The Lifestyle of the Truly Rich and Famous

The Lord has taught you that your life is not in your own hands.  Accumulating possessions, and building bigger barns to keep them in, won’t save you; nor will it preserve your life one minute more than God permits you.  You could die at any time, on any given night; perhaps on this day.

So, if you take that to heart, you may be tempted to despair of any point or purpose to your life, or else to become frantic with worry and anxiety over what little time and opportunity you have.

It would seem a shame for you to die before you have a chance to enjoy all your nice stuff.  But, what happens if your stuff runs out before you die?  And you’re left hungry, homeless, and alone?

Have you saved enough?  Have you invested wisely?  Are your insurance and retirement adequate?  Are you the grasshopper or the ant?  When the days get dark and the cold comes, will you be okay?

If wealth and riches cannot save you, the lack of food and clothing may do you in.  You do have to eat and drink in order to live, and you do have to wear something, leastwise in the wintertime.

With food and clothing, you are to be content, the Scripture teaches.  But you may find that food and clothing are not so easy to come by, and that your life is consumed and spent in getting even that much.  Just keeping up with the meals and the laundry can be a full-time, never-ending job!

It may be that you are living hand-to-mouth, and having to make do with less than ideal means.

Or, maybe you actually have a more-than-adequate wardrobe, and better-than-average meals, and really more than enough to survive; and yet, you’re not content, but restless and hungry for more.  You may not understand why, but you find that you are still driven to acquire and accumulate, to accomplish and achieve; that you are never satisfied, but insatiable in your appetite.

You’d be inclined to agree with Jesus, that “life is more than food, the body more than clothing.”  But you’re hard pressed to say what the “more” might be, which will finally put your heart and mind at ease.  Far less are you able to find it or lay hold of it for yourself.

Learn, then, from your Lord, what your life is, and where it is found, and how you may have it.

Jesus teaches you, first of all, what not to do with your life, your time and energy: Do not worry, He says, nor spend yourself seeking the temporal wants and needs of this body and life on earth.  Rather, live like a carefree child in your Father’s home.  You know how that is.  Young children don’t worry about where their clean clothes or their next meal are going to come from; they simply trust and take for granted that their Mom and Dad are going to provide whatever they need.  That is how it is for you, too, and that is how you are to live: without stressing about your basic needs.

That doesn’t mean that you should be lazy or negligent in your duties.  As children grow, they are given chores to do, by which they are able to contribute to the life of their household and family.  So, too, God has given you the labors and responsibilities of your particular place and position; just as the birds and the flowers do exactly as much and as little as God has given them to do.

There’s a difference between using your God-given intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom to plan and prepare for your day and the days ahead, and falling into the anxious worry that Jesus here warns you against.  It’s a matter of doing your own job, whatever it may be, in peace and quiet, and of not attempting to do what isn’t your job, and not agonizing over that which you can’t do.

It’s a bit like the difference between driving a car and riding in a plane: Your life is in the Lord’s hands, either way, but, as a driver, you’re responsible for operating the vehicle safely and with due caution, whereas, if you are an airline passenger, there’s nothing for it but to sit back and ride.

So, then, stop fretting and fussing about your body and life, about your meals and your wardrobe.  First of all, because there is far more to real life than food and clothing; and, by that, Jesus doesn’t mean the wealth and riches that you covet and the world chases after, but the forgiveness of your sins, the resurrection of your body, and the life everlasting of your body and soul with the Lord.

The second reason not to be anxious and worry, is that it doesn’t do any good: It’s actually another case and example of your self-idolatry, by which you suppose that you can make life for yourself.  But you can’t.  You can only live the life that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has given you.  So, live that life; do what you’re given to do, as you can; and don’t worry about what you can’t.

The third reason Jesus gives for not being anxious and afraid about your life, is that the Lord your God is taking care of you: He knows your needs and well provides them.  For He is your Father, and you are His dear child.  And He is your Good Shepherd, who loves you, His own little lamb.  He’s not going to forget about you, nor lose track of you, nor leave you without what you need.

Therefore, instead of seeking after temporal, perishable things, which is a waste of your life, and a waste of your time and energy, Jesus teaches you to seek the Kingdom of His God and Father, in which you have life forever, and all good things are yours, by His grace.

