Sermon in Minneapolis 08.09.2013

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us begin our services this morning with opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, again we thank you for this opportunity that we have been able to gather around your holy word. We thank you for this new, beautiful day as we are now turning from summer toward autumn. We thank you for all your temporal blessings that you have richly bestowed upon all of us. But above all, we thank you for the greatest of all gifts, your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we have the hope of heaven, salvation, and righteousness by faith. All of this we can own and possess as members of your kingdom through faith as a gift of grace. So be with us again today and always. Bless our services, comfort us, lead us, and guide us. Also feed us with your everlasting gospel word. So all of this we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Amen. Today is the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, and today's gospel text is from the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 6 of Matthew, verses 25 through 34. And we will hear these words as follows in Jesus' name.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat? And the body more than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto a stature? And why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Amen.

We, as human beings, have many worries and concerns. And we have the worry and concern over our job that we have. Will it end? Or if we don't have a job, will we soon find a job? We have worries and concerns over our family and its welfare. And also where we live and where we dwell. And because of these worries and concerns, many people become anxious. They become so worried and anxious that in the 1970s, it is said that the most prescribed medicine was Valium, which is a medicine used to calm people's nerves. In the 1980s, it was Tagamet. Also, this only helps solve the symptoms. And it doesn't cure the root cause.

So here, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is exhorting us to don't be concerned or don't be worried. When we read these three long chapters in the Sermon on the Mount, it's interesting that three verses are dedicated to the topic of adultery: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Five verses in the Sermon on the Mount are dedicated to the topics of murder and love. But nine verses are dedicated to this topic of worry or concern.

And we sang in this opening song a very fitting song for this text. And in fact, it is, I'm sure, based upon the words of our text this morning.

Oh, look at the bird on the branch of the tree. Its singing is always so lovely. It opens its mouth to thank God Almighty. No cares weigh its mind. It sings freely. In singing, it thanks its creator. And it doesn't have these worries and concerns like us as human beings. And each morning, the bird starts its work with a song and ends with a song in the evening. So peacefully sleeps on a limb all night long as though its bed had a wool covering and the roof over its head is the heaven.

And it tells about animals and, in this case, birds in general, that they don't have any concerns about tomorrow. They think about just the moment that we are now living. And it doesn't think about the griefs that are left behind in the past as us, as human beings. And the songwriter says that it sows not. It doesn't think about having to go plant seeds in the field in the springtime wondering if God will bless the crop this year. So it sows not and it reaps not.

As summer was progressing, it looked like we were going to have a bumper crop. One of the biggest corn crops of all time. And of other types of things that farmers were growing as well. But toward the end of the summer we've been hit with a heavy drought and who knows how it will affect the harvest which is soon at hand.

Well, birds and animals don't have these worries and concerns. For the bird it sows not, it reaps not, it gathers no food for the needs of the days of tomorrow. But it's always rejoicing in mind and it sings anew of forthcoming cares, it does not sorrow. And yet from want it never suffers.

And so if we could be so carefree as birds and animals in general, how it would make our life easier in many ways.

O if like the bird all my days could begin with thankfulness singing to praise thee without any griefs even though I am in need in thy care dear father forever will be. Thy child has no reason to sorrow.

But even though the bird seems to be free and careless and no worries and concerns about tomorrow and Jesus is giving the example for us to be like a bird worry-free, that doesn't mean that the bird, for example, doesn't begin soon as the first rays of sunlight appear, begin to chirp and immediately go to find food for itself and for its offspring. It's busy seeking for seeds and other types of food and building its nests and taking care of its offspring. It's not a sluggard. It's not lazy and slothful.

So Jesus isn't saying that we should just sit back, rest, relax, and wait with open hands that God would as if eat us dropping food from heaven. But Solomon writes in the Proverbs in this way:

Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

So we can see from the example of an ant how it works hard, it toils and cares for its needs.

Luther likewise on the same vein speaks about this issue and he said that God wants nothing to do with the lazy gluttonous bellies who are neither concerned nor busy. They act as if they just have to sit and wait for God to drop a roasted goose into their mouths.

