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Bethany Lutheran Church, Springdale Arkansas
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Take No Thought
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #54 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
Announcements and Prayers
- The flowers are from the parsonage garden.
- Medical care - Sarah Buck, Lori Howell, Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris, Kermit Way, Callie and her parents.
- Presidential debate on Tuesday.
Take No Thought
KJV Matthew 6:24 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.
Most people know this passage, because it is part of the wide-ranging Sermon on the Mount. Mammon is not mysterious. It goes beyond the necessities of life. I heard about one woman who said to her relatives, "Come to my house, so you can drool over my new kitchen."
Mammon is a word for wealth, and it is used in Luke as well. I remember a TV minister quoted his financial advisor saying, "I want you to have WEALTH!" That term mammon often works like a teeter-totter, used to hurt other kids in the olden days, by getting off at the bottom. This minister caught the vision of wealth - he stole an entire church. He was not going to use it, but he wanted possession of it and grabbed it illegally - without any remorse. One thing no one wants now is an enormous church building with very few attending. Watch the Facebook pages for churches selling fabulous audio-video equipment for their extra church "campuses."
That obvious conflict seems to fit this saying perfectly. The goal is not the Gospel but the appearance of success, desiring what others have that is measurable.
Serving God is the opposite of coveting what others have. My plumbing was being fixed up. Some workers were enchanted by the special wooden shelves I had from Arizona. The shelves were 12 feet across, but now are 6 feet wide, due to lack of space. They were happy to get the missing half from the garage. My friend from Moline has no cost no limit garage sales, which we copied for everything. Bible John just picked up a crate of small KJVs - 24 - for children.
It is fun to acquire and even more fun to share. A German saying, "Shared joy is doubled joy."
25 Therefore I say unto you, 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?
Our nature is to worry about things, even though God manages our lives with the Savior Jesus sending His angels to watch, protect, save, and heal. If you have not experienced this many times over, then you are not paying attention. It is clear in raising children but less likely to be appreciated among adults.
26 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?
Birds make it difficult to ignore their complicate behavior and their care for their children. One pair of blue jays built a nest outside our window in Bella Vista. Soon there were eggs and then the tiny hatchlings. We set up a small ladder inside so everyone could watch. Jays are ferocious protectors of their nests, but this pair watched calmly when I came outside to feed them sunflower seeds. Soon the little ones were flapping their wings. Who taught a skill only recently used in human flights? Once strong enough, the birds took flight and left us.
Some people are afraid of the aggression of blue jays. Maybe that is because they yell and flap their arms around to escape from the dive bombers. However, when seeds are sown for them, they will issue a beautiful bell-like sound.
Jesus, the Lord of Creation, teaches us that the birds seem to have nothing and yet God provides for them with abundance. I grow Poke weed because the prolific berries are the favorite food for 61 species of birds, which expand their food supply wherever they perch. Poke is 9 feet tall and loves the sun. Wild strawberries are ground level and also thrive from the birds airlifting the seeds and planting them from stumps, limbs, and bushes. They bloom in the shade and fill in the places between plants.
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.
I was out in the garden, looking for flowers for today. One bloom is Queen of Sweden. Others are Knockouts, pink and red. I walked over to the butterfly garden and saw a massive display of Russian sunflowers - hundreds of tiny yellow blooms, neglected all summer, except for the sun.
Another aspect of tiny flowers - like Alium (garlic) is their attraction to a wide variety of butterflies and insects.
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.
This is the Jewish comparison, from the lesser to the greater. If herbs and flowers cover the earth, for medicine, food, and beauty, how much more important are God's own people? Much of the malignant problems around us are from the basics of God's Creation. If we believe, then we know that God is answering even before we ask. Whatever we do ask is multiplied by God.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 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.
This is - of course - the righteousness of faith, not the righteousness of works. Trusting in God gives us access to His grace.
KJV Micah 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
