Mammon. You can't live with it. You can't live without it. Or something like that. Jesus says you can't be a slave to God and to mammon. And oh, aren't we slaves to our mammon. What is “mammon” exactly? I think we can use the technical translation of the word “mammon:” “stuff!” We are slaves to our stuff. Our Lord tells us not to stop worrying about our mammon, our stuff. Our clothes. Our food. Our homes and cars we try to keep repaired and in shape. We're just not supposed to get all worked up about all that stuff. Perhaps the answer is to get a little bit more mammon. You know, if we just have a little more money or stuff, we'll be comfortable. Not true. Remember when you didn't used to make as much as you do now? We worried about our stuff back then and we worry now. OK, so maybe the answer is to have less stuff. Get rid of some of it. That way there's less to worry about. Except we need our stuff don't we? Some of us worry because we don't have enough cars to get everyone where we need to go. Some of us worry how we're going to pay the insurance on that third or fourth car. The fact is this: it doesn't matter if we have a little bit of stuff or lots of stuff. No matter how much we have, we're going to worry about it. You know why? Because the problem isn't our stuff. The problem is us. Our lack of faith. Our unbelief. The sinful fear that the Lord isn't going to take care of us and so we'd better work it our for ourselves.
The reason such worry is sinful is not because mammon is bad. Money. Houses. Boats. Boardgames. Hunting gear. Cell phones. Computers. Clothing. Food. None of that stuff is bad. What's bad is that we worry about it. We get consumed by it. We daydream about it. We worry about how we'll get more of the stuff we love. We worry about how we'll afford and keep the stuff we have. The reason our worry is sinful is not because our stuff is bad. Our worry is sinful because we make the stuff more important than the Lord. Because we don't trust in the Lord to give us what we need. Because we worry more about our stuff that we do about the God and His Word. Because we spend more time worrying about our stuff than using our stuff to help and serve others. At the root of it, our problem is our unbelief. If we truly believe the Lord takes care of us, we'd never worry a minute about our bills or bank accounts or our stuff. We would rejoice in whatever the Lord gives us and instead live like the lillies and the birds, not paying any attention to that stuff at all but trusting in the Lord to take care of whatever we need. So repent, dear Christians! Repent that you don't live like a lilly or a bird. Repent that you worry about your stuff. Repent that you don't seek the Lord's righteousness and kingdom as the most important thing!
What does Jesus say? He says, “You can't serve two masters. Therefore don't worry about all that stuff. Don't worry about clothing and food and mammon.” Oh, sure, easy for HIM to say! But let's consider WHY Jesus says not to worry about all that stuff. The reason we don't need to worry about it is because He Himself rescues us from our worrying about mammon. The Bible says, “If God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not graciously give us all things?” And elsewhere, “He was made poor that we might become rich in Him.” The truest, bestest, most lasting treasure that God has for you is that He sent His Son to live and die and rise for you. The Good News of what Christ has done for you is the most valuable treasure you can have. And it's not something you have to worry about or work for or earn or hoard. Your Lord's life, death, resurrection and forgiveness are His gift to you. His saving gift. The Lord rescues us from our love of mammon by being winning for us the treasure of the forgiveness of sins. A treasure so great it even covers up and wipes out our love of mammon!
So now, brothers and sisters in Christ, rejoice in your clothes and your food! NOT the clothing and food of this life. The Lord's got that covered. Rather, let the big deal be the clothing and food that the Lord gives you in Christ. Who cares about the latest fashions when you have been clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness in your baptism? There are no clothes in this world that can match the beauty of the garments with which the Lord dresses you in Christ. The Lord doesn't care whether you are clothed in Georgio Armani or what was on sale at Wal-Mart! He delights that you are robed and covered in Christ, so that when He looks at you, He sees His Son, and sees you as His child. And food! The food of this world satisfies for awhile but then we need more. It can't even come close to the holy food of Jesus' Body and Blood that He has given us to eat and to drink. Our Lord doesn't care whether you're eating an expensive meal at a gourmet steakhouse or whether you're munching on a value meal. What He's most concerned to give you is His Son's Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. A Big Mac won't make you live forever but Christ's Body and Blood have the Lord's promise that when you eat and drink it He lives in you and you in Him and He will raise you up on the Last Day. Your Baptismal robe and the Body and Blood of Jesus: there's clothing and food that lasts forever and is more valuable than anything you'll eat or wear in this life. There is clothing and food that makes you more beautiful than the lillies and more satisfied than the birds.
So having that Savior, having that forgiveness, having such clothing and such food as Christ gives you, STOP WORRYING! OK, now wait a minute. That's easier said than done, isn't it? How do we stop worrying? Jesus tells us: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” What does that mean? Seeking God's kingdom is nothing other than living in your baptism. Confessing your sins—including your worry and mammon-loving—and living in the forgiveness of Jesus. It means daily putting on that baptismal robe and coming often to feast upon that food that gives life and salvation. In short, seeking first God's kingdom means nothing other than living from the Lord's gifts: your Baptism, His absolution, His Supper, His Word. The more you receive those gifts, the more the Spirit will turn your heart and trust away from your stuff to faith and trust in Christ. And then all the rest of that won't bother you. The Lord will take care of it. Live, then, dear Christian, in Christ's church, dressed with Jesus and fed with Jesus.
Finally, our Lord says, “Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow has enough of it's own trouble.” Brothers and sisters in Christ: You have a Savior. And because of Him you have a heavenly Father. The same Lord who makes the lillies beautiful and makes worms pop up for the little birdies is the same Lord who has sent His His Son and made you beautifully dressed in Him and feeds you with His Son's flesh and blood. Seriously? Clothing and food? Mammon? That stuff is nothing compared to the surpassing riches and glory that you have been given in Jesus Christ! Live like the lillies and the birds. For after all, you are way more valuable to your heavenly Father for you are the ones for whom the Lord Himself came to live and die and rise. So give thanks for the stuff God gives you. And live in the gifts He gives you in Christ. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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