You'll Never Have To Worry About Money Again

Matthew 6:24-34: “YOU’LL NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MONEY AGAIN”

“You’ll never have to worry about money again, if...” if what? How would you finish that sentence? You’ll never have to worry about money again, if – you win the lottery? That’s a common one. If you could get a better job? If you inherit a large estate? If… what?

Jesus would say to each one of you, right now, that you’ll never have to worry about money again. The time for worrying about money is over, Jesus says to us today in our Gospel lesson. Today we’re going to look at that section of Scripture, but before we do, when was the last time you worried about money? There are lots of things that cause us to worry. Most of the time, the “what if’s” make us worry.

What if you’re suddenly unable to work? What if you get sick, and you don’t have the kind of job that will pay you while you’re down. What if you lose your job, and you have no income, and that measly unemployment or disability check really isn’t really cutting it. Would that get you worried? What if you get so sick that your medical bills go through the ceiling, and your health insurance can only cover so much. What if you can’t make payments on your house or apartment, and you lose everything. What if what if what if.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could never worry about money again? Jesus says you can start living that way right now. And it has nothing to do with how much money you have. It has everything to do with how much faith you have. You’ll never have to worry about money again, Jesus says today, and he’ll tell you how in these 11 verses from Matthew.

Jesus starts out by telling us why we often worry so much about money. It’s because money sometimes becomes our master. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” This is something we Christians sometimes fall into – we try to serve two masters in our lives. Master number one is God: “I love God, I’m thankful that he has sent his Son to die for my sins of the cross, I trust him, and my goal in life is to serve him and share him with others. God is number one.” But then, there’s a second master…

At the same time, we also love and trust in Money. “I love God, but I also love money. Whenever I get money, I’m always very excited. I trust that money will solve all of the problems in my life. My goal in life is to get as much money as I possibly can. When it comes to my time, my focus and my energy – yes, I love God. But I also love money.” Is that you?

Jesus tells us today that this approach to life just doesn’t work. You can’t love and trust and serve both. Eventually, one of them has to give. Either you’ll love God and despise the greedy pursuit of money, or you’ll be devoted to making money, and push God out of your life. You can’t love and be committed to both. And this may be why you sometimes have a problem with worrying about money. You’re trying to serve two masters, and it just isn’t working out for you. Loving and being committed to money makes you worry about it. You know that life is fragile. You know that, for whatever reason, you could be out of work tomorrow, or your pension fund could go belly up, or unexpected bills could start coming in. If you trusted in God, you wouldn’t worry. But you’re trusting in money, and that’s what’s causing the problem.

And if that is you, even just a little bit, then Jesus says here, it doesn’t have to be that way. Put your faith in God, and trust that God will take care of your needs. “Do not worry about your life” Jesus says in verse 25. Now wait a minute. Jesus isn’t saying, “Don’t plan for the future” or “Don’t save” or “Don’t buy food and clothes” or “Don’t work.” Jesus wants us to earn our money. But do that without worrying. Don’t be nervous about your financial future. Don’t be obsessed with whether or not you’ll have enough money when you retire. Don’t get all stressed out every time you hear that the economy might take another tumble. Don’t let yourself get annoyed or disturbed when you see the cost of living going up up up, and your income staying the same. Do not worry Jesus says.