Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34
Today’s sermon concludes our present series in Matthew chapter 6. We’ve been at it for six weeks. And next week is the first Sunday in Lent, when we’ll begin a series of sermons on scripture passages that are traditionally associated with the season.
Today’s sermon has three points. Number one: The Promise and the Proof. Number Two: Prosperity? [with a question mark]. And Number Three: Our Problems.
So, to give you an idea of the structure of the sermon, the first two points focus mostly on verse 33. And Point Number Three focuses on verse 34.
But first, Point Number One… the promise and the proof…
I saw a cartoon last week I want to share with you: There’s a heading at the top of the cartoon that reads, “How Amazon Was Invented.” Below the heading is an illustration of three cats—house cats—dressed in suits and ties, sitting at a conference room table, cups of coffee in front of them. One of the cats, evidently the CEO, is speaking to the other two: “Any ideas on how to get more cardboard boxes into our homes?” How Amazon was invented…
Funny… While I try to heed the call to “shop local”—as the public service announcements on WNEG exhort me to do—I confess that our family still has quite an accumulation of Amazon boxes throughout our house and especially the garage. And our cats love them, to be sure. My daughter has affectionately called the stack of boxes in our garage “Mount Amazon.” I suspect we’re not alone in this… And they’re not just from Amazon, of course. Home delivery is a huge and ever-growing business.
But I was reminded of home deliveries when I read this quote from theologian Frederick Bruner in his commentary on verse 33 of today’s scripture, about “seeking first God’s kingdom,” etc.: “While disciples are seeking God’s kingdom in the front room of their lives, possessions will be brought around to the back door and deposited in the kitchen.” 1
In our case, Amazon packages are delivered on the back porch, but close enough.
I like Dr. Bruner’s image: While we disciples are making our first priority in life the “seeking of God’s kingdom and his righteousness,” God will take care of everything else we need to live. We see this truth lived out in that poor widow of Luke chapter 21, who puts in the Temple offering box literally all the money she has to live on—which may seem crazy, of course, but generous giving for the sake of God’s mission in the world is one way that we disciples “seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.” Because God uses our money to manifest his kingdom in the world and to produce righteousness among the people whom he loves and wants to save.
Our willingness to give generously is also a sign of whether we are “seeking first God’s kingdom.”
As this widow gives everything away, please notice that Jesus doesn’t stop her and say, “Oh, no, that’s too much! Our Father doesn’t require you to give everything!” He didn’t stop her because he knew that she would still have whatever money and other resources she would need to live on. Because he knew—as he teaches in today’s scripture—that our Father will supply it.
And remember the Rich Young Ruler of Mark 10 and elsewhere? This man asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus refers him to the Ten Commandments. “I’ve kept these commandments all my life,” he says. Then Jesus says, “Okay… you’ve just got to add one little thing”—as if it were no big deal: “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 2 And of course he walks away sad because he can’t do what Jesus asks.
To be clear: the Rich Young Ruler wouldn’t earn his salvation by obeying Jesus’ command to give it all away. Rather, by obeying Jesus’ command he would be proving that he had saving faith in Christ in the first place—if only he were willing and able to do that.
And once again, as I often do when I encounter difficult scripture, I want to let myself off the hook. And let y’all off the hook. I want to tell you, “Don’t worry! Unlike the Rich Young Ruler, and unlike the poor widow at the Temple, Jesus doesn’t ask, expect, or demand that the vast majority of us to give away all of our wealth.”
To which we all breathe a sigh of relief! Whew!
But not so fast… Two weeks ago, in this very sermon series, we looked at Jesus’ harsh words in Matthew 6:24: “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.”
You’ll remember, if you were here, that I said that the word for “money”—which is the word “Mammon” in the underlying Greek—is a broader, deeper word that includes any kind of treasure, if we treasure it as much or more than we treasure Christ. So Mammon means something like “success”—whatever counts as success to us… whatever we depend on to feel good about ourselves. Mammon easily becomes a sinful idol, as I said.
So maybe God doesn’t ask us to get rid of our worldly treasures entirely. Okay, fine! He nevertheless demands that we demote them and their importance in our lives. If “Mammon,” for instance, is sitting in the CEO’s chair of our lives, we need to demote him to the mailroom, or to the janitor’s closet. This is not optional for any disciple, according to our Lord.
But when we do demote Mammon—if we do—good news! As our Father does for birds of the air and lilies of the field, Jesus says he will also do for us: supply all our needs. As I preached last week, in Part 1 of this sermon, this is an astonishing promise of God’s love and providential care for us.
Is it really true?
And I just need to say: How could it not be true—for us who are God’s children through faith in his Son Jesus?
And this brings us to Point Number Two: Prosperity?
