Sermon for August 8

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Aug. 8, 2010
Luke 12:22-40
More and more

In the name of Jesus, amen. Our desire and our drive for more starts at the beginning and never really goes away. It may subside a bit, but it’s always there. We long for more, we search for more, we hunger and thirst for more.

More what? Now that is something to be explored because sometimes having more is good yet it is true that having more can be harmful. More sleep? Good. More time to complete your test? Good. More fun, food, frivolity? Those are generally good things. But more bills? Harmful. More weight? Harmful. More pain, uncertainty, confusion. Who wants those sort of things?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”

More than food and more than clothing. But the chase to satisfy our most basic needs seems to be all that life is about. We get stuck in the simplistic. And simplistic is vastly different than simple.

Examining food and clothing, we can certainly be simplistic in our drive for more. How many shirts do you really wear? How many pairs of shoes do you really need? And what’s going to happen to your favorite item of clothing? If it’s your favorite, you’ll wear it a lot, and pretty soon the cuff will start to fray, the color will fade, you might get a hole in it, and then what? You get rid of it. You find a new favorite.

The same is true with food. Food fills our body, providing energy and nutrition. Food serves us. Or at least it should. But often we are the ones in service to food. We turn food into an idol.

The ravens neither sow nor reap, yet they are cared for. They do not have barns, silos, storehouses or warehouses. God feeds the ravens. Of how much more value are you than the birds? When we simplistically chase our tails, we begin to think that we are of no value, that value is only found in things, that our things define who we are. My brothers and sisters, let us get our minds out of the gutter. Let us not think so simplistically. As we focused last week, let us set our minds on things above, not on the earthly things.

The earthly things surround us. We see our neighbor’s new car, new gas grill, and new patio furniture. We hear about their new bamboo wood floors. We hear from our children about all the cool places they go, the beach, the amusement park, the mountains, and we know all about the gadgets and gizmos- a DS3, the new smart phone with 4G technology. It can be maddening to try and keep up. It’s an arms race that has no winner. Our mind is focused on all that is around us and we lose the ability to discern the divine goodness and mercy that comes to us. The earthly things surround us.

We lose our satisfaction, our contentment. We lose our appreciation for all the ways that we are cared for, that we are tended, and looked after. We lose sight of our Good Shepherd who leads and guides us to cool pastures and still waters. We forget that we are never in want.

Of how much more value are you than birds? More and more. That’s how much.

Value is tricky, especially when examining things that cannot be produced. What’s the value of a smile? What’s the value of simple courtesy? What’s the value of hard work? What’s the value of smart work? I’ll let you ponder those things.

But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

God’s Kingdom is given to God’s children. It is given to you. It is given to me. It is given to all who acknowledge and believe that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Savior, that Jesus is the one who brings the forgiveness of God to all the sinful situations we get bogged down in.

Greed places us in a sinful situation. Laziness gets us trapped in sinful situations. Skewed definitions and understandings of love certainly bog us down in sin. Arrogance and self-importance reveal the depth of the prison of sin.

But God’s Kingdom is given to the children of God. God’s Kingdom comes to us through the King of kings and Lord of lords. It comes through Jesus, through His grace, through his compassion, through the exercise of his mercy. Jesus comes to us, looks lovingly into our eyes, receives our repentance and removes the sin that humiliates us.

Our sin is affront to God. It is offensive. It is a rejection of God’s grace and love. It is a rejection of the gift of God’s Son Jesus. It is rebellion against the leading and guiding call of God’s Holy Spirit. Yet the Father sent His Christ to be our King and to lead us to the cross and to the tomb. The Father sent the Christ to bring us the kingdom of God today and the kingdom of God that awaits us in heaven. As we learn in the Small Catechism, p324 in our hymnals, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”

More and more, as we mature in faith, as we grow into Christ our head, we grow into the people God has made us to be. More and more we demonstrate grace. More and more we model forgiveness. More and more we grow into lives of service. More and more we grow to receive the love and support that people want to give us. More and more we become people of integrity who demonstrate their love for the Lord through the help and assistance they give their neighbor. More and more we put away those earthly things, we stop the childish chase for food and clothing. And we grow stronger in holding open our hands to receive the gifts of our loving God. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” SDG