Today’s Troubles

Matthew 6:24-34

I don’t know about you, but when I read this passage, I automatically start thinking about the very things Jesus tells us not to worry about: what to eat and what to wear. Are you happy with what you chose to wear today? Are you warm enough or cool enough? Do your clothes match? Are they stylish? What are you going to wear for the rest of the week? Is there laundry to do, dry cleaning to pick up? And what about food? Did you skip breakfast? Are you hungry? What are you going to do after church? Go grab a coffee or a bagel? Eat a good lunch? And what about dinner? What will you have? Will you cook or go out or order in or go to a friend’s house?

You’re thinking about food now, aren’t you? Maybe even worrying about it a bit?

Try to sit here and not worry: Jesus says our life is more than food, but what about the bigger things. Don’t think about your depleted savings account or the fluctuating stock market. Don’t think about your job or school or that interview that’s coming up or that exam. Don’t think about your next doctor’s appointment or procedure. Don’t think about your mortgage. Don’t think about the meaning of life, and what you’re doing, and if you’re really happy or just marking the passing of days. And I haven’t even mentioned war and terrorism and global warming.

The easiest advice that Jesus offers is to not worry about the small stuff. In fact, don’t worry about anything that isn’t from God. Don’t worry about tomorrow, because today’s troubles are enough for today. We could just end it there, with a feel-good, don’t-worry-be-happy sort of sermon. And don’t we all need it?

As a collective, we Americans are more anxious now than ever. We’re anxious, we’re medicated, we’re not sleeping well, we’re not able to be our best selves. Ironically, in many ways, this is the best time ever to be alive. With so many technology advances, medical discoveries, and educational opportunities—we should all be living great lives, and yet so many of us are overcome by anxiety. We have high expectations to live up to, quick technology gives us more tasks to complete in shorter amounts of time. We’ve been told we can be anything we want to be, and yet job markets are tight and competitive, and once we get a job, it’s still really difficult to make ends meet, yet alone buy a grand home and all of the other luxuries of the American dream life. We’re more isolated too have fewer friendships are further away from family.

We’re lonelier, and stressed out, and facing high pressures. It’s normal now to have issues with depression and anxiety—even children are facing these issues—because of the times we live in. It used to be almost shameful, to be taking prozac or Zoloft, but I bet we could go around the room raising hands this morning and find a lot of company. So this passage is both particularly appropriate and excruciatingly difficult for us.

Jesus says, do not worry about food or clothes. He adds the peaceful, comforting illustration of Lilies being clothed in natural beauty. “Birds of the air” that eat without having to grow their own food, grocery shop or cook. But clearly, being a human being is a little more complicated—we cannot disregard a concern for clothing so much so that we run out to a field with nothing on. And we cannot survive on sunshine. Photosynthesis doesn’t work for us. We’re not planted in the ground or covered in feathers.

Food and clothing are two of our basic human needs. It’s quite a different story to tell a wealthy woman not to devote her life to high fashion than to tell a homeless man not to worry about his bare feet in the middle of winter. King Solomon might not have been clothed in glory enough to match the lilies of the field, but that’s not very comforting for a person who lacks food and clothes.

As Jesus urges us not to worry about these things, we need to help others be able not to worry. It’s not to make light of serious needs. Help others not to worry, bring food for ALIVE, bring socks for The Open Table.

You cannot serve two masters, you cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve God and spend a big chunk of time worrying about your own welfare. Because we’ll end up obsessing over money and hating God. Because if we serve money, we undoubted worry a great deal. We worry about interest, security, protection, insurance. We lock up our valuables. We worry about not ever having enough, because somebody will always have more. It’s a game we can’t win. We end up living out of the mindset of scarcity—the fear that there is never enough—which just leads to more anxiety, unhappiness, and the complete distraction from God and all that is beautiful and holy.

If we strive after God, we live into the mindset of abundance. There is always enough God, always enough love, always an abundance of all that is beautiful and holy. We don’t have to strive after money or material goods, can be satisfied with less, without consuming too much, buying too much, eating too much.

Strive first for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be give to you as well. Jesus is our Lord. Jesus overthrows all other concerns. Jesus is our master and we serve him. Which means that we serve the people that Jesus serves: those who are hungry, those who are thirsty, those who need real bread and real water, and those who need the Bread of Christ and the Wine of salvation. We serve those who hunger for God and long for the clothes of his righteousness.

When we strive after God, we find that what we have is enough. We have enough food, enough clothes, and enough trouble to keep us busy for today.