Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

Today’s psalm, Psalm 146, was also the appointed psalm a few weeks ago. But that’s okay. The opening verses tell us that such psalms of praise are to be continually on our hearts, as well as on our lips. “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being” (vv. 1-2).

 

At the end of the sermon on this appointed psalm a few weeks ago, I noted that “while I have my being” will be a good long time, since the LORD has given to me the gift of eternal life. Perhaps it is not as hard to imagine looking forward to the time when we will join the saints and angels in heaven singing praises directly before the glorious throne of God, as it is to actually carry out such praise now while we live this frail earthly life, while our being is confined to the worries and anxieties of the present age.

 

Yet it is chiefly the character of God’s ‘mercy’ that inspires our praise of Him. He is merciful to those in need who cry out to Him for help. When the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt God heard their cries for deliverance, and He answered mightily, having mercy on the prisoners. When God became flesh and Jesus walked among His people, He had mercy and compassion on all who cried out to Him amid the struggles and afflictions of this life. And all of this has chiefly taught us to call out to the LORD for mercy on account of our sins, for we know His answer.

 

The mercy of God was put on full display when He hung on the cross for the salvation of the world. There is no better or clearer picture of the mercy of God than when He gave Himself into suffering and death, for the forgiveness of our sins and to free us from captivity in the devil’s kingdom. And the great consequence of that is eternal life with Him where the cares and concerns of this life will find their greatest satisfaction in the resurrection life, in the new heavens and earth unspoiled by any curse of sin or any trace of suffering, affliction, or death.

 

It is much easier to look forward with anticipation to that day of resurrection than to look forward with anticipation to tomorrow. For often when we look ahead to tomorrow we are filled with all kinds of anxieties about what will happen: “How will our needs be met; what disaster will strike the world; what will happen to my children?”. Sometimes we even have those questions that Jesus brought up in today’s Gospel reading: “What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or what shall we wear?” (Matthew 6:25). These questions arise despite the abundance of resources available to us because we are not always sure about our ability to get the groceries or cook a meal or wash the clothes that are all around us.

 

We live in a society that promotes concern for social welfare issues, like hunger, homelessness, elder care, health and mental health care, yet we never seem to be able to solve these problems. It is not as if no one cares. Plenty of people do care. If they do not have these concerns for themselves, then they have them on behalf of family members and friends. The concerns are just about universal, and yet the solutions are seldom readily apparent.

 

We have to search through community and health supports and navigate their criteria. We have to be sensitive to the personal needs of family members and friends to whom we might also be looking for help. We have to be honest about our own situation and take a long look and perhaps a hard look at where our abundance might have to be transferred to areas of need, where we might have to give up some things that are not essential in order to tend to what causes us anxiety and worry.

 

There is a picture that people like to portray of themselves as successful and worry free. It is seldom accurate, but it has created within all of us a false goal and desire for what our life should look like. As if we should all live in a spacious home and be surrounded with healthy and happy family members. There should be plenty of food miraculously appearing in the refrigerator and on the table with little effort. Everything should be neat and tidy and everyone in top mental and physical health. Well, life in this fallen world just isn’t that way.

 

But with such a picture constantly placed before our eyes, not only do we feel like we have failed in life, but that we are the only one who is suffering. If that picture doesn’t represent us, we surely feel that it is an accurate representation of most of the people around us. That just isn’t so. Everyone who lives in this world suffers under the curse of sin.

 

Not even the princes of humanity can satisfy our many and extensive needs. The government programs fall short. The economy cannot be brought under control. The hospitals are always filled, no matter how many of them there are. There have always been homeless people in the cities or passing through. There will always be orphans and widows and refugees, because no one in any of the kingdoms of this world can solve these problems. They are all under the curse of sin as much as each one of us. As our psalm says, they will all return to the dust, and all of their plans will perish (v. 4).

