Galatians 5.25–6.10 + Matthew 6.24–34
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Food and clothing are our most basic necessities. Without them, we cannot live. Nearly two thousand years after Jesus spoke these words, men and women still worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” “What shall we drink?” and What shall we wear?” We may rephrase the questions. We may think our versions of these questions are more complicated. “What shall we eat as grocery prices continue to rise?” “What shall we drink as inflation climbs?” “What shall we wear, and how shall we provide all the things we need for life?” Things may seem more complicated than they were in days of Jesus’ earthly ministry—and perhaps are—but the questions are the same. “What shall we eat?” “What shall we drink?” and What shall we wear?” By telling us not to worry about the most basic necessities of human life, He includes all other things that we need as well as those that we want.
And while it is natural to worry about the things of this life—at least natural in our fallen, sinful state—worrying about food, drink, clothing, and the things of this life is how we serve the things of this life. God commands us to labor, and He promises to give us our daily bread through our labor, but He doesn’t want us setting our hearts solely on the things we need. To set our hearts on our needs, so that getting our needs met is our top priority each day, is how we serve mammon, which is riches. By telling us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear, Jesus isn’t telling us to sit around and wait for Him to provide miraculously for us. To sit around and wait for God to provide us with food, drink, and clothing apart from labor is to tempt God. What Christ warns us against is setting our hearts and souls, minds, and strength on seeking riches and the things we need. If we seek our bodily needs—and wants—as our highest good in life, we serve mammon. This is why Jesus warns us, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
To prioritize and seek after riches and the things of this life is to love mammon and hate and despise God. Anyone who calls themselves Christians, even in name only, would bristle at this. We don’t hate God. We don’t despise Him! We’re Christians, after all! But Scripture doesn’t always mean hatred in an absolute sense, as in extreme dislike, aversion, and hostility. There are times it means that, but at other times, to hate something means to esteem it less than something else. Jesus says in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” He isn’t commanding us to be hostile towards our family and renounce them. He is teaching us that we should not love them more than we love God and the truth of His word. Jesus says in John 12:25, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Christ isn’t teaching us to hold ourselves in contempt. Rather, we are not to love our lives in this sinful world more than we Him, the life He lives in us now by faith, and the life He promised to us in eternity. The same is true for mammon, riches, food, drink, clothing, and all the things we need—and want—in this life. We are not to love them so that they are our highest good. If we do so, we serve mammon, and to serve mammon is to hate and despise God, not so that we’re hostile towards Him, but so that we think too little of Him, His Word, and His will for us.
Christ does not just warn us against worry. He shows us the foolishness of it. He points us first to the birds of the air. “Look at the birds of the air,” He says, “for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Birds of the air do not sow seed. They do not reap at harvest time. They do not store food in barns for years to come. They live each day by God’s provision. God, who has given them life, gives them all they need to continue living. They do not worry about where they will find tomorrow’s feed. They know that God will provide it. If God the Father values soulless animals so that He feeds them daily, how much more will He feed you daily, whom He made in His image and likeness?
Then Jesus turns to clothing. “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” He asks. Can you, by worrying, make yourself taller? Of course not. Can you, by worrying, add a cubit to your lifespan? Not at all. God, who has given you life, will give you all you need for this body and life. “Consider the lilies of the field,” He says, “How they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” That’s an image. Imagine Solomon decked in his royal garments, a crown on his head, and the aroma of spices surrounding him. The lily of the field, the wildflower, which is here today and tomorrow is mown down, is arrayed more gloriously than Solomon. Jesus teaches us that the natural beauty that God bestows is far more glorious and radiant than any beauty man can concoct. More to the point, though, He teaches us that if God provides the wildflowers with such resplendence and radiance, how much more will He clothe us, whom He has redeemed by His blood, so that we may not be thrown into the fire on the Last Day?
So often, we are of little faith: trusting God for our eternal salvation, yet worrying, “What shall we eat?” “What shall we drink?” and What shall we wear?” Not only do the birds of the air and the lilies of the field convict us of our little faith. But Jesus does as well when He tells us the gentiles seek after all these things. Unbelievers prioritize them and set their hearts on them. And though the children of God are tempted to seek after these things as the gentiles do, the children of God are reminded, “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Your Father in heaven knows your needs. If He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, how much more will He feed and clothe you, one for whom His Son has died, one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, one whom He feeds with His word and sacrament?
The gentiles seek the things of this life. That is not to be the case for you, though. You are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. You are to prioritize His kingdom, the word God. You are to seek to live righteously—as God wills—because God counts you righteous because you believe in His Son. The kingdom and righteousness of God, those are your priorities. Those are your highest good, so that as long as you have them, you have all you need for the next life. But these are also all you need for this life. Seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness, God promises, “All these things shall be added to you.” Worrying cannot add any of the things you need. Only God can add those things, and He promises to care for those who seek first His kingdom of grace, in which there is daily forgiveness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. He promises to provide for those who seek first His righteousness, so that, being righteous by faith, they do the things God considers righteous.
Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about its own things. God has given you today. And in this sinful world, and with the command to labor in our callings, the saying is true: “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” There is plenty that needs your attention today. Your work. Your family. Your neighbors. Your church. Each day gives us more than enough opportunities to serve others in love. And every day you awake in this life is another day of mercy from God in which you can do the things God has given you to do. But it is not a day to worry. There is a kingdom and righteousness to seek each day. Seeking those first, not only will all these things that you need be added to you, but you will find that you have little time to worry at all. Then, like the birds of the air, you can receive your daily bread with thanksgiving in your heart and a song on your lips. Like the lilies of the field, you will shine with the glorious garments God has given you: His kingdom and His righteousness. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
