13 September 2015
Text: Matt 6:24-34 (1 Kings 17:8-16, Gal 5:25-6:10)
In the name of + Jesus.
Amen.
“What is the first
commandment? You shall have no other
gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above
all things.”
Our Lord explains
the problem with idolatry: it is contrary to the way things are designed to work. There is only one God. If one has more than one god, or vacillates
between different gods, there is going to be a problem, a conflicting loyalty:
“either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the
one and despise the other.”
This is why, for
example, corporations and governments have an organizational chart and a chain
of command. If one person reports to multiple bosses, there will inevitably be
conflicting orders and confusion. But if
there is a clear chain of command, that confusion can be diminished. This is especially crucial in the military,
where the rapid carrying out of specific and well-understood plans is necessary
to save lives.
But our Lord is
dealing with something even more important than life and death on the
battlefield. For He is talking about
eternal life and eternal death in a spiritual battlefield.
And so there is
indeed a chain of command. There is a
place for all of us creatures in God’s universe.
In the Old
Testament, the children of Israel struggled with idolatry. There is a reason why this is the first
commandment. When they weren’t carving golden calves, when lay people weren’t
usurping the offices of priest and prophet, when they weren’t setting up
unauthorized altars, when they weren’t worshiping the goddess symbolized by the
asherah pole, when they weren’t offering animal sacrifices to Baal or even
human sacrifices to Molech, the people who were redeemed by the living God were
committing the more common kind of idolatry, the kind that is also our problem
today: refusing to trust in God above all things.
Many times the
princes put their trust in the armies they could raise and the chariots they
could equip instead of trusting in the God who fought for them. Many times the people put their trust in
princes instead of the God who is the Prince of Peace. And this is also our
problem today.
Sometimes it is
unreasonable, even outrageous to believe that God can deliver us from the
perilous situations we find ourselves in.
But this is precisely what it means to fear, love, and trust – trust –
in God above all things. This is also
called “faith.”
The widow of
Zerephath had run out of food. There had
been a severe drought, and there was just nothing left to eat. As for her and for her son, she was down to her final
measly handful of flour and last scarce drops of oil. This was to be her last meal, and she was
preparing to eat it and die with her son.
However, the prophet came to her with an outrageous suggestion: “Make me
a sandwich.” That’s not exactly what he
said, but it’s close. Imagine, this
prophet of God ordering her to feed him, even as she was watching her only son
whom she loved condemned to a slow and agonizing death by starvation.
But notice what
Elijah the prophet tells her on behalf of the living God: “Do not fear; go and
do as I have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me,
and afterward make something for yourself and your son.”
He tells the woman
not to fear death, but to rather fear God – for no man can serve both death and
God. He bids her to trust God enough to
make an immediate offering to God through his prophet, trusting God, even in this
outrageous situation, even though all seems so bleak. For indeed, “Thus says the Lord God of
Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be
empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”
At this point, she
could have feared death instead of fearing God; she could have loved her own
life and that of her son before she loved God; she could have trusted in the
time she could have bought by this one final meal instead of trusting in God
above all things.
But hearing this
Word of God preached by the prophet, the widow has faith. Her faith was reflected in her works. For “she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many
days. The jar of flour was not spent,
neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the Word of the Lord that
He spoke by Elijah.”
“We should fear,
love, and trust in God above all things.”
For “No one can
serve two masters… You cannot serve God and money.”
Our Lord cautions
that we are not to be anxious about our life, but rather to trust in God above
all things. Because life – the life that
is a gift from our Creator, the life that He has redeemed by the blood of
Christ, the life that is sustained by the Holy Spirit – life is “more than
food” and the body is “more than clothing.”
Our blessed Lord
calls us to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. For even the birds of the air do a better job
of this than we do.
This is indeed one
of the great weaknesses we Americans have.
We are a wealthy people. We may
not feel like we are, but compared to the billions of people on the planet, we
live like kings. We enjoy conveniences
and technology and housing and medical care and leisure time and the choicest
of food and clothing that the planet has to offer – and we are tempted to fear,
love, and trust in them above all things.
For money is simply
a trading device so that we can buy stuff: possessions, be they necessities or
luxuries. Money is a convenient medium
of trade, but it can give us the illusion that it is what creates wealth rather
than the blessings of God. For crops
grow only when God provides good weather.
Our labor thrives only when God provides good health. Our commodities make it to market only when
God provides peaceful commerce. And this
is why, dear friends, it is a custom among Christians to say “grace” that is
“gratias” – thank you – by offering a table prayer before every meal.
For we cannot and
dare not serve two masters. Money is to
be our servant, not our master. Money is
a creature, not our Creator. We are to
offer the first fruits of our labor, typically in the form of money, to God; we
are not to sacrifice God and His worship upon the altar of work and leisure and
money. For God has given us His Word and
calls us to “fear, love, and trust” in Him above all things. This is what Christian stewardship is. He blesses us, and we return ten percent of
our blessings in gratitude. We return a
portion of our time (being here) our talent (our works) and our treasure (our
money), to the God whom we fear, love, and trust above all things. And these love offerings and thank offerings
keep our church going. They take care of
those in need. They insure that the continuation of the proclamation of the
prophetic Word of God in our community and around the world continues. They invest in the future by providing now
for our children and descendants yet to come.
And like the widow
of Zerephath, we are called to be faithful and to trust in God’s providence for
us and for our children, in good times and in bad, in feasts and in famine, in
the slums of India and in the suburbs of Indiana, among the poor widows and
among the blessed comfortable.
For no matter who
we are, how much we have or what we lack, we are called upon to “fear, love,
and trust in God above all things.” For indeed, “no one can serve two masters”
– be they pagan gods or pounds of gold.
For we have a promise that God has made to us, to each one of us, dear
brothers and sisters. He claimed us at baptism, forgiving us all of our sins,
and receiving us under His chain of command, His divine organizational chart
within His divine Church. He celebrated
a last meal of bread and wine with us – a Eucharistic (thanksgiving) meal that continues
until He returns, until the day that the Lord returns and sends his reign – His
kingly reign – upon the entire new heavens and new earth in eternity.
He assures us that
we matter more to Him than the carefree sparrows. For God did not become a sparrow, but a Man –
a Man who went to the cross as the complete payment for our sins, our
redemption and ransom, the One who also rose from death to defeat death once
and for all, and to subdue Satan forever. Indeed, death is not to be feared,
loved, or even trusted – as many in our culture of death seem to embrace it
today.
Rather embracing a
culture of life – eternal life - we are to joyfully serve Him who has served
us, our Master who has become our Servant.
For no one can serve two masters.
What does this
mean? It means that by His grace and
love and mercy, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment