Matthew 6:24-26

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Everyone’s got worries. It’s so commonplace, it would probably be abnormal if you didn’t have worries. Well, there’s this children’s book series. They’re called Mr. Men Books, and every character has an absurd name that describes everything they are and everything they do. So Mr. Happy? Well, he’s always happy. Well, poor Mr. Worry. He is just constantly worried about every little thing. Everything in his life, whether he goes to the store or whether he doesn’t go to the store. He’s worried about it. He’s worried about his groceries. Whether he gets too much or too little. Spends too much. Everything causes him a great deal of worry and stress. Maybe you can relate to Mr. Worry.

Maybe if you were a Mr. Men book, you’d be Mr. or Mrs. Worry.

Well, if that’s the case, then these words of Jesus are especially for you. We read from Matthew chapter six, verses 24 to 26.

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon. For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? (Matthew 6:24-26)

Notice what comes before Jesus telling you not to worry. He says you can only serve one master. The master you should serve is God because God cares for you.

He cares for you while money, mammon does not. God cares for you more than everything else. And we see this especially in how he provides for us, especially in our most important need, in our need for forgiveness.

Because God saw in you more value than his Son’s life. And he gave Jesus to die in your place. Jesus lived a life perfectly trusting in God, perfectly serving God as his only master. He died to take away your sins of worry. Of mistrust when you followed after other masters. So don’t worry. Your sins are forgiven because God cares for you.

In these Mr. Men books, there’s a pretty good moral, I think, moral tale to Mr. Worry. At the end, he submits all his cares, all his worries on paper to a wizard, and the wizard makes sure none of those worries ever happens. Do you know what? Mr. Worry sleeps easy. Well, we don’t submit our worries on paper to a wizard, but actually, God provides us a much more abundant means to submit our worries in prayer. God promises to listen to your prayers, to listen to you, submit all your worries, all your cares, all the time.

And God promises to care for you. That’s a promise you can trust because of what God has done for you in His Son.

Amen.

Matthew 28:2-6

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If you’ve ever been to a gender reveal party, you know just how exciting and even a spectacle of an event they can be to witness. I remember for my nephew’s gender reveal party, there were special cakes, treats, snacks, whatever. The whole day was this ordeal and the pinnacle of events was throwing darts at balloons, and the balloons held the secret gender that was to be revealed. But even with all this pizzazz and flair, how could this surpass the birth of the baby?

In a similar way, the extraordinary appearance of the angel is just the announcement of the truly spectacular event, the resurrection of Jesus. We read in Matthew 28, beginning at verse two.

Suddenly, there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and going to the tomb, he rolled away the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so terrified of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. (Matthew 28:2-6)

I don’t know if we always totally appreciate just how awesome the events of the Bible really were. Particularly the resurrection of Jesus. I mean an angel, a heavenly being coming down in an earthquake as bright as lightning, clothes as white as snow. Enough to scare two highly trained military guards close to death. That is an extraordinary event.

The angel quickly calms the fears of the women. Points them to what they came for, or more particularly, what was missing. Certainly the resurrection might have been hard to believe. The appearance of the angels certainly gives it some street cred, but the angel doesn’t stop there. As if to calm the unvoiced doubts of the women, he points them to the tomb, which no longer holds Jesus’s body. And if that wasn’t enough, he also reminds them that this took place just as their Savior, Jesus, had told them about.

The angel calms the doubts of the women, and this account was written also to calm your doubts. And we may not have all the pizzazz and flair of the appearance of a heavenly being, but we receive heavenly adoption in our baptism. We may not be able to see the place where Jesus laid, but we receive Jesus’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper for the strengthening of our faith. Just like the women were told that these events would happen by Jesus. So also are we told in God’s written word. And these are written that you may believe and that by believing have life in Jesus’ name.

Jesus has conquered death. Death no longer has grips on you. Praise be to God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Matthew 26:66

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When I was a young child, one of the rules that we had in my parent’s house was thou shalt not use bad words. Now the punishment for being caught using bad words was having our mouth washed out with soap. Now, I don’t remember every single inappropriate word that I got caught using, but I do still remember what that yellow dial bar of soap tastes like. It’s disgusting.