This “seeking” of which the Lord speaks is not like playing “hide and seek,” but it is the setting of your heart and mind on that which is most important to you, and the investing of yourself with single-minded purpose in that which you value more than anything else: Like a man in love, whose every breath, every thought, and every action is ruled by his passion for that one girl.  Except that such devotion belongs, by rights, only to the Holy Triune God: In every other case, it is idolatry.

But how do you go about seeking the Kingdom of God?  It is by faith, and not by sight; and faith is by the preaching of Christ.  You cannot find it on your own, but the Word of the Lord comes to you: God the Father speaks to you by His Son, and thereby gives to you His Holy Spirit, so that, by His grace, you believe His Holy Word, and you begin to live a godly life according to it.

The Kingdom of God is not something you can see or experience with your outward senses in this fallen world.  You hear it and know it, and you have it, by faith in the Word and promises of God: under the Cross, in apparent contradiction, in foolishness and weakness.  Sin and death continue, in yourself and in your neighbor.  So, it may seem as though God’s promises were null and void, or as though He had forgotten all about them.  Or, they may simply seem so impossible and contrary to fact, that they couldn’t be true, as sometimes seemed to be the case with Abram.

Consider the ravens and the lilies, for example, as the Lord Jesus urges you to do.  He tells you that God cares far more for you than for those birds and flowers, and that He will therefore feed you and clothe you, as He does them.  And yet, if even the great King Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these, then neither are you clothed as beautifully as the lilies are; not in this life.  And, whereas the ravens neither sow nor reap, concerning people God has said, “by the sweat of your brow shall you eat from the ground,” and again, “if anyone will not work, let him not eat.”

Besides all that, it is also the case that birds fall to the ground; the grass withers; the flower dies.  And surely the people are like grass, which burns, all their glory like the flower that fades away.

There is a need to distinguish the good life which God gives to you here and now — for it, too, is from His hand, and by His grace; and it is good, to be received with thanksgiving, and sanctified by His Word and prayer — but this temporary earthly life must be distinguished from the divine, eternal Life that God gives to you forever, by the Cross, through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.  It is not your life and your experience on earth, but the Word of the Lord, which endures forever.

Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, therefore, by hearing and heeding His Word, as He comes to you in the preaching of His Gospel.  Listen to it, cling to it, and live according to it.  Use the Law rightly by letting it curb your sin and guide your behavior, and, above all, by using it to examine yourself, your heart and mind, your thoughts, words, and actions, and by confessing your sin and seeking the forgiveness of the Gospel.  So also, then, receive and trust the Gospel.

You seek the Kingdom of God, and you find that it is yours, by receiving it from His open hand; for He has chosen gladly to give it to you, and He does.  Whatever you have in this body and life is by His grace, in, with, and under the Cross.  And by the Gospel is the promise and the foretaste of the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting of your body and soul.

The Lord your God has gladly given you His Kingdom, by clothing you with the righteousness of Christ, and with Christ Himself, in the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism.  And He has chosen gladly to give you His Kingdom, by feeding you with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion.  Such are the garments that do not wear out or get eaten by moths.  Such is the Food that does not perish, but which bestows eternal Life with God.  And if God so covers you and fills you with His own dear Son, shall He not also provide you with every good thing?

That is why you are free to let go of your possessions, and free to love and serve your neighbor with whatever God has given you: with steady confidence, and without fear, anxiety, or worry.

This is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you, that you might have everlasting life in Him:  He has sought the Kingdom of His God and Father, in order to bestow it upon you in peace.  His clothing is the Holy Spirit, and His food and drink are the doing of His Father’s will: He has lived by every Word that His Father has spoken to Him, in order to fulfill the Father’s Word for you.

It was for Him, in the flesh, as it is for you under the Cross; that is, by faith in the promise, and not by sight.  He trusted that His Father would feed Him, even while He fasted in the wilderness and suffered the assaults and accusations of the devil.  By faith, He took the Cup that His Father gave Him to drink, in the Garden of Gethsemane, although He knew that it was filled with wrath and judgment, and with the curse of sin and death.  He entrusted His body and life to His God, in the confidence of the resurrection.  When He was stripped naked and hung up to die in public shame, He trusted that His Father would raise Him up in glory, vindicate Him openly, and clothe Him in the beauty of His own divine holiness.  When the Hour came, He was found ready and waiting.

This is how the Kingdom of God has come, and how it is now given to you: In the flesh and blood of the Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead; given and poured out for you at His Table.