 

This is why we worry and are anxious about what we will eat and what we will wear and how we will live. This is why Jesus addressed these concerns in His sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:31). It brings no comfort to know of the universality of suffering and anxiety in the world, but it does bring comfort to know that Jesus spoke about it. God knows about it. He knows what you are worried and anxious about. And He is a God of great mercy and compassion.

 

Today’s psalm reminds us that although we are anxious and worried about many things, we are blessed. “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Psalm 146:5). That is you, isn’t it? Is this not your God, the God of mercy and compassion, the God who hears your cries and prayers, the God who acknowledges and spoke about your very concerns when He took on our human flesh and suffered these very same things Himself?

 

Your God is the one who made heaven and earth and all that fills them. Your God is the one who keeps His promises to His people. He promised to make the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into a great nation and to bless all nations through him. He has done that by making a kingdom of many nations through faith in His promises of grace and mercy.

 

This is the God who brought justice for His people enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years. He delivered them with awesome deeds of power and grace. This is the God who miraculously fed them in the wilderness with bread from heaven and who sent His own Son to be the living bread that comes down from heaven to give life to the world. And He proved it by feeding thousands with bread and fish, and more so by providing an enduring meal of His own flesh and blood, crucified for the sins of the world and raised to everlasting life to give life everlasting to all.

 

Blessed are you because your God in whom you hope, who is your help, is this Jesus who set free those captive to the devil and his evil spirits, who opened the eyes of the blind, who raised up widows and orphans from their burdens in daily life, who cared for Samaritans and Gentiles and Canaanites as well as His own people.

 

Your hope is in this Lord who lives and reigns forever with authority and power and might over all, and who yet comes to you daily in His Word and has made you His own in your Baptism, and who feeds you in His Holy Supper. He forgives your sins of worry and doubt and the sins that are born from them: sins of manipulation and coercion and envy and resentment.

 

He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the flowers of the field, but He has not provided for their salvation. That is a gift that is unique to you in all of creation. He does all of this for you, because He cares for you. That doesn’t mean that you will never fall, for the birds that do fall from the sky are the ones that He feeds. Still He knows when they fall, and so He knows when you fall and He cares for you, feeds you, clothes you, and heals you. And when you fall for the final time into death, He takes you to Himself where all of these worries and anxieties find their satisfaction. And He promises to raise you up to eternal life, never to fall again.

 

So also, the flowers that He so beauteously clothes, they wither and fade. And we see that all around us at this time of year. But there is also an autumnal beauty as the leaves and blossoms die. We know that they will burst forth again in the Spring and we will be amazed once again at their wondrous array. And yet none of that can compare with the compassion with which He clothes you. For He covers you not just in skin and cloth, but with His own righteousness, holiness, and glory.

 

At times we suffer need due to the fallen condition of our world and the sins that we have thrown into the melting pot of this world of wickedness. But we have a Lord who knows our every need, and who even through our needs points us to the salvation that He has provided for us. Our needs increase as we move closer to the day of our death. Our bodies wear out with age, our companions are removed from us, we become alienated from the community, our independence wanes and our reliance on others increases. It causes us many worries and anxieties.

 

It is not that younger people have nothing to worry about. They too can become anxious as they look at the world approaching the day of its end and they see obvious signs of its descent into depravity and decay in both its physical and spiritual dimensions. These anxieties and worries can drive us to further sins that seek to manipulate our circumstances and the people around us in a mode of panic to grab for all of the things that we think we need; or these same anxieties and worries can drive us to the merciful Lord of care and compassion.

 

Remember who your God is, O Zion, O Church of Christ. Do not let the anxieties and worries of this life silence your praises of the LORD who is your help and your hope. Seek first His kingdom, given to you in Christ Jesus. The answer to all worry and care is found in Him. The Christian faith is not just a tranquilizer to get you to care less as you need more care. Faith in Christ Jesus is the revelation that your heavenly Father always knows what you need, and has already provided all that is necessary for you to live forever. He will care for you now, in this life, in the way that best prepares you for the everlasting life of glory that is to come.