The punishment fit the crime. We had a dirty mouth and we needed it to be cleaned. Jesus in our text is accused of a crime. Our text reads.

“What do you think?” They answered, “He is deserving of death!” (Matthew 26:66)

Jesus is crime according to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin was blasphemy. They accused Jesus of bad mouthing God and in this particular case, badmouthing God by claiming to be God. In the Old Testament, crimes of blasphemy were punishable by death. (Leviticus 24:16) The irony of there accusation here is that Jesus wasn’t guilty of blasphemy, but they were guilty of blasphemy.

Jesus hadn’t lied. He is the Christ, the Son of God. He always loved God perfectly. He never took his name in vain. The chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrin, on the other hand, were openly insulting, mocking and hitting Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They were blaspheming like nobody’s business. For their crimes. They were guilty of death. Just as you are for your crimes. Think of the last time you took God’s name in vain. Over the last time were you have not borne the name Christian properly. Have you cursed? Sworn? Lied? Deceived? You are guilty of blasphemy. You’re guilty of death.

It is because of your blasphemy and sins that Jesus came into this world. He took your verdict of guilty for himself so that you would receive the verdict of innocent. Even though Jesus was innocent, he took your title of blasphemy and gave you his title of Child of God. Though you were worthy of death for your sins. Jesus took that death in your place. So you would be declared forgiven, for Jesus sake. We see God’s stamp of approval in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. When God raised Jesus from the dead, he was accepting Jesus’ death in your place. Your sins are forgiven for Jesus sake. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:15, Luke 5:31

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How would you rank yourself on a scale of goodness? Or how would you even measure that scale? Would you compare yourself to the liars, the thieves, adulterers, the mass murderers and come out on top by comparison?

It can be easy to compare ourselves to other people, but it can also be dangerously unhealthy. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to Timothy, plays a sort of comparison game as well. He says

This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” of whom I am the worst. (1 Timothy 1:15 EHV)

And Paul plays this comparison game with the rest of the world, and he concludes that he is the worst of sinners. And indeed, Paul was a pretty bad guy. He was a blasphemer, a persecutor and murderer of Christians. He was deserving of terrible punishment. And yet he is the exact person whom Christ Jesus came to save.

Whatever sins have caused you to feel like you are the worst. Whatever sins have caused you to compare yourself with others and fall short. Those are the sins that Christ Jesus came into this world to die for. My friends, Christ came into this world to save sinners. Even Jesus himself says

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (Luke 5:31 NIV)

Christ came to save the sick. He did not come into this world, die by punishment on the cross, and rise triumphantly from the dead, because you were so great, but because you weren’t. And through faith in Christ Jesus, he takes your worst title and he gives you his title of perfection. You are a child of God because of what Jesus has done for you. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 1:21

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My name means dog. Now for myself and all the other Calebs out there, unless they really love dogs, that name probably doesn’t mean much. But for Mary and Joseph by the name that Joseph was to give the son in Mary’s womb, they knew that this was the Son of God. The name Jesus means Savior from sin. We read.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Jesus came to save his people, the Jews, and they were waiting a long time for their Jesus, the appointed one, to come and save them. Perhaps you can remember a time when you were waiting for a very specific gift on Christmas, and as the time approached, you were getting super excited. But when Jesus finally did come. The Jews were disappointed with their gift. They were expecting a king, someone to save them from this earthly kingdom, but instead they got a baby in a manger.

They were disappointed with the gift they had received. Maybe there are times when you, like the Jews from Jesus day, are disappointed with the Christmas gift. Or maybe there are times when Jesus doesn’t quite meet your expectations. If we forget the meaning of the name Jesus, it can be tempting to think that he didn’t actually save because there are still wars, hardships, poverty, broken relationships, and the like in this world. But when we remember the meaning of the name Jesus, we see that he is the Savior from sin.

Jesus came to save his people from much more important things than this earthly kingdom. He came to save them from sin, and he came to save you from sin as well. God knew that your greatest need was and is saving from sin. And he sent his Son to do just that. From birth to death to resurrection, Jesus did everything to save you from your sins, so that one day you will enjoy heavenly peace with your Savior. This Christmas season may your focus be on the greatest gift, the gift that subverts all expectations. The gift of Jesus Christ, the Savior from sin. Amen.