So therefore Paul writes to the Thessalonians that whoever does not work neither should that person be able to eat.

So it was the command of God after the fall into sin there in paradise that we shall work with sweat on our brow.

But then there's two different issues. There's one to be concerned about our standard of living about things that are discretionary that's kind of above and beyond what is really necessary. And the other is to be concerned about the necessities of everyday life. Those things that we need in order to survive.

And so one believer wrote in one article in this way that the kingdom of God does not shut out or forbid having possessions and even material wealth. So being a believer does not exclude these things. But yet on the flip side material provisions and wealth can become and many times has become an obstacle to being a member of the kingdom of God.

So there are completely two different issues, the flip side of each other.

And so Jesus is here saying that take no thought or don't be worried about your life what you shall eat what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not your life more than meat or the food that we eat and isn't your body more than raiment or the clothes that we put on our body?

Then he goes on to explain the birds of the air how they sow not and reap not and gather no food and so on and so forth.

And then after this Jesus says that which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to their stature or with our worries and concerns are we able to add one inch to our height? It's impossible. We as human beings cannot do that. We know that God can and we know that from infancy to adulthood God adds many many inches to our stature or to our height. So for God all things are possible.

But then he goes on to say or on the flip side with worries and concerns how can we add any length to our life? This we cannot do. But we know with worries and concerns it may shorten our life or at least make our life more miserable in some ways.

And so this is the type of matters that Jesus is referring to in the sermon on the mount.

So why do you take thought for your raiment? Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these lilies or a flower in the field.

We know that Solomon was considered at least in his day the most or the richest person or one of the most or one of the richest persons of his time, living in his castle with all of his material possessions and lived in all of his glory and beauty. And yet Jesus is saying that Solomon and all of the things that he had cannot even be compared to the beauty of a lily or a flower growing in the field.

And so therefore if God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow and then is cast into an oven. Back in those days when Jesus said these words and they were later recorded by the evangelist Matthew, it was very typical that they had big clay boxes that they put on top of a fire or coals and in those boxes then they would cook their food which they used to eat. And often in order to get a quick fire to start they would take grass or dried up lilies and toss them on the coals and you would get a burst of flame which would give a quick but brief source of heat.

Of course grass burns so quickly that it doesn't last very long. You need wood for a lengthy period of burning. So this is the illustration that Jesus is here referring to.

Wherefore if God beautifies the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow and then cast into the oven or used as fuel on the fire to cook the food, so shall he not much more clothe you or take care of you, O you of little faith.

Therefore take no thought saying what do we eat today or what shall we drink or have to drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you have need of all of these things.

So Jesus is basically talking about the worth or the value of a human being compared to the plant world and the animal world. If he will take care of the plant world and take care of the birds and the animals who are of a completely different value as us as human beings, if he will take care of them surely he will take care of us.

At confirmation school when I do a lesson on the creation of man I've used the illustration that when you break down a human being into its basic chemical elements and add up the value of those elements, for example water and phosphate and sodium and so on and so forth and iron, one scientist calculated that way back when back in the 30s and the 40s the total value of those chemical elements would be 98 cents. So the value of a human being wasn't very much or very high.

But as time went on and inflation increased another scientist recalculated the value of these chemical elements that are in a human body and he said then they were six million dollars in value.

As time progressed further on a nuclear scientist calculated the value of the chemicals and elements in a human body and breaking them down to the nuclear level if they be used in a nuclear reactor they would be worth 85 million dollars.

So we can see that even at the chemical level, biological level, the value of a human being has increased over time.

But what God is, what Jesus is here saying is the value of a human being is much greater than animals, birds, and plants for this reason that God when he created Adam he blew his living spirit into the nostrils of Adam and he gave Adam and all human beings a living soul and he created human beings in the image of himself and he created only human beings with the purpose or the intention of getting to heaven one day.

