Audio of the sermon is here:

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

            What do you do with your fears and anxiety? Or maybe you don’t have them? Because a lot of people are anxious right now. Just from a brief search, there are books called An Anxious Age, An Age of Anxiety, and many others dealing with the way things are now. People seem more anxious than ever, and there might be a lot of reasons for that. But one of those reasons must have to do with a lack of control. You might still have anxiety about certain things if you were in control of your life, but if you don’t feel like you have control, anxiety is sure to be there. When everything’s happening to you and around you, regardless of what you do, you don’t have any control over it, and anxiety can flow free.

            A lot of that lack of control can be over large things, such as what’s happening in the world, or what’s happening to the creation, or what’s happening to children. But anxiety comes from the regular, everyday things, too. Jesus talks about what goes into your body and what goes on or over your body; what sustains your life, and what your body needs. So anxiety is nothing new; it’s just that we’ve taken the normal, everyday anxiety of what we’re going to eat and what we’re going to wear, and blown it up to encompass things and people everywhere.

            What should we do with all that fear and worry and anxiety? Jesus says, Don’t worry about what you’re going to eat and what you’re going to wear. Don’t be afraid—or, probably, stop being afraid. You’re worth much more than the birds. The God who feeds the birds will feed you, and the God who clothes the flowers will clothe you. Don’t be anxious. Now, it might sound like Jesus is just a first-century version of Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” I assume you’ve heard it, or at least part of it. There’s a line in that song that says, “in your life expect some trouble/But when you worry, you make it double.” That’s probably true. So is Jesus just saying, “You’re going to have some trouble, but don’t worry, be happy”?

            But don’t just consider the birds, who don’t sow or harvest; who don’t have rooms in their houses for their valuable possessions, or large barns to store their food. And don’t just consider the flowers, whom God has made beautiful and lovely, though they don’t work hard or spin fabric to wear. Consider Abram. God gave him a promise way back in Genesis 12 that He would make his offspring numerous, and bless all the nations of the world through Abram’s descendants. But now here, in chapter 15, Abram still doesn’t have even one child. And, of course, it’s hard to have a lot of grandchildren and great-grandchildren if you don’t even have one child. God starts by saying, Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. Don’t worry, Abram; be happy! But Abram can’t fix his anxiety just like that. But God, You haven’t given me any children yet, so it looks like Eliezer is going to be my heir. No, Abram, you will have a child of your own flesh and blood. Ok, well, what if my child is born from Hagar, my wife’s servant? No, Abram, a child from you and Sarai. And Abram believed God and God counted him righteous.

            I don’t know how it works. I don’t know how God’s word does this, how it creates the faith that God commands. Notice that nothing has changed for Abram in this moment. He doesn’t suddenly have a child. It’s not until chapter 21 that Sarah conceives and gives birth. So what’s going on? God doesn’t really give Abram anything new here in chapter 15. Maybe He says it in a different way, or maybe He uses different illustrations, like stars or sand, but there’s no new word here. It is exactly the same promise that God repeats to Abram, as He will to him when his name’s Abraham, as He will to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses and all the people, and on down through the centuries, until, at just the right time, God sends forth the descendant of descendants from the flesh and womb of Mary, and He blesses every nation by that descendant.

            There is one difference between God saying “Don’t worry” and everyone else saying it. Neither Bobby McFerrin nor anyone else has anything behind their “don’t worrys” or “be happys” except good wishes and nice intentions. Only Yahweh can say “Don’t be afraid” and “I will do it” and have it necessarily mean that worry and anxiety and fear are worth nothing compared to the promise of the almighty God. Only Jesus can say, “Don’t be anxious” and have it be more than a platitude. Because only the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has a sure, unbreakable promise behind “do not be afraid” and “do not be anxious.” And that promise makes all the difference in the world. It actually calls forth the trust that it demands. Because when God says “for you,” that means you should believe it. When God said He would multiply Abram’s descendants, that meant Abram should believe it. When Jesus speaks to His disciples with words that echo and reverberate down to us, He means they and you and I should believe it. The words “for you” require all hearts to believe. And the miracle—the unexplainable, indescribable, incomprehensible miracle—is that people do believe it, that I believe it, that you believe it. It’s astounding. God says “believe this.” And Abram believed God, and he was righteous. God says to you, “believe this.” And you do, and you are righteous. This forgiveness is for you. This body and blood are for you. This life is for you. This God is for you. Your Father knows that you need all these things. It is the Father’s good and perfect will that He give you the Kingdom by means of His Son, the King. And He will feed you with the food you need for this life as long as you have this life. And He will clothe and care for you as long as you have this body. But more: when this life and body wear out and run out, as they will, He does more: He feeds you with food for eternal life, with bread that never perishes. And He clothes you with Christ, the living one, so that you will not die, but live on in His righteousness. The God who takes care of birds and flowers is that “much-more” Father, who will not fail to take care of you. Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom; and all these other things will be added to you.

            In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 8/8/25