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The
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The
Collect.
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EEP, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy
Church with thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without thee
cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us
to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel
Matthew 6:24-34
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O man can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say
unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than
the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you
by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye
anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall
he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious,
saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not
therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The fowls of the air like the people of god!
The most beautiful birds are not
always the most fearsome. " Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they?" Hopefully, the Christian Church
can aspire to be like the great Eagle - both strong and beautiful. It soars to
heights above the storm, and glides without struggle on the winds of God. It
has great vision to see miles from that high altitude. It mates for life, and
it will suffer death for its young. The eagle is the only bird that can fly
directly toward the sun to evade the archer's arrows. He has a thin membrane
that comes down over his eyes which serves much like our sunglasses so that he
can look directly at the sun. Only the Christian can behold God in the Person
of Jesus Christ!
The eagle never consumes food
that has not been killed by its own hand. In this way, it differs greatly from
the oyster which is a bottom feeder that simply opens its mouth and consume
whatever carrion comes into its shell. The eagle will never make a good
socialist or communist - it is purely a free enterprise bird! God often uses
the eagle as an example of Himself, or His people. We read in Deuteronomy 32:11
& 12 - "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone
did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." There are remarkable
parallels in these two verses which reveal the nature of the eagle. When she
builds her nest (upon a high crag or highest terrain available) she brings
large branches with sharp protrusions. She ten fills the nest with leaves mixed
with stones of briars. Then she overlays all with fur of rabbit or some other
creature. It is very cozy and warm.
When the baby eagles have grown
to the point of moving about, she "stirreth up her nest" so that the
stones and briars now come to the surface. The nest is no longer very
comfortable at all. The young are forced to get out more often and exercise.
They may not like it, but it is for their own benefit. After a time, as the
baby eagles are near maturity, the mother eagle will swoop down and knock them
off the nest, sometimes allowing them to fall hundreds of feet down the
mountain cliff. The young eagle is both terrified and dismayed that the mother,
who has always been sacrificial and loving, would do such a thing. But the eye
of the mother is never off the young eagle as it flails and flaps its wings to
no avail. At the moment death seems imminent, the mother swoops under the young
eagle and catches him on her back. " . . . beareth them on her
wings." The eagle carries her young on her back since her talons are too
strong for gentle grasp.
Please consider how the eagle is
very much like God. He cares and comforts us as baby Christians; he makes our
environment sweet and placid; but then, as we grow, He will make our condition
very uncomfortable so that we must get out of the nest and learn to ACT! He
causes us to be cast off from high places that we might learn to use the wings
He has given us to soar. He is ever watchful over His own. When it seems that
we are about to perish, God swoops down and carries us on HIS wings. Of course,
His hands are too strong to carry us, so He carries us on His wings. There is
another reason: If the archer shoots at us, like Christ, the mother eagle will take
the arrow to save us. There are many other biblical texts that compare the
eagle to God's nature, and also to that of the Christian, but I must move on to
the other points of today's text.
No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Every master is
different, therefore we cannot serve two masters each of whom have different
motives and objectives. A master requires perfect obedience, and we are
compelled either by love or sin to obey one or the other. God being our master,
our obedience derives from an echoed love that called us when we were yet
sinners unto Himself. When we are drawn by the Holy Ghost to Christ (as a fish
is drawn by a net) we must depart from that old master whom we obeyed so
completely by following the wicked desires of our hearts. Only in Christ do we
have a will that is truly free and at liberty. The old 'free will' of which
men, and some theologians, boast is not free at all but in bondage to sin and
its desires; and whose master is Satan. Mammon is the attractions and magnetism
of the world - usually wealth and prestige that is built upon false pride. The
rich young ruler who came to Christ asked what good thing he could do to
inherit eternal life. He called Jesus 'good teacher.' First, he did not
recognize Christ as his LORD. Secondly, there are not 'good things' that we can
do to inherit eternal life. IT is the goodness and righteousness of Christ upon
which we must rely for salvation.
Jesus asked, "Why callest thou me good; there is only one good and that is
God?" Jesus was fathoming the depths of this man's soul. Did he
recognize that Jesus was God indeed? No, he did not. Jesus did not await a
response but went on to say: "Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit
adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not,
Honour thy father and mother." Mark 10:19 (KJV) This is very true. If we
could be perfectly righteous, we would not have needed a Savior; but we are
NOT. In fact, we are born with sinful blood in our veins. The point Jesus will
expose in the man is this. Though he claims to have kept ALL of the
Commandments, he has not even kept the first. His money (mammon) eclipses his
love for God. (Read
the full account in Mark 10:17-27)
Why worry so much about our
fashion designers clothing when clothing is of least importance (though one
might think that no clothing at all is the proper apparel in modern America)?
"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,
and the body than raiment?" The answer, of course, to Jesus' question is a
resounding YES! Please explain how the one who made and gave you a body, along
with the breath of life, is unable to provide you with food and clothing
appropriate for that body?
"27 Which
of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these." The beautiful wild lilies of
the Middle East are remarkable for their beauty and fragrance. Does their
clothing reflect their own labors, or those of the creative LORD? When we live
for Christ, our tastes and desire change too. No longer to we wear the immodest
apparel of our old master, but rather the resplendently white apparel of the
Lord.
We tinker in this work with the
trifles and cast the essentials to the winds of careless oblivion. The
'essentials' are faith in God, serving Him only, and acquitting ourselves as
men and women of a Holy calling. "30 Wherefore, if God so clothe
the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven,
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you." Have you sought the
Kingdom of God as your first priority in life? In fact, it is the ONLY Priority
for us. If we only will be diligent seekers of God and His righteousness, all
things needful for our being shall be added unto us. We do not set out to seek
first the Kingdom of God and something else - only the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness - THAT is enough!
"34 Take
therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the
things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
There is enough wicked and evil things happening in our world this very minute
that should occupy our concern rather than needlessly worrying about tomorrow.
Many are avid fans of prophetic writings on the return of Christ. Christ will
return when He is good and ready; however, He may return for any one of us
TODAY!. Concern yourselves with the condition of your soul TODAY, and let the
LORD worry about tomorrow. AMEN