And so with all of these temporal examples and illustrations that Jesus has been talking about, he's talking about things of lesser value and now he's increasing in value until he comes to the climax or the crux or the essence of this teaching in the sermon on the mount and he concludes it with this very familiar well known verse from scripture and says in this way:

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

In all these things of which Jesus has been talking about, the food that we eat, the raiment that we put upon ourselves, the jobs that we are looking for or the jobs that we are hoping to maintain during this time of recession, all of these things will be added or be given unto you.

So he is talking about the most important matter in our lives.

As we begin confirmation school the first lesson is always on this topic or theme that the most important matter in life is to seek for or and find Jesus Christ our Lord and become a child of God and we could add that to remain as a child of God.

Now we remember that Jesus spoke these words to his disciples. There were other listeners hearing or listening in to this speech or this sermon but the disciples were also there and he was directing these words to his closest followers and he's exhorting them as well: seek first the kingdom of God.

So why is he telling his disciples who are believers who are members already of God's kingdom that seek the kingdom of God? They are already in the kingdom of God. They have already found it. Why is he telling them to yet seek?

Well he's trying to emphasize remember not only today but tomorrow but for the rest of your lives what is the most important matter in your life that this would continue to remain as the first and foremost in your life.

We know that for the most part the people of this world have no concept of what is the kingdom of God. They may speak about God's kingdom, they recite in the Lord's prayer "thy kingdom come, thy will be done" and they endeavor and with their own human capabilities they try and attempt in their way to do what they think are the matters and the concerns of God's kingdom.

But yet they ask just as the listeners during the time of Jesus ask that when will your kingdom come, that kingdom of which you have spoken so much about.

And therefore Jesus had to say that you Pharisees, you scribes, you say that lo the kingdom is over here, lo the kingdom is over there, or lo the kingdom will soon come, but you Pharisees and scribes don't you realize that the kingdom of God is not something that it can be seen with our human natural eyesight but the kingdom of God is right now at this moment in your midst.

It is there where two or three of God's believers are assembled together in his name.

So as Jesus said to his own disciples, his followers, that I am with you, I am in your midst, I am with you always every day unto the end of the world. In you I wish to be, in you I wish to dwell and to travel.

So wherever there are God's own there is Christ Jesus and there is the kingdom of God.

So the kingdom of God is spiritual, it's not physical, it's not something that is tangible, not something that we can lay our hands upon.

As Luther said, if you wish to find the kingdom of God don't look up into the skies, into the clouds, into the heavens, you won't find it there but it is here upon earth and it's not made of stone or wood, it's not a physical building but it's where God's children are gathered together.

And so Paul writes to the Romans in this way that the kingdom of God is not food or drink, it's nothing physical or tangible but the kingdom of God is righteousness, it's peace and it's joy all by and through the Holy Spirit.

And so Jesus exhorted the listeners of his time that seek, seek first the kingdom of God.

And this is what Jesus came from heaven down to earth to proclaim. He began his public ministry: "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is now present, it's nigh at hand, it's right here, therefore make repentance and believe the gospel."

And therefore Jesus came to fulfill all that is spoken of God's kingdom in the law and in the prophets and this is why he sent out his disciples, first the twelve two by two and later the seventy disciples two by two, go into all of the world and preach the gospel and say the kingdom of God has drawn nigh unto you, has approached you, make repentance and believe the gospel.

Say this in whatever village and whatever town that you enter.

So the kingdom of God as Paul writes to Timothy is the pillar and it is the ground of truth.

Paul said that as I believe this is what I also wish to preach and this is also our heart's desire as well as we have received this gift of faith when God gives strength and opportunity that we would be a light and a salt to the world.

And if we receive that strength to tell about what is the most important matter in my life it is to own the righteousness of Christ Jesus, to be a member of God's kingdom and be one of God's own by and through faith.

And therefore Paul writes to the Corinthians there is no other foundation, no other foundation in life, no other foundation in faith than that sure true foundation and that foundation is Christ Jesus who is the cornerstone of his kingdom.

