Sermon, Sunday May 25 2008
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
My sister was recently laid off from her job as a mortgage banker in Southern California. This is the result of what you may have heard referred to in the news as the sub-prime mortgage loan scandal. Five years ago there was an influx of loans being given on mortgages for many people who truthfully were not qualified to receive these loans. The loans were financed in such a way that for five years the borrowers would pay interest only and at a rate that was less than the going market rate.
But then when the five years was up, the existing loans were re-set with interest that was higher than the going market rate in order to offset the below market rates from the first five years, the effect of which was that the payments were immediately doubled or in some cases tripled or worse. For example a monthly payment of $1200 could very likely have been increased to $3500. As a result people who thought that they had achieved the American dream of owning a house were all of a sudden forced to sell their houses, very likely for less than market value. Many of these people likely ended up in small apartments, moving back home, or in some cases worse.
And another effect has been that many people, like my sister, who work in this industry have lost their jobs. I don’t want to make it sound like I am trying to portray her as a total victim here. Five years ago she was doing very well and reaping the benefits of people receiving these loans. The loans which she represented were of the sub-prime type. However, not being an economist and not being among those who developed and packaged and gave final approval for who received the loans there is no way she could have foreseen the current crisis that has unfolded.
Regardless it seems that those who were seeking out these loans could be a reflection of a culture that has come to take Jesus’ words from this morning’s Gospel lesson to not worry about tomorrow to a ridiculous extreme. Indeed Jesus tells us in the Gospel lesson for this morning we are not to worry about tomorrow.
But certainly one could see that this was not a call to cavalierly cast aside all of our practical concerns as we ransom our future and perhaps even our souls to a credit industry that ends up offering nothing but empty promises.
But what about those who didn’t recklessly seek out these loans, but today find themselves struggling from day to day? How do the words of our Lord telling us not to worry about tomorrow come across to a factory worker just trying to make it from one paycheck to the next? Or a salesperson who, because of a floundering economy, has seen their income split in half? And on this Memorial day weekend, I might be remiss if I didn’t ask how the words of our Lord telling us not to worry about tomorrow would speak to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan who is literally just trying to survive from one day to the next.
Or what about a farmer? What about a farmer who is having trouble being optimistic about the coming harvest after a dry winter? What about a farmer who has found themself asking their pastor to pray for rain? My guess is that people in situations such as those would probably more easily identify with what Jesus says after He tells us not to worry about tomorrow. For after Jesus says "..do not worry about tomorrow.." He says "…tomorrow will bring worries of it’s own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
But still we worry about tomorrow. Our Lord comes to us with a Word of promise to hear, telling us not to worry about tomorrow, but the truth is we relate more to what we see than what we hear. And so how can we not worry about tomorrow when what we see is dust clouds and empty fields and unpaid bills?
But what if you woke up tomorrow and lo and behold everything that you felt you were lacking and was keeping you from being free of anxiety, all of the sudden appeared? What if you woke and all of the sudden it appeared that for certain there would be a plentiful harvest, a bumper crop? What if all your bills were paid, your mortgage paid off, your cars paid for? Would you never have another worry or desire? Would you covet after nothing?
Or would it not be too long before you were thinking that you car is nice but maybe not as nice as your neighbors? Or that your house does the job and keeps you warm and gives you shelter but it is not as nice and spacious as your neighbor’s? Or that your harvest, while plentiful was not as bounteous as the field down the road or in the next town or county. The truth is, the more we have the more we want.
We live our lives professing to believe in God while at the same time seemingly trying to consume as much as we can just in case we’re wrong about God. With every covetous thought and desire we reveal the inner part of us that questions God’s promise to us that He cares for us more than the lilies of the field whom He adorns in such beauty or the birds of the air whom He always provides for. And so whatever our reason for striving after things of the world first, even when it seems justified and the only logical response, when we do this we challenge Jesus’ assertion that our Heavenly Father cares for us and so we show our innate tendency to try to serve two masters.
But we can’t serve two and so we end up serving the one that consumes us. We fail to strive first after the kingdom of God with all it’s righteousness; the kingdom that our Lord promises to us in faith through a Word that we hear. But instead we seek after the temporary and corruptible and ultimately disposable world that we see. But no matter what your lot in life this is a path that leads only to the grave. As long as you seek first the things of this world eventually the master of this world, the devil, will come to collect on the debt of your sin, which leaves you in the grave.
