Trinity 15, 2024 (Preached by Archbishop Joseph Omolo, Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Kenya)
Archbishop Joseph Omolo
Trinity 15, 2024
St. Matthew 6:24-34
September 8, 2024
Mathew 6: 24-34: 15th Sunday in Trinity (Sermon Center Point, Iowa)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Verse 24 talks about rendering service to two Masters: Who actually are those two masters? God and Marmon.
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Who is able to do that?
Who does not need (love) Marmon/Money: and who does not need God? Or, as Jesus puts it: who doesn’t want to serve God, who doesn’t want to serve Marmon/Money?
This text is part of the longer sermon Jesus delivered to his disciples, known as “the Sermon on Mount.”
This text has two main parts: (1) The Impossibility of Serving Two Masters – serving God and Marmon – (2) the Warning against worries about tomorrow provision.
1) Serving Two Masters is Impossible:
The text here talks about being loyal to One master and hating the Other. The divided commitment betrays faithfulness. The divided loyalty is not practical and therefore not honest. This text reminds us of the First Commandment in which the Lord reminds the Israelites to worship only Yahwe.
Things which can draw our attention to replace God in our lives are to stay away. Money or power can easily corrupts and builds Pride in and Lust (selfish desire) in us. If you want to know a man, give him power/Money. But for us we want to serve both.
Where do we find God and can we really serve God? Prosperity Gospel – God is in miracles, in health and and wealth: Spiritism Fundamentalists, Legio Maria. ATR, God is found in poverty, fasting, denying the body leisure, self denial…etc. – All are striving to serve God.
Where do we find God, and worship him in spirit and Truth? Only in Jesus Christ – theology of the cross – Christ crucified - in whom God finds us and servers us. The more we strive to serve, the more sin.
2) Do Not Worry about tomorrow (Life belongs to God)
-Verses 25 to 28: talks about food and drinks: very important elements for our lives and growth, comparing it with the Birds of the air.
-and Verse 29 and 30 talks about clothes and Flowers = very important stuff for our privacy, comparing it with the wealth of Solomon.
-The comparison is made with birds of the birds of air and grass of the field: they do not labor, but our heavenly Father feeds them. This is not a call to be lazy, but what it emphasizes: it’s God who provides.
The Clothing Metaphor after the Fall: -The clothing metaphor is compared with the life and growth of flowers – lilies. These flowers do not labor but well dressed more than Solomon with all his wealth.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
-It is true that the Lord provides: 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
-Hard labor and clothing metaphors all come to us as result of the fall (Gen.3:17b-19).
-Jesus finishes with these words: 31 So do not worry, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things with corrupt minds and practice), and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Worries is part of human life. We always think of things which might be of concern tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Life can bring to us anything unexpected.
(i) Our Lord is the Provider: Give us our daily Bread
It’s interesting to note that this section, about priorities and worries, follows closely the teaching on the Lord’s Prayer. That prayer, which we say, perfectly expresses a faith-driven surrender to God.
-In its own way, that prayer asks nothing more than that we allow God to be God, and that we be conformed to His commandments and receive all the blessings He has in store for us, both now and for eternity.
-The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of a faithful heart, one which sets aside the anxieties and priorities of this life, and lives trustingly in God’s grace—receiving the food and the clothing and all the other blessings. What’s more, it’s the prayer of a heart that receives not only this world’s blessings, but the blessings of the world to come.
(ii) The Heart of Humanity never get satisfied
Everyone, to a certain extent, actually does worry about the things of this life. And the things of this life are necessary. We need money, food and other things to live. But whether One has much or less, still there are things to worry about – the need always continues.
Jesus understood our concerns as well as the futility of constantly focusing on them when He told His hearers, “do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” That is, piling on one worry after another is pointless and can be poisonous.
(III) The Gift of Righteousness of Christ is the Ultimate Need:
-The truth is that, we are most precious to God than all the creation (The Act of Incarnation): The gift of the righteousness of Christ Jesus, bestowed upon us in cleansing water of Baptism for the forgiveness of our sin is the source of all blessings.
-Your sins, the rebellion of your worry; the hatred of your devotion to seeking Mammon apart from the kingdom of God—all these are fully removed—for Jesus’ sake alone.
You do have that righteousness. It is your possession; a gracious gift from your true Master, the One who still loves you when you hate Him; who is devoted to you when you despise His gifts; who serves you when you serve the gods of this world.
(iv) More than the Birds of the Air and Flowers of the Fields, yes, we are in Christ:
He feeds the birds who don’t plant or harvest or scheme to get their neighbor’s inheritance or house; He clothes in glory the lilies who don’t fret or strive or chase after brass rings or golden parachutes. Think of it: Your worth to God so greatly surpasses the value of all the rest of His creation that He shed His own precious blood to feed you with forgiveness and dress you with divinity.
-That is why we can repent of our divided loyalties between the masters of God and worldly things; that is why we can set aside our anxieties about what we value in life: He alone has given us our value. It doesn’t depend on what we have earned or what we will accumulate.
-Our true worth depends entirely upon that which we are given, and that which we can also give to others: The Good News that we have a Father who knows what we have truly needed and will truly need. The Gospel assurance of Jesus that He has provided all this and more to us in full strength; sufficient both for this life and for the life to come.
-All your tomorrows rest secure in the kingdom of God. Your value is in Christ Jesus, your glory is in His cross, and your little faith is magnified and made perfect in His righteousness.
May it ever be so, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
