Matthew 6:24-34

Fresh out of business school, a young man answered a want ad for an accountant. Now he was being interviewed by a very nervous man who ran a small business that he had started himself. “I need someone with an accounting degree,” the man said. “But mainly, I’m looking for someone to do my worrying for me.” “Excuse me?” the accountant said. “I worry about a lot of things,” the man said. “But I don’t want to have to worry about money. Your job will be to take all the money worries off my back.”
“I see,” the accountant said. “And how much does the job pay?” “I’ll start you at eighty thousand.” “Eighty thousand dollars!” the accountant exclaimed. “How can such a small business afford a sum like that?” “That,” the owner said, “is your first worry.”

In Great Britain the average woman spends seven years and ten days out of her life stressing, while men spend five years, eight months and 23 days. In an online survey of 1,500 people, researchers found that the cost of living and energy prices overtook personal health as the biggest concerns in 2008. Also in the top ten topics were bills and income, debt, recession, unemployment, crime, pensions and relationships. Other issues are ID fraud, immigration, aging, children’s future, obesity, global warming, house prices and weather (from the daily mail, UK, online news, February 25, 2011). Do these sound like things you have worried about?

I could not find any statistics for the United States but I have a hunch that they are very similar to those of Great Britain. So men, there is something that we can teach the women in our lives, that is how not to worry so much.

The Things We Tend to Worry About

Over 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ understood the main things that tend to thrust us into worry and anxiety. He starts, though, in His analysis where most people do not. Jesus understands the root cause of worry. When the root is identified then true help and healing can be found.

This is why Jesus starts out this section of the Sermon on the Mount saying, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Mt. 6:24) When you make anyone or anything other than the one true God the ultimate focus of your devotion then you have divorced yourself from His fatherly protection, care, and concern and you are on your own. At that point you take on the weight of the world. You have taken that which belongs to God and put it on your own shoulders.

By consciously or unconsciously saying that you are more concerned with the things of this world, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what kind of clothes you will wear, than with the true God who created you and preserves you then you are a functional agnostic or atheist. You might not say this explicitly but in your heart and with your actions this is how you are living your life. As a functional unbeliever then you have no trust in God to provide for your needs. If you do not trust that God will provide for your needs then you and you alone are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. It’s all up to you baby to make sure that you have all you need to survive.

With such a mindset everything will probably be fine and dandy for you as long as you have a good job, a good income flow, you are able to pay all your bills and enjoy some of the luxuries of life. But if you are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul and in the process lose your income, lose your employment, lose your health, lose some of the earthly pillars and props that have helped you maintain this sense of security, then what will you do?

Many people are functional atheists. They say they believe in God, that they trust in Him as Lord and Savior; they confess faith in all of the stated dogmas of Christianity but there is an enormous disconnect between what they say they believe and the way they actually live their lives. This is because they have not really allowed Christ to be Lord of their entire lives. They have allowed Him to have control of their reason but not how they carry out things in a practical way every day.

You might call this compartmentalizing God. God you have my attention on Sunday mornings for an hour. I will even listen to you occasionally throughout the week when I remember to open my Bible or read a devotional out of Portals of Prayer or some other book, but the rest of the time I do what I want to do. I call the shots in my business, in my family, in my relationships. I’m boss there. This is a life that is not fully yielded to Christ and I’m afraid that we succumb to this kind of living all too easy. We don’t realize that God wants to be in control of every aspect of our lives, that every aspect has spiritual implications, even when we are playing golf or pinochle. Sometimes we think that the Scriptures were written thousands of years ago so how could they possibly pertain to some of the things I am involved with today? It is shocking and surprising how pertinent the Scriptures are to our lives today. And if they don’t directly speak to every detail of our lives, God’s Spirit still wants to lead and direct us.

So, if we have retained control of our lives and do not relinquish to God our all of ourselves but want to maintain control then when some of the difficulties that I spoke about earlier come careening into our lives what usually happens? Everything seems like it is out of control. In today’s economy, if you lose your job its not that easy to pick up another one like it was two or three years ago. If the doctor informs you that you have cancer and there is a chance you could die, if God is not the captain of your life what do you do? Most people start to worry.

I don’t have a job. Unemployment will run out in two weeks. I won’t be able to make my next house payment. I might have to face foreclosure. All of my belongings will be thrown out on the street. My wife and children and I will be humiliated in front of the whole neighborhood. And where will we live? You start obsessing on these depressing scenarios and pretty soon you are a wreck. You are full of anxiety and worry.  