How could our Father not supply all of our needs? After all, do we know how greatly loved by our Father we are? We can hardly overstate the case. In fact, Paul wants his readers to more fully understand the dimensions of this love. Ephesians 3:18: “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep [God’s] love is.” 3
I also want us to reclaim a word that has been abused by preachers of the prosperity gospel. I love this word so much! It’s popular in Pentecostal churches, but I’m afraid it’s been radioactive in churches like ours—even though it’s a perfectly good word, and a biblical word. And that word is favor… God’s favor… specifically. So many Methodist and mainstream Protestant pastors avoid using the word. Meanwhile, members of their congregation often “moonlight” on their pastors before church by watching Joel Osteen on television—Osteen uses the word all the time! He is all about favor.
And his widespread popularity suggests, in part, that we Christians must long to hear that we children of God are favored by God… that we enjoy God’s favor.
And I’m saying, it’s true! We do enjoy God’s favor!
Remember in Luke’s Christmas story. Shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. This choir of angels breaks out in song: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 4 Those on whom God’s favor rests.
And who exactly are those people on whom God’s favor rests? They are none other than you and me! They are us! They are anyone who has received God’s gift of forgiveness, of saving grace, and of new birth through faith in Christ! We enjoy God’s favor! Every time you read in the Bible about one of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—enjoying God’s favor… or any other Old Testament saint enjoying God’s favor… tell yourself something like this: If this person enjoys God’s favor, then it’s even more true for me! After all, unlike that Old Testament saint, I’ve been adopted into God’s family; I’m a beloved child of God; all of my sins have been wiped away; I am a recipient of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice for sin; I am covered with the perfect righteousness of Christ; I have God’s Holy Spirit living within me; I am seated with Christ right now, at the right hand of the Father, in the heavenly places! 5
So… To say the least, every single one of us who are in Christ enjoys God’s favor in a way that few in the Old Testament could imagine!
You know, just before I came to be pastor of Toccoa First, I was the interim pastor for two months at Lavonia UMC. And when I got there in May of 2019, a member of that church named Ken Blair had recently died—a couple of months before I got there. Now, that name “Ken Blair” doesn’t mean anything to y’all. But it does to me! Ken Blair played for the San Francisco 49ers back in the ’60s—among other teams—but even more: he was the defensive coordinator of my beloved Yellow Jackets back in the ’70s and early-’80s. He later worked for the Falcons and other NFL teams.
But the day I visited his widow, I didn’t know any of that stuff. One highlight was when she showed me this amazing football shrine in one of her spare bedrooms—filled with all kinds of college and pro football memorabilia… She was telling me all about her husband’s career. He came to Atlanta in 1974, along with Pepper Rodgers, when Rodgers was hired to be Tech’s head coach.
Prior to that, she said, Blair was on Rodgers’s staff at UCLA.
Now… I happened to know exactly one fact about UCLA football, and it’s this: that the former NCIS actor Mark Harmon played for Pepper Rodgers at UCLA. I guess Harmon has retired from that show now, but even in 2019, Mark Harmon was the biggest star of the most popular show on television!
I knew this fact… So—just in an effort to make small talk—I asked Mrs. Blair, “Oh, did you know Mark Harmon?”
And immediately, she was like, “Oh, yes… Ken and I love Mark! In fact, we stayed at his beach house in Malibu many times.” She said it like it was nothing at all!
Which just goes to show that when you enjoy the favor of a powerful, wealthy, influential celebrity like Mark Harmon, he can do all kinds of good things for you… even put you up at his beach house in Malibu! Because someone like Mark Harmon… he’ll take care of the people he favors!
So what does it mean that people like you and me enjoy the favor of almighty God? How could our heavenly Father not take care of us, his children?
But I know what a few of you are thinking: “Pastor Brent, all this talk about God’s favor and giving us what we need… this sounds dangerously close to the prosperity gospel. To make matters worse, even in your human example of favor involving a Hollywood actor, you talked about beach houses in Malibu! Are you saying that God wants to give us a beach house in Malibu—if only we’ll ‘seek first his kingdom and righteousness’?”
No… Not at all. But I am saying that God works supernaturally to give us—his children—precisely what we need and when we need it. I’m saying that Jesus promises this—according to the red-letter words of Jesus in today’s scripture! And I’m saying, as a result of all this, “Fear not, therefore!”
So—before your head gets filled with visions of owning Creflo Dollar’s $65 million-dollar private jet—listen to the way that pastor John Piper—in his most famous book, Don’t Waste Your Life—interprets the meaning of Jesus’ astonishing promise in verse 33. Piper writes:
What, then, does Jesus mean, “All these things—all your food and clothing—will be added to you when you seek the kingdom of God first”?… He meant that you will have everything you need to do his will and be eternally and supremely happy in him.
That’s worth repeating: Matthew 6:33 means that you will have everything you need to do our Father’s will and be eternally and supremely happy in Christ.
Piper goes on:
How much food and clothing are necessary? Necessary for what? we must ask. Necessary to be comfortable? No, Jesus did not promise comfort. Necessary to avoid shame? No, Jesus called us to bear shame for his name with joy. Necessary to stay alive? No, he did not promise to spare us death—of any kind.
Persecution and plague consume the saints. Christians die on the scaffold, and Christians die of disease.
