Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (2024)
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Matthew 6:24-34
Matthew 6:24-34
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I preached on this text last year, but I believed that it was important to revisit this year. We are living in times that are difficult and people feel the stress and strain of life. The stress is always present, but it is being amplified this year to lead people into a panic and make them forget and forsake the one who is really in control of all things. For in this Passage Christ reminds us that those who live in such a way are the unbelievers who don’t believe that there is a God who watches over them.
Serving Two Masters
There’s a couple of words that we need to talk about that got translated into English from the Greek, but you want to know what the words is behind the english. κύριος which is
The word Master means Lord.
You cannot serve two Lords that is 2 gods, you are bound to one or the other and you will end up hating one and loving the other or being devoted to one and despising the other. Well what does ti mean to serve?
When it says serve it means be slave to.
The translators of the ESV had concerns about that word in the modern context, and so they translated it as serve, but the context is slave that you belong to one or the other. But you can’t have two lords that you are serving because they will be in conflict. You belong to one or the other.
You cannot serve/be slave to God and mammon.
Now that word is good to know, the King James just imported it straight into english, and modern translations translate it as money, but
It isn’t just money.
Look at what Jesus talks about in the rest of this lesson. He doesn’t just talk about money, the word mammon refers to these wordly possessions that people chase after and want to have. The word mammon is speaking about all wordly possessions, and which is why Jesus takes on worship of the world.
Worship of The World
Mammon is the most common idol.
People chase after it to the grave, now most often people think of it in terms of money for that is what most people judge their life by. But money is a tool which we use to attain other things, now Jesus
Jesus uses food and clothing as examples.
These basic necessities that folks look for. We want to make sure that we are fed, and that especially as the frost warning yesterday reminded us this week that you have warm clothing for what is coming.
An idol is that in which you trust.
It is what we look to in times of distress to figure out whether or not we will be ok. There are many different types of idols out there, there are those who chase after food, clothing, money, but they also cling to family, friends, jobs, health, technology, I had one girl in confirmation class when we talked about idols confessed it was her phone. The way you know is that
When it’s gone worry follows.
It feels as though the world is crashing down, you don’t know how to function. You don’t know how things will be alright. So panic, and anxiety start to set in and the world that you have enjoyed rapidly starts falling apart. This affects even folks who think themselves to be Christians, but the minute one of these things is removed, they think that God has abandoned them. That means you were worshiping mammon.
Where did the Idols Come from?
The heart is an endless factory.
It is constantly seeking something to hold on to and find comfort in for it has many anxieties and worries that plague it and it works desperately to find stability in this life.
It begins with a desire.
Then you chase after the desire, now it seems a little strange to just chase a feeling, and that is why you will see in the ancient world that they created idols that each person could worship for what they wanted. Safe sea journey, Poseidon, victory on the battlefield, Ares, fortune Tyche, family hestia, love aphrodite, and on it goes
You make bargains.
You try to figure out ways to get what it is that you want by offering up sacrifices to have these things. Now we are warned that there are forces that sit behind this that are demonic, but they are leading you to a final place, where
In the end, you worship yourself.
WHich still happens today, you worship your own desires, you offer up sacrifices to your own desires, and when it succeeds it looks great because you did it, but when you fail, it all falls back on you, which is why the gentiles don’t know peace.
God’s Providence
God has arranged the outcomes.
The Father has done so not just for the great and big important thing, but even down to the level the birds and the grass. If God has managed that then what is there to be panicked about, unless you lack faith. Now
God causes some things, and permits others.
But he works them all to the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose. Which is to say to bring the elect to faith before the return of Christ and the end of the world.
Your Father knows what you need.
God is good, it is not always what we want, but we don’t have to run around like the gentiles for our Father already knows what each of us requires and He points us to the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God
It is the Kingdom that is eternal.
That is the place where we will see an end of all suffering and misery, of cancers and diseases and finally be at eternal peace. That is what is important, for a 100 years compared with eternity is meaningless.
We tend to fixate on temporary matters.
Place them as being of greater importance than the thing that matters most in this life. We chase after money, we chase after clothing, food, honor, health, careers, and neglect the one thing needful.
What we need is God’s righteousness.
Everyone must stand before the throne of God on the day of Judgment and without God’s righteousness, the only thing that awaits us is wrath. Yet we chase after everything else assuming that if we have those things in abundance we must be righteous in God’s sight while we go about serving idols.
It’s why the Father sent Jesus.
Jesus came into this world to fulfill all righteousness for us and to give it to us freely that is as a gift. We are not to seek idols, but rather the righteousness that Jesus has won for us at the Cross. The righteousness that He has clothed you in at Baptism, and fed you with at the Altar.
Why did God establish the Church?
That people may receive forgiveness.
Which is to say that our sins are not counted against us and that in God’s sight we are declared righteous for Christ has paid the debt that we owe. That is what the Church has to offer to folks, and that vexes the world. Who looks at the Church and says well that doesn’t put money in pocket, it doesn’t fix my marriage, it doesn’t improve health, etc. No because you cannot serve God and mammon.
What then makes for a good church?
It’s where the Word of God is preached purely both Law and Gospel, and the Sacraments are rightly administered, and the Word of God is taught faithfully. If you have those things you have a treasured place here on earth where people may come to receive the righteousness of God. That is why we rejoice this morning that have our Bible Study and Sunday School back that both young and old may learn of what God has done for us.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is easy to talk about but hard to remember when we are surrounded by the forces of the world. Remember who is in control and who oversees all things, God our heavenly Father who has called you His child, who sent His only-begotten Son to win for you a place in Gods’ Kingdom. Then you will not be anxious about tomorrow, for we don’t worship the works of our hands, but the one who formed our hands and numbered our days. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