But there is One who has paid your debt, Christ Jesus on the cross, where He defeated death and took away the sting of death for you. And so He has freed you from the burden of seeking after this world and freed you to seek first His kingdom.
And so what does it mean to seek first after God’s kingdom? Well it’s not a chronological thing. The use of the word ‘first’ here does not suggest that there is a ‘second.’ What it means is that whatever we are doing, no matter what the circumstance, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are always most important. And so what is God’s Kingdom? Martin Luther describes it as simply that "God sent His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the devil’s power. He sent Him to bring us to Himself and to govern us as a king of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience. For this reason He has also given His Holy Spirit, who is to bring these things home to us by His Holy Word and to illumine and strengthen us in the faith by His power."
And so whether you are a mortgage banker or a farmer or whatever, how you go about seeking first the Kingdom of God is the same; and that is simply this "Believe upon the Lord Jesus and receive His promise of forgiveness and eternal life that comes through faith in Him and His perfect life, death and resurrection for you; the faith that you receive through the Holy Spirit, who nurtures and sustains you in that faith through the hearing of God’s Word and the receiving of the sacraments.
You seek the Lord’s kingdom by seeking our Lord; in His Word and sacraments.
And in doing this you have the wonderful promise that our Lord gives to you this morning in the Gospel, that whatever earthly needs you are lacking, your Lord sees that you need these things. And so seek first His kingdom. Seek His promise. Live in the rest and comfort of knowing that your place in the Lord’s kingdom has been secured through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, and know that the One who has provided you with the eternal blessing of forgiveness of sin, eternal salvation, and a place in His kingdom that has been prepared for you; but that, without the Word of our Lord, you could not see that you need; He who has provided you with all of these eternal blessings that you cannot yet see, will certainly provide you with the temporal needs that you can see.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
My sister was recently laid off from her job as a mortgage banker in Southern California. This is the result of what you may have heard referred to in the news as the sub-prime mortgage loan scandal. Five years ago there was an influx of loans being given on mortgages for many people who truthfully were not qualified to receive these loans. The loans were financed in such a way that for five years the borrowers would pay interest only and at a rate that was less than the going market rate.
But then when the five years was up, the existing loans were re-set with interest that was higher than the going market rate in order to offset the below market rates from the first five years, the effect of which was that the payments were immediately doubled or in some cases tripled or worse. For example a monthly payment of $1200 could very likely have been increased to $3500. As a result people who thought that they had achieved the American dream of owning a house were all of a sudden forced to sell their houses, very likely for less than market value. Many of these people likely ended up in small apartments, moving back home, or in some cases worse.
And another effect has been that many people, like my sister, who work in this industry have lost their jobs. I don’t want to make it sound like I am trying to portray her as a total victim here. Five years ago she was doing very well and reaping the benefits of people receiving these loans. The loans which she represented were of the sub-prime type. However, not being an economist and not being among those who developed and packaged and gave final approval for who received the loans there is no way she could have foreseen the current crisis that has unfolded.
Regardless it seems that those who were seeking out these loans could be a reflection of a culture that has come to take Jesus’ words from this morning’s Gospel lesson to not worry about tomorrow to a ridiculous extreme. Indeed Jesus tells us in the Gospel lesson for this morning we are not to worry about tomorrow.
But certainly one could see that this was not a call to cavalierly cast aside all of our practical concerns as we ransom our future and perhaps even our souls to a credit industry that ends up offering nothing but empty promises.
But what about those who didn’t recklessly seek out these loans, but today find themselves struggling from day to day? How do the words of our Lord telling us not to worry about tomorrow come across to a factory worker just trying to make it from one paycheck to the next? Or a salesperson who, because of a floundering economy, has seen their income split in half? And on this Memorial day weekend, I might be remiss if I didn’t ask how the words of our Lord telling us not to worry about tomorrow would speak to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan who is literally just trying to survive from one day to the next.
Or what about a farmer? What about a farmer who is having trouble being optimistic about the coming harvest after a dry winter? What about a farmer who has found themself asking their pastor to pray for rain? My guess is that people in situations such as those would probably more easily identify with what Jesus says after He tells us not to worry about tomorrow. For after Jesus says "..do not worry about tomorrow.." He says "…tomorrow will bring worries of it’s own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
But still we worry about tomorrow. Our Lord comes to us with a Word of promise to hear, telling us not to worry about tomorrow, but the truth is we relate more to what we see than what we hear. And so how can we not worry about tomorrow when what we see is dust clouds and empty fields and unpaid bills?
