BTW – LOVED N.T. Wright’s devotional on prayer today! If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you read that first.
Living totally without worry sounds, to many people, as impossible as living without breathing. Some folks are so hooked on worry that if they haven’t got anything to worry about they worry that they’ve forgotten something! Here in the Sermon on the Mount is an invitation that few people appreciate, and even fewer try to take up. It’s an invitation to kingdom life.
Matthew tells us that Jesus launched his ministry by going throughout the region of Galilee ‘teaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom…'(4:23). This kingdom that Jesus speaks of is described in chapters 5-7 through the Sermon on the Mount. Have you ever stopped to wonder what the good news of the kingdom would have been? I mean, Jesus was years away from dying and being raised from the dead. So, just what does this mean? In order to understand why this would be good news, we have to understand what it is that God has always wanted. And what he’s wanted is to have his kingdom (his rule and reign) here on earth.
As it was in the beginning, his rule was to be realized in a covenant relationship with his cherished of all creation – humanity. Due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience, though, this covenant relationship was ruptured and they, and all of creation, were plunged into brokenness. From that point onward, God has been hard at work reestablishing his covenant with humanity with the aim that his kingdom might again dwell (as it does in heaven) here on earth.
The good news of the kingdom that Jesus was proclaiming was that God’s kingdom had arrived (and was arriving) in him…that through his presence, God was beginning his work of making all things new.
The basis for this kingdom would be the completed work of Christ – the Law (covenant) having been perfectly fulfilled, and Jesus’ sacrificial atonement for sin. The result of these would open the door to the possibility of a new reality – one where humanity could finally, and fully, be human again (having been remade in the image of God through their faith). The result of this would make possible a covenant relationship with God – their Lord and King.
So, the Sermon on the Mount served as a sort of manifesto – a description the kingdom that was arriving, how it would be established, what sorts of dispositions would accompany it, and whom it was that would participate in it. Chapter 6 shifts its focus from discussion about the Law to a series of behaviors/dispositions that will accompany their covenant relationship with God: Giving to those in need, praying, and fasting. The emphasis with each is not merely to do them, but to focus on why and how they are to be done. When we give, do so not because there is a need. Rather, we are to give because we are eager to love and please God. When you pray, what and who you are in private is who your are. So don’t try to make a big deal of it, and don’t feel like you’ve got to impress anyone with big words or churchy phrases. Simply talk to God. Lastly, when you fast, don’t make a big deal about it. Fast not to impress anyone, or even God. Simply fast so that you might grow in love and relationship to him.
Following this, Jesus continues his talk about priorities and what it will look like when we really put God first. When we do, he says, we will love and trust him more than our money and our stuff. We will guard our hearts against money’s power as we choose to love and serve God now (where he is, instead of our money and our possessions, our true treasure).
This finally brings us to Jesus’ comment about worry, which begins with, “therefore.” “Being these sorts of people (those who are eager to love and please God; who pray desiring to see his kingdom come and his will be done; who trust in God’s daily provision for forgiveness and food to the degree that we might forgive as he forgives; who earnestly fast so as to grow in relationship with him; and whose life treasure is met in God), it makes sense that Jesus would say, “Don’t worry.” For it is precisely because we’ve chosen to love and trust God in this way that worry just makes no sense. Instead, “As we seek first God’s in-breaking kingdom values, what we need will be given to us.” THIS is why it makes sense that Jesus would say this. It’s just good kingdom logic.
When our priorities line up with God’s (when loving God and others, when trusting in God’s power and not our own, when depending on God and not food, and when we’ve chosen to love and trust him over our stuff), worry just makes no sense.
I write this in the midst of having had some horrifying news delivered me last night: A friend of mine (only slightly older than I) was suddenly admitted to the hospital yesterday with an aggressive form of cancer that has grown unnoticed and has enveloped one of his kidneys, spread to his lungs, and has made its way into his lymphatic system. Do I fear that my brother in Christ might die? Absolutely. I love this man and we’ve shared deeply together he and I. Am I inclined to worry about his dear wife and his y0ung children? Indeed. Do I fear that he might suffer? Most certainly.
Here’s the deal: Jesus’ doesn’t tell us that we should not be sad (he himself wept at Lazarus’ tomb). Nor does he say we are not to be concerned or confused (even he wrestled with God in the Garden). We are asked, though, to trust. Trust with such a full trust that even in the midst of impossible circumstances, we might still know the joy of his abundant love. We are asked to trust that God’s character and nature remain steadfast and that he is still a God of miracles. We are asked to believe that through prayer, and by fasting, miracles can, and are wrought here on earth. Jesus tells us (me) not to worry…not to fret…not to imagine the worst…but instead: To trust, to remain, and to rest in his steadfast love and grace. And so, in the midst of my friend’s devastating news, I will pray (ferociously and frequently), I will fast (asking for a deeper knowledge of God’s goodness), and I will give to those who are needy (whatever I can, and with a desire to please only God), and I will do so knowing that the God who covers the hills with the beauty of flowers…the God who knows about every bird that flies, and has numbered the very hairs on my head…the God who orders the stars in the heavens…is the God looking after, caring for, and providing grace that is sufficient to my friend (and any who would ask for it).
Let me leave you with a quote that a dear friend of mine posted this morning on Facebook. While it’s not exactly about what I’ve been talking about, it hits (I think) at the same place (where we place our trust):
The difference in shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can’t stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope – and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend on it) disappoint us. … Walter Wangerin Jr., “Reliving the Passion”
Let us choose to love and trust God. In doing so, may we find the joy that God promises. A joy that has no shelf for worry.
Lent 2014 