The Effects of Worry (physically and spiritually)

Excessive worry, obsessively focusing on the problems and difficulties that you face in life profoundly affect the body and social interaction. If you are already chronically worry and your mind and body are compromised because of this when life stressors impact you like an argument with a spouse, a fender bender accident, unfair criticism from a coworker or a baby that won’t stop crying, your body reacts. Then the “fight or flight” response is easily triggered in your body because of the excess stress you are already feeling.

Your body’s sympathetic nervous system releases stress hormones like cortisol. These hormones elevate the blood sugar and triglyceride levels that your body normally uses for fuel. Some of the negative effects of these unusually high chemical levels in your body are difficulty swallowing, dizziness, dry mouth, fast heartbeat, fatigue, headaches, inability to concentrate, irritability, muscle aches, muscle tension, nausea, nervous energy, rapid breathing, shortness of breath, sweating, trembling and twitching.

Long term affects of worry and the stress it brings on are: short-term memory loss, digestive problems, premature coronary artery disease and heart attack.

My friend is the pastor of a church. They have been going through some difficulties and the president of the congregation was called upon to help mediate. He became so worried and stressed because of the problems that the congregation was enduring that he had a heart attack. I’m not saying that this man was a functional agnostic or atheist but he did allow the congregational problem to so overwhelm him that he lost perspective and it cost him dearly.  

Jesus Prescribes the Perfect Alternative to Worry—Trust in Him!

So does our Christian faith carry with it practical implications for our everyday life in this world that at times can bombard us with worry and stress if we are not careful? It sure does if we follow it, if we practice it as God desires us to rather than compartmentalize it.

Jesus reminds us of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The birds of the air, unlike humans, don’t gather food and store it so that in future, when food is less plentiful they will have reserves to fall back on. The birds just live from day to day, boldly trusting that there will be a supply of food.

The lilies of the field burst forth in vibrant, breath-taking yellows, whites, oranges, blues and other hues in the springtime. They don’t work at making themselves beautiful, that’s just how God in His infinite wisdom and power designed them to be.

If God feeds the birds and opulently clothes lilies, He will most certainly meet every one of our needs, we who are His most precious creation. This God loves and adores us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Whom He loved from eternity, with Whom He has been in eternal communion from before the foundation of the world, to redeem us with His precious blood. If God did this for us, surely He will meet every one of our needs. Note I said NEEDS; God does not promise to give us everything we want because not everything we want is good for us and God can determine much better than us what we really need and what might ultimately turn out to be harmful to our souls.

God wants to be the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. When we let the creator of the universe, who loves loves us take control of our life then all worries melt away. We realize that we are resting in the palm of His hand and our names are engraved there. We realize that there is no better place to be.  

Here are some words from secular sages that echo our Savior’s wisdom. “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen.  Keep in the sunlight.  ~Benjamin Franklin “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.”  ~Glenn Turner “For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.”  ~Author Unknown “Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.” ~Philip Gulley  Amen.

Peace Lutheran Church—God’s Dwelling Place for 25 Years

¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 (English Standard Version)

I.                   25 Years Ago God Birthed A New Congregation Where He Deigned to Dwell

Peace Lutheran began out of the midst of pain and strife. Then the People of God gathered together to find peace and comfort after coming out of the fray.

As you began to organize, you made important, foundational decisions regarding beliefs and practices. By God’s guidance your founding members decided to adopt a specific, orthodox confession of faith rather than a generic one that is popular these days.

God’s grace continued to carry the day regarding your belief and confession on Holy Scripture. The founding pastors and laity of Peace Lutheran, along with the ancient church fathers, Luther, and a whole host of others adopted the high view of the inspiration of Scriptures. Unfortunately today some Lutherans hold to a low view of the inspiration of Scripture.

There is a group of concerned Lutherans today, concerned that their church has been high jacked by a group of elitists. These elitists have turned the place where God wants to dwell into an organization that conforms more to the politically correct views of the society around us rather than the righteous, immutable Law of God. Unfortunately, these concerned Lutherans who just started a new church body in Grove City, OH have not gone far enough in their reform in my opinion. They hesitate to adopt the high view of the inspiration of Scripture and have rather opted to embrace the low view, refraining from confessing forthrightly and boldly that the Bible is inerrant and infallible.

They shy away from this terminology because they are in part afraid of being considered Fundamentalists, Bible thumpers, or extremists by the world. Unfortunately, it is this mediating or low view of the inspiration of Scripture that got the Lutheran church into trouble in the first place. The Bible is either the infallible, inerrant Word of God or it isn’t. It’s either the Word of man that needs to be corrected and altered as we make so called advances in learning and science, or it’s purely God’s Word that dare not be added to nor subtracted from. There’s no middle ground. Lutherans and other Christians who refrain from confessing the truth about Scripture inevitably find themselves sinking in the sand of human philosophy and human opinion rather than standing on the rock solid, firm foundation of God’s true and authoritative Word.

