right to become children of God, and has given them his Holy Spirit. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.
You see, there is absolutely nothing we can do to become truly righteous in the eyes of Our Father. There is absolutely nothing we have done that has caused us to be forgiven by Our Father. Christ is our Righteousness. Christ is our forgiveness. And Christ did it all for you because He loves you. I’m not saying that you should not go to church; that you should not read your bible; and that you should not keep the commandments. In fact Jesus says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied”. What I am trying to stress is that there is nothing that you, nor I, can ever do to become righteous. It is Christ who makes us clean, it is Christ who makes us holy. It is Christ who makes it possible to live a perfect and holy life. Not by what we do, But by what Christ has done.
Earlier I asked, “How do you seek the kingdom of God?” and I gave three examples of how people try to seek God’s Kingdom; the ways people try to gain access to the kingdom of God.
Firstly I said that people come to church in the hope of finding God, as if that is something that we can do. God has already come to us. He has drawn us to Him. At our baptism He declared you to be His child. You are His daughters, you are His sons.
The second thing I said was that people do good things, in an attempt to “pay” their way into heaven, as if anything we do that is good, is really anything other than a response to the great things God has first done for us.
And finally I said that people even try to gain access to God’s kingdom by reading the Bible, as if it were the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, to which I now say... that we may read the words of life written in the Bible, but can we really know what these words are saying to us apart from the Holy Spirit who was given to us by Christ?
Remember the seek.com ad on T.V? Remember how the reason for us needing to seek things was that “if we didn’t seek we wouldn’t find”. How does this statement work in light of all we have learnt today about this text? How do you find the Kingdom of God? How do you find God’s righteousness?
The answer quite simply is that we cannot find God’s kingdom. It is Jesus who seeks us for His Kingdom. By our Father’s grace and by His mercy he has called each and every one of us, to be His children. Jesus has washed us. Jesus has cleansed us from all sin and has made us righteous by His righteousness. We have access to Our Father in Heaven. Ever since your baptism you have had access to the kingdom of God, because Jesus came and died on the cross for you, for your sin. He died for your righteousness. We are, by no effort of our own, righteous and holy. We are purified and perfected. We are children of the Father and members of the Kingdom of God.
Does this mean that we will not fall into sin? No, we will be tempted and we will fall. However, we know that when we confess our sins to God he hears us and forgives us for the sake of His son, in whom we find our righteousness.
Living in His kingdom in His righteousness.
So don’t be like the unbelievers who worry about earthly possessions, like what they will eat or what they will wear. Trust in God above all things, serve only Him. Focus on Jesus Christ and ask Him to remove your worries and anxieties. Ask Jesus to help you place your trust in Him.
When things spring up on you, when things worry you and make you anxious about the things you cannot control; know this! You can trust in our Father, because He has promised you that He will look after you and will give you all you need. When you lack in faith know that you are forgiven despite your lack of faith for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has made you righteous.
You cannot serve two masters! Don’t worry, live for Christ. Serve He who has made you righteous by His death and has granted you access to His Kingdom; the Kingdom of God. Amen.