And this kingdom which is built of living stones is built upon a true and a sure and a withstanding foundation. It's built upon the foundation of the Old Testament scriptures and the New Testament scriptures, the prophets and the apostles, but the chief cornerstone of this foundation is Christ Jesus himself.

And this is a kingdom that will not shake, will not tremble and will not succumb and fall.

But it's interesting or it's amazing how many people of this world may attempt to mimic or imitate the speech or even the spiritual sermons of believers.

There are many stories and incidences where a believing minister, for example in the old country, has been working with a co-worker or perhaps a boss and the boss has come to ask this believing pastor that what is that secret of your message? Why does your message have such an effect and my message doesn't? I have been trying to mimic your speeches and sermons and even repeat them verbatim word for word but they don't seem to have the same impact or the same effect when I speak them as when you speak them.

And the reply had to have been that it is by and through the power of the Holy Spirit in faith and that is the reason that is the difference between your sermon and my sermon or the sermon of believers.

And so therefore Jesus says that seek first the kingdom of God.

This is what Jesus began his public ministry by saying: "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is here at hand, make repentance and believe the gospel."

But why is the kingdom of God so important? It's not just because it's a group of spiritual people who are gathered together. This assembly would be null and void and empty of value if there wouldn't be that most important service guest Jesus Christ our Savior.

Therefore Luther says in this way that outside of God's kingdom there is no Christ and there is no salvation but inside of God's kingdom there is Christ, there is everlasting life, there is the forgiveness of sins and there is salvation.

This is what gives the kingdom of God its importance and its value. He is the Alpha and the Omega, he is the author and the finisher, he is the first, he is the last, he is the Lord and the King of his kingdom, he is the object of our faith.

And therefore seek first the kingdom of God. Why? Because therein is found his righteousness.

As I am paraphrasing the words of Jesus: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness because in the kingdom of God is found his righteousness.

And what is righteousness? Righteous comes from the word right or correct. God is righteous. God is holy. God demands perfection. God does not allow any errors or any imperfection or anything that is unholy.

How is it possible then that the Bible speaks about righteous Noah or righteous Abraham or other Old Testament or New Testament saints which have this title righteous before them?

Because the Bible says of us as human beings every human being there is no one who is righteous, not a single one. There is no one who even can take the initiative to seek after God. All have gone astray, all have fallen short of God's expectations, his glory and have sinned. There is no one who does good, not a single one. There is no one who is righteous, not a single one.

There is only one who is righteous and Paul writes to the Corinthians about Jesus Christ: he is our perfection, he is our sanctification, he is our righteousness. He has fulfilled that measure of God that needed to be done in order to prepare that gift of salvation.

And therefore when all was done on the cross he cried out, "It is finished." Into your hands I give my life.

And therefore this righteousness of Jesus Christ is found as a treasure hidden in a field, hidden in God's kingdom and we are able to receive as a gift, own it by faith this treasure, Christ Jesus, his righteousness through faith.

When we can hear son and daughter be of good cheer your sins are forgiven unto you.

And therefore he went from the matters of being of lesser importance to the matters of being most important.

We need to have worries and concerns about our daily life and the things of this life. How can we support our families? How can we feed our children and so on and so forth? These are necessary important concerns.

But that these worries and concerns wouldn't become so great in our life that they would as if snuff out the flickering dim flame of faith to remember what is the most important in our life that today I am a child of God through faith I can own the righteousness of Christ Jesus through faith I can be a member of God's kingdom and with this assurance that my sins are forgiven, my name is written in the Lamb's book of life in heaven and by faith I am on that pathway that leads eventually to the eternal shores of the glory of heaven.

So even now this morning be of good cheer amidst perhaps worries of this life, concerns for our temporal needs, doubts and fears that we may have or even temptations that may be set up or even sin that has clung and made the journey slow.

You can even now at this moment uplift your gaze from the midst of your dark evil heart from the midst of this life to behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world. He is our righteousness, he is our perfection and in his wounds there is life, security and purity.

Believe even now unto peace, freedom and joy in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us your peace.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.