We are in a battle for truth and a battle for souls. God has given us His Word (the Sword of the Spirit) as an offensive weapon with which to engage in this struggle. If you were a warrior going out to battle, would you use a weapon that you are unsure of? Absolutely not! This is where some Christians are today as they go out to battle because they have been led to think that the Bible is not absolutely the true, inerrant and infallible Word of God.

Thanks be to God that Peace Lutheran and her founders were directed by God to make a good confession and adopt the tried and true view of Scripture 25 years ago, that it is inerrant and infallible from Genesis to Revelation.

II.               After 25 Years Peace Lutheran is Strong And Vigorous

I was recently working at a Habitat for Humanity build in N.W. Portland. The foundation had been built. The next step was putting up the framing for the walls. It should have been an easy, quick job. Unfortunately, the crew before us that had built most of the framing didn’t build according to the specs. The vertical 2x4s were a couple of inches too short and the horizontal spacers were also too short. What should have been a quick, easy job for us turned into a disaster. We had to pull apart and redo everything the previous crew put together, in the wonderful Pacific Northwest rain!

What we see all too often in many churches today is they started out in a godly, proper way. They laid a good foundation, believing and confessing the rock solid, foundational truths of the Bible and considering the Bible as the only infallible rule and norm for faith and life. Then over time they get tired of the attacks from the Enemy; tired of defending and confessing the truth; tired of ridicule, so they start cutting corners and compromising;  a small compromise here and another compromise there. Pretty soon, God’s dwelling has been marred and eventually ruined by human error.

Just like what happened at that Habitat build I was at a few weeks ago. If the framing had been put up the way the other crew made it there would have been some huge structural problems with that house. I would feel sorry for anyone who got stuck with a crooked, shabbily built house as that one would have been! In some churches the foundation is good but what is built on top of that is ill conceived and erroneous. This hinders God’s plan for building His church and His kingdom and causes people to stumble and causes divisions and offenses contrary to the Word that we have received.

I am sure that your pastors that have come after me have been meticulous about the way they build the Church of the Living God. I am sure that they are concerned about preaching and teaching the whole truth of God’s Word and not compromising it for the sake of worldly ease and comfort. Therefore God’s church, Peace Lutheran is a strong church, a vigorous church today.

III.            God’s Plan for Sustained Growth And Vigor In His Church

As we consider the future of Peace Lutheran Church, how can you be sure that God’s household here will continue to grow into a holy temple, a dwelling place that God will be pleased to inhabit and where the Holy Spirit will fill with His presence? What will continue to make Peace Lutheran Church vigorous and dynamic well into the future, well after we all have died and a new generation fills your shoes here?

We have talked about maintaining a high view of Scripture. That is important but it is exceedingly important to also remain Christ-centered, Gospel-centered and grace-centered in our teaching, preaching and in the way we conduct our church life. This is the kind of Christian church that the Apostle Paul promoted in Ephesus and everywhere he went.

I get weary of hearing about what I have to do, what I haven’t done, where I have fallen short, what I must give to the church or to others. On the other hand, it comforts and inspires me to know that Another has come before me. Another has kept the Law perfectly in my place, and done perfectly everything that I can only do feebly. This Other is none other than Jesus.  In addition to doing what I could never do, Jesus also went to Calvary’s Cross and laid down His life for all of us. Then He rose again. God comes to me through the Gospel and tells me that I’m forgiven and there’s nothing I need do to earn salvation. It’s all been done for me already through Christ. He says that our salvation is a free gift and all we need to do is put out our hand and receive it.

That’s the message of the pure Gospel. That is how Jesus is presented in truth and purity. Through Him Jews, Gentiles, males, females, all kinds of people who are otherwise divided and alienated from one another find unity.

As you continue to lift up our lovely Savior Jesus to one another and to those outside of your church, you will be attractive to many people because the one thing everyone needs the most is Jesus.

God bless you! Congratulations on your 25^th anniversary as a Christian congregation. May God grant you many more anniversaries. Thank you for inviting me and my family here to celebrate this joyous occasion with you! We look forward to our time of fellowship with you in a few minutes in your new Peace Christian Center.

Living in A Hostile World We Are Constantly Tempted to Be Ashamed of Our Lord. Don’t feel bad, Timothy had the same problem

Timothy was a pastor! He had the spiritual gifts necessary to be a pastor. Timothy was able to publicly teach and preach. He understood the Gospel and was able to communicate this key message from the Scriptures. Timothy also had a broad understanding of the Bible and all of its important teachings. Just like us, Timothy lived in an environment that was hostile to the Gospel and the truths of God’s holy Word. Remember two weeks ago I spoke about the temple dedicated to pagan goddess Dianna that was located right in Ephesus. Pilgrims came from all over the world at that time to behold this temple that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Pagan Dianna worship was tied to some of the trade unions or guilds of the day. If you vigorously promoted the cause of Christ, you would inevitably come into conflict with some of the tradesmen in Ephesus who made their living off of Dianna worship. They were ready to execute Paul right on the spot for preaching Christ and drawing away their customer base. Knowing this would make many a preacher tread lightly regarding the truth to avoid execution.

