Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 12 February 2023.
• First Reading: Isaiah 49: 8-16 (In the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you)
• Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4: 1–5 (Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes)
• Gospel: Matthew 6: 24–34 (Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well)
Part of the purpose of town and country planning is to assess what uses could be made of land and how well different land uses fit together.
Industrial activities resulting in the emission of noise, smoke, fumes, or effluent will not sit well with housing, and so these uses would be normally kept apart. But domestic hobbies could be carried on at home while commercial activities not emitting these nuisances might be acceptable.
So yes, choices have to be made. In the same way, a games field might be adapted from soccer to rugby or cricket but these would not be played at the same time, and the ground would never be used at the same time as a sporting rifle range.
Again, there are choices to be made and priorities set. To make one kind of decision is to preclude another. The same pound cannot be spent twice – at least, not by the same person.
But then there is Jesus’ remark that we cannot serve both God and money. He did not say that we cannot use money while serving God but each is exclusive of the other when priorities are being set and applied.
This is where things become complicated. The pursuit of money above all else is to put it above all other relationships and loyalties. The saving of the last penny or the gaining of the best deal with any supplier can become the all-demanding aim in life – and that includes lording it over those whose money sense is not quite as acute as our own.
It becomes part of the quest for the most glamorous lifestyle, the most fashionable taste in anything and everything that we consume and in making sure that everyone else knows it.
It becomes a corrosive competition destroying all of real value here and now – and worst of all, it is all left behind at the point of death.
So Jesus has no sympathy for avarice, especially when it undermines faith in God and the quality of personal relationships and contacts.
It does not mean that we live in times of perfect security and foreknowledge. That we emphatically do not do.
But the God who created the human body and its lifespan, the seasons of the year and the days of planting and harvesting, knows perfectly well that there can be times of real insecurity.
Yes, in a fallen and corrupt world, there are times of drought and pestilence, of famine and natural disasters. Some may seek to profit from them and others may find in them opportunities to serve both God and neighbour.
But then God also has priorities, among which are life and the quality of relationships.
That quality of relationships starts with the relations that people have with Him – and where faith in His provision has its own powerful dynamic.
That faith leads to a different kind of way of looking at one another and our neighbours. No longer as rivals or opponents but as fellow creatures, made not to live alone but in families and in society.
Just as a personal life founded on a sand of self-absorption is going to sag spiritually, morally and emotionally, the same applies to the life of a family or a community. If its foundations are weak then it will crumble under stress.
It will become a matter of every person for him or herself and the weakest will fail and will fall.
It will no longer be a community at all – only a form of dictatorship or warlordism.
And so Jesus says rather more. Not only that God and money cannot both be the supreme good, but also that by seeking God first then the other needs of life will be found as well.
This is the second aspect of what Jesus had to say.
If life as a whole is precious to God – whether it is the birds of the air or the flowers of the field – then the life of those who seek His face and who serve His purposes are even more deeply loved.
What and whom God has saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus are valued above all others, for they are bought by the outpoured life of Jesus Himself. His blood, far more than that of all the sacrifices of the temple or on battle fields down the course of history.
It is not just that Jesus went to the cross for the sins of the world – which He did. He did this for me and my sins – for you and yours. And in accepting that we are personally bound up in what Jesus is and did: we are part of His household and heritage.
And so we are not trophies on display on some heavenly shelf – we are given the indemnity of Jesus and made part of His household.
It does not exempt us from trial and rejection – if anything it can expose us to them. But rather than that, we are living members of the kingdom of God.
And He will not allow us to go without food or drink, clothing or homes when He has already given His life for us. And even when the powers of the earth reject God and do so by oppressing His followers in Jesus, He will never turn away from them, especially in times of trouble when the world’s choice is against the things of God.
