Sermon from July 7th, 2024
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
MATTHEW 6:25-34
Do you have Biblical passages that you’d rather stay away from? Ones that you like to skip over and pass by? Something like the famous Thomas Jefferson Bible, which is his version of the NT with the miracles removed. Maybe you skip them because you don’t understand what is happening in the text, maybe you skip over them because of their violent nature, and it makes you uncomfortable, or maybe, you skip over them because the text is speaking directly to you and it's convicting. It strikes at your soul and you feel God is speaking directly to you. That is how I feel whenever I come to Matthew 6:25. This is a passage which comes near the end of the sermon on the mount, that challenging sermon where Jesus forces us to look at the heart of what we are doing— how we are living.
And this passage, it certainly strikes at my heart— and asks us to consider how we are living. But seriously Jesus, how can I not be anxious? How can I not be worried? I woke this morning and read the news and I was anxious. I lay in bed at night, and I think of the future world my daughter will live into and I am anxious. I look at the politics and the partisanship that plagues our country, and all countries, and I get anxious. I look at where technology is headed and how its targeting young people and I get anxious. I get bills in the mail, and I am anxious. I see the extreme weather that devastates, the heat, and the droughts, and I get anxious. How? How are we not to be anxious about the future? How can I not be anxious about the now?
Before I answer that question, I want to draw a distinction between concern and the anxiousness Jesus is speaking about. To be concerned about the loved ones in your life is true and acceptable, it is born out of love. To be concerned about how you will provide your family's basic necessities is a fair concern. To be concerned and for that to motivate you to work for justice and love in the world— that’s a good thing. But anxiety. anxiety, that takes hold of you, and is all-consuming in your thoughts and actions. (and to be clear, I’m talking about the anxiety we inflict on ourselves, not clinical anxiety with an imbalance of brain chemicals, in which you may have no control over). The anxiety that becomes our own way to control things, anxiety that is selfish because it becomes all about me, anxiety that becomes a god in and of itself— that is the anxiety Jesus is speaking about.
The solution to such anxiety is faith, and the return to our theological topic of today. The doctrine we will discuss— out sermon series has been looking at doctrines of the church, theological concepts which we hold and help guide us through life, and today we are speaking about providence. Providence is often misconstrued in Christian circles, especially in what we call “Reformed theological circles,” where the Presbyterian church has its theological roots. Providence is not: God causes every single thing to happen— that is called fatalism or determinism. There is human agency and human sin that exists in the world. Instead, The doctrine of providence says that God unceasingly cares for the world, that all things are in God's hands, and that God is leading the world to God’s appointed goal. That God provides for us, that God’s provision in God’s providence
God stands as king over the world, God stands as ultimate ruler, God stands as creator— all powerful, all knowing, God stands above all and yet God cares so deeply for the world, God guides it, knows it completely, and knows all who exists on earth. Providence brings together the might of God with the care of God, the magnitude with the intimate, providence holds these two things together.
Does this mean that everything that has happened in your life, God has caused? God has made it to happen? Absolutely not. There are atrocities and harm in this world that are caused by human agency, which is a gift from God, but one we have corrupted with our sin. And sometimes, things that happen to us are a result of the brokenness of this world. But, because of God’s providence, we believe God is intimately involved in both the broken parts of our life as well as the joyous. Because God is King of the world, because there is providence, does that mean we don’t engage in acts of justice of charity or care because God is in control? Absolutely not. We are called to do the work, just as God cares and acts in history so are we to care and act in history. But I admit, and theologians have admitted, it is a difficult tension to hold, God’s soverignty and kingship with working in the world, God’s control but also the sadness and hurt in the world. How do these two things hold together?
One of my favorite metaphors regarding providence was told by a professor of mine while I was in undergrad, Dr. John Hubers, who was a missionary in Baherin for much of his life. He says one day in the souq and there was a woman at a loom, and she was making a rug with a beautiful pattern. Her skill and artistry brought onlookers to surround her, both locals and tourists, watching her fingers dance across the loom. Eventually, it became clear the pattern that she was weaving when all of a sudden, she made a mistake. It was clear to all who were watching that the previous design was disrupted messed up. A collective gasp came up from the crowd, the rug was ruined. Surely, she would have to start over, this beautiful creation was destroyed. But without skipping a beat, she began weaving a new pattern out of the mistake, out of the disruption.
God is weaving something beautiful out of this world, out of your life, and my live and our lives together. There is undoubtably sin in this world that corrupts, disrupts, causes pain. There is sin that originates with us and causes hurt in the world, and there is sin caused by individuals and corporations and institutions outside of us that hurt us and hurt others. And God is intimately involved in all of it. God does not stop every sin, though we may sometimes wish this, but God also is weaving the whole of history into a beautiful tapestry that ends with perfect justice, that ends without sin, that completes with a masterpiece.
There are days, when it is difficult to hold onto this truth, this truth of God’s providence— that God cares about us, that God is involved in history, that God is in control. There are days when we can forget, moments when we can forget., there may be years that you forget. But Jesus is intentional with the metaphors he gifts us within this passage. Birds, flowers, nature, all things we see every single day, and if we have the consciousness, the awareness, to notice them, then we will be reminded of God’s providence.
If you have the mindset to notice the incredible beauty of the mountains and they valleys that exists all throughout Huntsville, that you see every day on your drive to work or to drop off your kids. The God who created that, cares about you and is in control, that is a reminder of providence. When the sun seems unbearably warm but we see the way the daylillies bloom with an effervescent thirst for life and warmth, we are reminded of God’s providence. When we leave the hospital parking garage, we have received news that we didn’t hope for, and we see the birds flying through the air, we are reminded that God intimately cares about us even in the struggles of life. All around you, church, there is evidence of God’s provisional care, provisional love, and if you have eyes to see it, if you have faith to hold it, if you have the intentionality to remind yourself over and over again, then the reality of God’s love will take the place of your anxiety, your worry. God’s love becomes the centerpiece of your life instead of worry, and we can all agree, that is a life we want to live, that is a life we wish to hold. Thanks be to God, Amen.