There were possibly still some false teachers ensconced in the church at Ephesus when Timothy was there. These false teachers were early Gnostics and their teachings were very appealing to the intellectual and philosophically inclined people of the day. Gnosticism violated the Gospel and put people back under Law and legalism again. If you were going to be a true pastor back then you had to speak out against Gnosticism. Speaking forthrightly against error could cause a division and many other difficulties. This is why Paul exhorted Timothy not to be ashamed.

In our postmodern, rationalistic, secular environment it is likewise difficult to unashamedly and forthrightly confess Christ. There are many today who disdain the teaching that “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men…" (1 Tim. 2:5) Some people think this is hate speech; that it is being intolerant and exclusive to proclaim this teaching. In such an environment many Christians, many pastors think it makes life a lot easier to come across tolerant, broadminded, “mainstream,” so they keep quiet when it comes to speaking about Jesus as the one true way to eternal life.

Christians become ashamed of the Lord when they fail to support believers under siege

Paul was under siege. Paul wrote 2 Timothy while imprisoned in Rome by Nero. His second imprisonment was harsh. He was chained. He was lonely. Most of his companions and supporters abandoned him. Only Luke remained steadfast.

If Timothy supported Paul overtly and forthrightly, he could easily be arrested and thrown into the dungeon also. This is why Paul wrote to Timothy, “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”

Have you heard the term “the silent majority”? I think it was coined in the ‘60’s. It refers to the fact that most people know what the truth is; but most people don’t speak up. Most people don’t defend those who stand up for the truth. It’s easy to be part of the silent majority in Christianity, to silently applaud the heroes and heroines of the faith who are taking the heat for their courageous stand for God, but when the spotlight is on them they clam up. They don’t want to make waves and support those who are suffering for Christ. They want to remain anonymous Christians. The Holy Spirit, through Paul told Timothy and us that it is cowardly and wrong to remain silent when people are suffering for the truth. There comes a time when God calls us to stop being part of the silent majority and to suffer for the Gospel.

How Do We Become Unashamed?

It’s not within our own power to be unashamed of the Lord and His Cause. In fact it only comes naturally to oppose God, scoff at His Christ, mock pastors and other believers who love Him and who untiringly confess Him before the world.

As Christians we have been changed and there are strategies we may follow to become bold and unashamed about our Lord. The Spirit lives in us because Christ has washed away our sins through baptism and we believe in the Lord and want to serve Him. This enables us to respond to God’s call and to speak out about Jesus and the holy things of God. The first thing Paul says we must do if we want to be bold and courageous for our Lord is…

Fan into flame the gift that God gave you when you first believed. If you don’t replenish a dying fire with plenty of oxygen and more wood it will certainly go out. Our faith and boldness to confess Christ will die if not constantly refueled. How is this done? We need the only fuel that will feed our faith.

The Gospel about our salvation in Jesus is a necessary ingredient to maintain and strengthen our faith. The Gospel tells us that it’s not through my efforts that I am saved and made right with God; it is only through Jesus suffering and death in our place on the Cross that eternal death is destroyed and life and immortality come to light. The Gospel that saves says that salvation is by grace alone. Just receive this wonderful gift and it is yours. Salvation is not by Law but a gift of free grace. We need to hear this constantly lest our faith become weak and ineffectual, lest we be lulled back into thinking that salvation is through my own efforts. When the Gospel constantly fuels our faith we will gladly and unashamedly confess Christ.

Regularly partake of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar for the forgiveness of your sins and strengthening of your faith. The Gospel comes to us another way that many people don’t realize or appreciate, that is through the Sacrament of the Altar that we are about to offer to all baptized, instructed believers today. The Gospel comes through preaching and through Christian witness but we also receive it through our participation in Holy Communion. In Holy Communion we receive the true body of Christ, nailed on the Cross for our sins. We also receive the true blood of Christ, shed at Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. When we partake of this sacrament regularly and with true faith, it assures us through our physical senses (we handle, taste, chew and swallow) of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, just as we are given assurance of faith as we hear the Gospel preached.

Yes we can move from being ashamed of Christ, fearful of telling others of Him, into bold, proclaimers of His Good News, and solid supporters of others who are suffering for Christ, as we feed our faith and fan it into flame through Word and Sacrament. Amen.