That’s why Paul wrote, “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).
What Jesus meant was that our Father in heaven would never let us be tested beyond what we are able (1 Cor. 10:13). If there is one scrap of bread that you need, as God’s child, in order to keep your faith in the dungeon of starvation, you will have it. God does not promise enough food for comfort or life—he promises enough so that you can trust him and do his will. 6
Unquote… And I would only emphasize again—he promises enough of what we need to be eternally and supremely happy in Christ.
If you want to call eternal and supreme happiness in Christ “prosperity,” that’s fine with me… See, the prosperity preachers actually think that “eternal and supreme happiness” is found in private jets and mansions and German sports cars and perfect health and whatever else… Nope! It’s only found in Christ. And I’ll preach the gospel of “eternal and supreme happiness in Christ” all day long and twice on Sunday!
I’ll preach it at least until I start to believe it… Because as much as I believe that only Christ offers eternal and supreme happiness up here [point to head], in my mind, I still have a hard time believing in here [point to heart]. Otherwise why would I so often think ultimate happiness and joy are found in people and possessions, popularity, prestige, and praise?
What about you?
This is ultimately why we’re afraid:We often “seek first” things other than his kingdom and his righteousness. Let’s face it.
And this brings us to Point Number Three… Our Problems…
And now we’re going to turn our attention to another promise that Jesus makes in verse 34—not one that we like as much… Jesus says, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Jesus promises us, in so many words, that even we highly favored children of God will experience trouble.
I talked earlier about Mark Harmon’s “beach house in Malibu”… Speaking of vacations…
A couple of years ago, on Saturday Night Live, comedian Adam Sandler was the guest host. And he did a parody of a commercial that—apparently if you grew up in New York or New Jersey—you were very familiar with. It was a commercial for an Italian-American family business that organized group tours to Italy. In the commercial parody, Sandler plays Joe Romano of “Romano Tours.” And here is some of what he says…
People love us [at Romano Tours]. But every so often a customer leaves a review that they were disappointed. They didn’t have as much fun as they thought. So here at Romano Tours we always remind our customers: If you’re sad now, you might still feel sad there.
Our tours will take you to the most beautiful places on earth: Hike the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. Fish with the nets in Sorrento… But remember: You’re still going to be you on vacation. If you are sad where you are, and then you get on a plane to Italy, the “you” in Italy will be the same sad “you” from before—just in a new place!
Does that make sense?
There’s a lot a vacation can do: Help you unwind. See different-looking squirrels. But it cannot fix deeper issues… I want to be very clear about what we can do for you… We can take you on a wine tour of Tuscany. We cannot change why you drink—or the person you become when you do.
I’m sorry, but it’s true.
There’s a lot a vacation can do. There’s a lot that any number of worldly treasures like money, homes, romance, luxury cars, vacations, success, physical health, and beauty can do. But they cannot fix the “deeper issues” that Sandler refers to. Unless or until these issues get fixed, you will still be what Sandler calls “the same sad you”—and we’re hardly able to convince ourselves otherwise! In fact, the pursuit of worldly treasures only makes the deeper issues much, much worse.
Only God can heal us of these deeper issues. He wants to solve—to truly solve—our problems. Which cause us to be anxious.
One of you told me last week—half-jokingly—“Well, Brent… Your sermon didn’t work! I heard your message on Sunday, took it to heart, and then woke up Monday morning with a dozen anxious thoughts!”
To which I can relate, I promise! We disciples are, at this moment, in the process of being “sanctified”—being made holy… being changed from within to become more like Christ… It is a lifelong process, but a necessary one. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” And this same author, earlier in this very chapter, also says, in verses 5 to 9:
My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t give up when he corrects you.For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?
The people to whom Hebrews was written were enduring a lot of trouble. They were enduring “terrible suffering” on account of their faith. 7 They were being publicly ridiculed and beaten. 8 They were thrown into jail and their possessions taken from them. 9 These people had trouble, to say the least… trouble which we mostly comfortable American Christians can hardly imagine!
But let’s not minimize our own trouble. It’s real. Each of us has more than enough trouble in our lives.
And in chapter 12 the author of Hebrews says that our Father is using this trouble for what?
Our heavenly Father uses trouble to discipline us—his children… for the same reason he used it to discipline Christians living in the first century: to enable us to overcome sin—the sin that so often prevents us from “seeking first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.”
So our Father wants to heal us of that sin! In order that we can do something… and in order that we can be something…
What is it that our Lord wants us to do and to be?
He wants us to “do our Father’s will… and he wants us to be eternally and be supremely happy in him.”
And if trouble is what it takes to make that happen, then isn’t it worth it?
Amen.
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Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 333-334. - Mark 10:21 ESV
- Ephesians 3:18 NLT
- Luke 2:14 NIV
- Ephesians 2:6
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John Piper, Collected Works, vol. 5 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 458-9. Emphasis added. - Hebrews 10:32 NLT
- Hebrews 10:33
- Hebrews 10:44