But what if you woke up tomorrow and lo and behold everything that you felt you were lacking and was keeping you from being free of anxiety, all of the sudden appeared? What if you woke and all of the sudden it appeared that for certain there would be a plentiful harvest, a bumper crop? What if all your bills were paid, your mortgage paid off, your cars paid for? Would you never have another worry or desire? Would you covet after nothing?
Or would it not be too long before you were thinking that you car is nice but maybe not as nice as your neighbors? Or that your house does the job and keeps you warm and gives you shelter but it is not as nice and spacious as your neighbor’s? Or that your harvest, while plentiful was not as bounteous as the field down the road or in the next town or county. The truth is, the more we have the more we want.
We live our lives professing to believe in God while at the same time seemingly trying to consume as much as we can just in case we’re wrong about God. With every covetous thought and desire we reveal the inner part of us that questions God’s promise to us that He cares for us more than the lilies of the field whom He adorns in such beauty or the birds of the air whom He always provides for. And so whatever our reason for striving after things of the world first, even when it seems justified and the only logical response, when we do this we challenge Jesus’ assertion that our Heavenly Father cares for us and so we show our innate tendency to try to serve two masters.
But we can’t serve two and so we end up serving the one that consumes us. We fail to strive first after the kingdom of God with all it’s righteousness; the kingdom that our Lord promises to us in faith through a Word that we hear. But instead we seek after the temporary and corruptible and ultimately disposable world that we see. But no matter what your lot in life this is a path that leads only to the grave. As long as you seek first the things of this world eventually the master of this world, the devil, will come to collect on the debt of your sin, which leaves you in the grave.
But there is One who has paid your debt, Christ Jesus on the cross, where He defeated death and took away the sting of death for you. And so He has freed you from the burden of seeking after this world and freed you to seek first His kingdom.
And so what does it mean to seek first after God’s kingdom? Well it’s not a chronological thing. The use of the word ‘first’ here does not suggest that there is a ‘second.’ What it means is that whatever we are doing, no matter what the circumstance, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are always most important. And so what is God’s Kingdom? Martin Luther describes it as simply that "God sent His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the devil’s power. He sent Him to bring us to Himself and to govern us as a king of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience. For this reason He has also given His Holy Spirit, who is to bring these things home to us by His Holy Word and to illumine and strengthen us in the faith by His power."
And so whether you are a mortgage banker or a farmer or whatever, how you go about seeking first the Kingdom of God is the same; and that is simply this "Believe upon the Lord Jesus and receive His promise of forgiveness and eternal life that comes through faith in Him and His perfect life, death and resurrection for you; the faith that you receive through the Holy Spirit, who nurtures and sustains you in that faith through the hearing of God’s Word and the receiving of the sacraments.
You seek the Lord’s kingdom by seeking our Lord; in His Word and sacraments.
And in doing this you have the wonderful promise that our Lord gives to you this morning in the Gospel, that whatever earthly needs you are lacking, your Lord sees that you need these things. And so seek first His kingdom. Seek His promise. Live in the rest and comfort of knowing that your place in the Lord’s kingdom has been secured through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, and know that the One who has provided you with the eternal blessing of forgiveness of sin, eternal salvation, and a place in His kingdom that has been prepared for you; but that, without the Word of our Lord, you could not see that you need; He who has provided you with all of these eternal blessings that you cannot yet see, will certainly provide you with the temporal needs that you can see.
Amen
posted by Steve at 9:33 PM
1 Comments:
Absolutely beautiful sermon. I loved the interplay b/tw the cares we have of the world and the question is whether we really ever would be satisfied if we received what we want. My own dad is a farmer and one week he is complaining about having too much rain and the next that it's not enough. But you brought it home when you hit them hard with the idea that b/c of sin, we will never be satisfied.
I liked the use of this to remind us what life is to be about:
"And so what does it mean to seek first after God’s kingdom? Well it’s not a chronological thing. The use of the word ‘first’ here does not suggest that there is a ‘second.’ What it means is that whatever we are doing, no matter what the circumstance, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are always most important. And so what is God’s Kingdom? Martin Luther describes it as simply that "God sent His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the devil’s power. He sent Him to bring us to Himself and to govern us as a king of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience. For this reason He has also given His Holy Spirit, who is to bring these things home to us by His Holy Word and to illumine and strengthen us in the faith by His power."
Wonderful sermon
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