When He teaches you to seek the Kingdom, He is not sending you on some great impossible quest to the ends of the earth, to infinity and beyond.  No, He is simply calling your attention to what is already here for you, to what is spoken into your ear, to what is given into your mouth and body.  He teaches you to seek the very thing that He and His Father and His Spirit delight to give you!

Oh, how blessed you are, dear child of God!  For here you are found in the House of your Father.  You need not worry about what you will eat and drink, nor about what you will wear.  For all you need has been provided.  Your Father has sacrificed the Passover Lamb: See, His Blood now marks your door.  Death shall not rob you of your life, nor snatch you from this Sanctuary.  But, rather, behold, the Lamb who was slain, He lives!  He who has departed, has returned and entered in.

Now He girds Himself to serve you.  Now He bids you to recline and be at peace.  Have no fear!  Now He cleanses you with His Word of forgiveness.  Now He anoints your head with the Oil of His Spirit.  Now His Cup is overflowing, no longer with the wrath of God, but with His blessing and His free and full Salvation.  Now His Flesh and Blood are your Meat and Drink indeed.  Now are you clothed and fed.  Come, beloved little lamb of Christ: Enter into the joy of your Master!

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Set Your Heart and Mind on Christ

Blessed are those who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works of faith and love do follow them in Christ, into His Resurrection and the life everlasting.

But he who dies with the most toys . . . dies . . . and all his toys will go to someone else: to family, friend, foe, or stranger.  Perhaps they will go to his children, who will foolishly fight over them.

Beloved, beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed.  The Lord has warned you, and His Apostle, St. Paul, has told you what such greed amounts to: It is idolatry, the worship of false gods.  So has Dr. Luther taught in his catechisms, too, that, whatever it is that you trust in, whatever you long for and depend upon, whatever you desire and look to for help and happiness, that is your god.  Whether it is something you already hold in your hand, or horde in your barns, or that which you crave and covet in your neighbor.

Maybe it is money, or maybe it is some other kind of wealth and riches.  Maybe it’s your spouse, or your children, or your neighbor’s family, or the apparent freedom of those who have no family.  Maybe it’s medals and trophies.  Maybe it’s friendship and popularity.  Maybe it’s some talent.

Your sinful heart is able to make a false god out of anything, or anyone, including the good gifts of God: Not wealth or riches, but greed and covetousness of every kind are the problem at hand.  In striving after such idols, in sweating bullets to stockpile and safeguard the idols you’ve got, you turn your heart and mind away from the true and only God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and you turn away from your neighbor, as well, even while using your neighbor to stock your barns with stuff.  For such unfaithfulness the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.

Your idolatry is not only sinful and wrong; it is foolish and self-defeating.  In being consumed with yourself and your stuff, you are finally consumed.  It’s already consuming you in the meantime, because putting your trust in perishable and passing things cannot provide you with peace or rest.  Even late at night, you won’t be able to sleep well if your god is not the Lord: No matter how smart you are, no matter how savvy and skilled, no matter how long and hard you work, and no matter how careful you may be, with insurance and security in place, it’s still a losing game, and it’s only a matter of time before your soul shall be required of you.

Therefore, do not look for life in your possessions, and do not spend your life storing up treasures for yourself on earth.  Repent of all your greed, and die to yourself, to your selfishness and lust.

To die in this way is not a matter of despair, but of turning away from your false gods — beginning with yourself — and turning to the one true God in Jesus Christ your Lord.  Both false belief and unbelief alike are foolishness, but wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord: in the Cross of Christ.

It is the case that, what appears wise in the eyes of the world, is foolish in the sight of God; and what appears foolish to the world, is the real wisdom of God in Christ the Crucified.  Set your eyes and ears, your heart and mind on Him.  Lift up your heart unto the Lord, and keep seeking those things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the Right Hand of God.  That’s where your life is.

Christ Jesus is your Life: True God in the flesh, who has given Himself for you in His death upon the Cross; who has risen from the dead, never to die again, but to live and reign for all eternity.

His Vineyard and His Field bear the abundant Fruits of His Cross and Passion: not for Himself, but to the Glory of His God and Father, and for the good of all His neighbors, including even you.  It is for this reason that He has built His one Holy Christian Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, upon the Ministry of the Gospel, even to the ends of the earth.

