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. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? …But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:24-25, 33)
You can tell a lot about a persons mood based on their body posture.
Anger is closed and tight.
Worry, sadness, anxiety is droopy and weak and figgety.
Happiness and relaxation is upright and loose.
Our Lord greatly desires to lift us up today, pull us out of the droopy and looking down and up into Him.
“The Lord be with you…Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.” We’ll say.
We’re in need of this lifting because we are constantly to look around. Our reading gives us two reasons. 1.) You’ve got stuff and 2.) You don’t have stuff.
1.) You’ve got stuff – you’ve got money. Really, you do. You cannot serve two masters…You cannot serve God and money.
2.) You don’t have stuff. You’ve got needs. People around you have needs. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…
Instead, “The Lord be with you…lift up your hearts…your heavenly Father knows you need them…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
First, we’re tempted to not look up first because we’ve got stuff. Now, let’s make a point that might be obvious for the Christian. Stuff is good.
Commandments 4-8 are all about stuff being good. Father and mother and authorities are good. God wants to protect them. Family is good. God wants to protect them.
Life is good. 5th commandment. God wants to protect and preserve life.
Sex is good. Marriage is good. 6th commandment.
Property is good. Homes are goods. Cars are good. 7th commandment. God wants to protect them
Names and reputation are good. 8th commandment. God want s to protect them.
Protection comes is two ways. The commandants are meant to protect the stuff you’ve got from others. And on the other hand, the commandments are meant to protect the stuff other’s have from you.
But, when God gives us good things, we’re tempted to make them the giver of good things.
You cannot serve God and money. You cannot have two masters. Or, for that matter, 3 masters or 12 masters.
Our Lord is quite concerned not only about the stuff, but most especially the heart and what it’s trusting in. For your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mat. 6:21)
When the heart is clinging to the stuff: the people, the life, the money, the health that God gives, the heart is clinging to something temporary.
Imagine if I were to excitedly tell you that I want to show you the thing I treasure the most. Then I pull out a used paper plate.
Paper plates can be good and useful, but they’re obviously meant to be used once or maybe twice. It’s meant to be used temporarily.
That’s our stuff. And though people last forever, the particular relationships we have with each other does end. There isn’t marriage in heaven for example. We’ll all have God as our Father, as another example.
The heart will not be satisfied, the soul will not have it thirst quenched by stuff or people.
You ever had those conversations with someone who said they didn’t know why they were thirsty or hungry. They’ve been eating and drinking all day. You find out they’ve been drinking Coke all day and snacking Pringles.
Coke is good. Pringles are good. They’re not meant to quench your thirst and hunger, though.
Seek first the kingdom of God. He can quench the thirst.
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
And as we’re making sure we remember that stuff is good, we should also remember that work is good, too. Jesus tells us not to worry, but then also gives the birds as an example. They’re busy. They’re gathering food and sticks and feeding their babies and protecting their and life and family.
And most of them sing while they work.
Work is good. Sing, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God while you’re doing it.”
But, another reason we look around and around is not the stuff we have, but because we see don’t have stuff we want.
Commandments 9 and 10 are all about the heart being protected from that. Don’t covet other’s people stuff.
But there’s also need – need of yourself, need of others: health needs, physical needs, emotional needs, marriage needs, children needs, family needs, student needs, coworker needs. Needs close and needs far away.
What happens when we see we need more stuff (or think we do) and see others needing more stuff, we worry.
Our Lord lifts us.
Your heavenly Father knows you need them.
Your worry does no good. Your prayers do though!
Lift up your hearts! Instead of being of little faith, the Lord is with you to strengthen your faith.
This faith that looks up and sees what He is the One who gave me my body, will He not preserve that body?
He is the One who gives me eternal life, will He not provide temporal life and its needs.
He is the One who quenches my thirst today and my hunger today, giving me His righteousness as a gift, lifting up my heart, revealing a Heavenly Father who gives me His kingdom, does He not know how to give food and drink to me and others?
He who clothes the lilies and your body, clothes you with Christ to cover the shame and guilt you bring with your worry.
The Heavenly Father gives you the gift of His Son, and the gift of His Holy Spirit, all to remind you that He will also give you gifts, as well. Spiritual gifts and physical gifts.
He gives you this prayer to lift you up first:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done,
before He puts your back to looking around
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us….