From God For God

“From God and For God”

Matthew 6:24-34

A robin said to a sparrow, “I really don’t know why it is these human beings rush about and worry so much.”

The sparrow to the robin, “I think it must be that they don’t have a loving God, like we do who cares for you and me.”

I think sometimes we live as if we don’t know we have a loving God who cares for us and in whom we can trust.

I was having a conversation with my 10-year-old son Owen this week on the ride to school.

He was asking me how long I expect to live, it probably had something to do with the recent loss of his grandfather.

I told him, that I don’t know but my parents lived to be into their 90’s, one of my aunts lived to be 89 and my other aunt lived to be 101…

…so, unless I have an accident or something chances are I will be around for a long time.

Then he said, “I’m just worried I’ll be homeless someday.”

And I said, “Your mother and I will make sure you are never homeless, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

But then I went on, “Just do good in school.

Work hard.

Get a good job where there will always be a need and have a deep and abiding faith in God.

Trust that God loves you, and that even though you will have difficult times in life, it will be alright, because there is a higher meaning, a greater being who is ultimately in control.”

(pause)

Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters…

… you cannot serve both God and money.”

The word translated as “money” here is the Aramaic word: Mammon.

When capitalized Mammon kind of sounds like the name of a pagan god.

And while there was no religion in Jesus’ day that formally worshiped a god named “Mammon,” people in every age worship at Mammon’s altar.

Today we might call it affluence or success or promotion or prosperity or the good life.

Many of us use it as a guide or direction for our lives—the goal even.

But Jesus says we can’t be guided by both God and Mammon.

We can’t be disciples of both Jesus and money.

Think about it:

Jesus calls us to walk by faith, Mammon calls us to walk by sight.

Jesus calls us to be humble, and Mammon calls us to be proud.

Jesus calls us to set our minds on things above and Mammon on things below.

Jesus beckons us to his light and freedom; Mammon leads us into fear and darkness.

Jesus encourages us to look toward things unseen and eternal and Mammon encourages us to look at things seen and temporary.

Jesus calls us to be generous; Mammon calls us to be greedy.

In verse 21 of Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Worry or anxiety, as it has to do with material things, with money, with Mammon is what Jesus is really getting at this morning.

The problem is not so much about Mammon as it is serving it—giving our heart to it—letting it rule our lives—making it our top priority—letting it stand between us and God.

The Psalmist writes in Psalm 62:10: “If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”

Wealth can tempt us to selfishness, but in order to be close to God and others we must be generous with our wealth, with our love, with our time.

God expects those of us who follow God to help the hungry and the homeless.

Toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus will warn that, on Judgement Day, God will count as his sheep those who have taken care of the needy and will count as goats those who have not done so when given the opportunity.

While this might seem overwhelming in its scope, Jesus calls us to trust God and not to worry.

And there can be no doubt that worry as it has to do with money is a soul cancer that strikes the rich, the poor and those in the middle.

A person close to me is worth $250,000,000.

By the world’s standards she has hit the target.

She has won the game!

She can now be content and live a worry-free life.

She told me this summer that the number one thing she worries about most is MONEY!

I don’t know why.

I didn’t ask.

“Therefore, I tell you,” Jesus says in our Gospel lesson for this morning, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”

This may cause us to balk and say: “That is impossible!”