He is not a miser, but the true Philanthropist, the true Lover of souls and the Charity of God.  For He did not count His divinity as something to be hoarded for His own perpetual enjoyment, but He humbled Himself, and poured Himself out, and made Himself nothing, in order to save all the poor, miserable sinners of the world.  Though He was rich with all the wealth of Paradise, He made Himself poor and wretched, despised and rejected, in order to give you the inheritance of heaven.

For you and for the many, He has stored up all the treasures of His Kingdom with God the Father in the heavenly places.  But, so also, by His Word and Holy Spirit, He has stored up these same treasures in His Church on earth, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the Word of Holy Absolution, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and in the Holy Communion, so that you may eat, drink, and live.

This, too, is from the hand of God.  For who can eat and drink or have enjoyment without Him?

Therefore, pray and work, as He has taught you, not for the bread which perishes, but for the true and living Bread of Christ, which does not perish but gives you everlasting Life in body and soul.

And as you are thus fed and nourished by the Gospel of your dear Lord Jesus Christ, be satisfied and content with whatever else He gives you in this poor life of labor.  And “be rich toward God.”

Okay, then.  But what on earth does that mean?

The Lord God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker and Preserver of all things, He doesn’t need your stuff: Actually, it isn’t “your stuff,” anyway, but His to begin with.  Return thanks to Him for all His gifts and benefits, and use His stuff to glorify His Holy Name by using it according to His Word.

Really, to “be rich toward God” does not mean giving anything to Him, but to look to Him for all good things; to call upon His Name with confidence that He will hear and answer; and to receive with gratitude whatever He gives into your hand.  It is to live by faith in Christ your Savior.  And, with such faith, you are “rich toward God,” also, by your charity and generosity toward others.

That is how the Lord has taught His people to live: Not to glean your vineyards and your fields to the ground, but to leave what remains for the poor of the land to receive from His gracious hand.  To store up the abundance He provides on Friday for the Sabbath Rest of your entire household; not only for your own family, but also for your workers.  And to reap whatever He sows and brings forth, not for your merriment and ease, but for the feeding of the hungry when famine comes.

He would not have brothers and sisters divided by greed and competition for things that perish, but united in faith and love, and united in all things — as the early Church had all things in common.

Whatever the Lord your God has put into your hands, whether a little or a lot, He has entrusted it to you as a stewardship of His grace, in order to provide for all your needs of body and soul, because He loves you; and to serve your neighbor, as well, as an instrument of His providence.

The greatest wealth of all, in this mortal life in a fallen world, is the free forgiveness of all sins, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  That is the “judgment” and “arbitration” that He has been appointed to give, for which He has received all authority in heaven and on earth: To forgive sins by His Cross and Passion, and to justify the ungodly with the righteousness of His Resurrection.  That is the “coin of the realm,” the chief currency of the Kingdom of God in this life on earth.

So, then, not only do you feed and clothe your neighbor, and shelter the homeless, and visit the prisoner, as the Lord provides you with the ways and means and opportunities to do all of these things; but you also forgive your neighbor his sins against you, as the Lord Jesus forgives you.

For He has not simply come to visit you in the prison house of your sin and death, but He has set you free by His Word of the Gospel.  He has opened His hand to fill your hands with Himself and His Life, and with all the good things of God.  You need not waste your time chasing after wind, because He has poured out the Holy Spirit generously upon you, and has filled you with the Spirit.

You need not be shackled and chained by the relentless pursuit of perishable things, which cannot give you life or save you; because you have already died to yourself and to your foolish idolatry, and you are daily raised up to newness of life with the Holy Triune God.  He has not coveted your soul, as though to rob you of anything, but He has called you in body and soul to Himself, in order to bestow His blessed peace and Sabbath rest upon you.  That is what He gives to you in this Meal.

You have heard His Word and promise: Your life is hidden with Christ in God.  You could not be more safe and secure than you are there!  For though your life is hidden under the Cross, and it is hard to see, except by faith; nevertheless, it is real, sure, and certain in Christ Jesus, who has risen from the dead and lives forever.  Such is the wisdom of God.  He is your Life, who shall not fail you; who shall never be taken away from you, nor you from Him.  He lives and reigns within you, by the Word and Spirit of His Gospel, and His good works in you now follow after Him in peace.

Here, then, take your rest.  Eat and drink, dear friend of God, and rejoice now in the labors of your Lord, who loves you.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.