Sermon preached 13 September 2026
Reading: Matthew 6:24–34
Tr Pastor Lawrence McCatty
Satan wants to break your trust in God
In the book of Genesis we hear how God created a perfect world for Adam and Eve. Of the hundreds of fruit bearing trees that He had given them, He told them not to eat from one single tree. They simply had to NOT do one thing, as an act of obedience and gratitude to God for all that He had given them.
And Satan, in the form of a serpent, told them that God was holding out on them, that He was keeping the best fruit for Himself.
He tells Eve that the reason God had forbidden them from eating from this tree, wasn’t that it would destroy your relationship with Him and with His creation. But that it was because He doesn’t want the best for you.
He can’t be trusted. He doesn’t care about you and doesn’t love you, otherwise why would He withhold this beautiful and obviously tasty fruit from you?
We know what happened next. The disastrous consequences of their distrust of God, the eternal separation from Him that could only be fixed by God the Son being sacrificed to take the curse upon himself and restore and reconcile us to Him.
And Satan has been using this same, and highly successful, tactic throughout human history. He wants people to distrust God, to believe that God doesn’t have their best interests at heart, doesn’t really care about them, and certainly doesn’t love them.
Jesus teaches us to trust God in ALL things
So in our text today we hear Jesus teaching his disciples, and us, to trust God in all things, that we should not be anxious, or worry, because God can be trusted to take care of every aspect of our lives because He knows exactly what we need.
Jesus starts by telling us that:
“No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
The Aramaic word he uses is “Mammon” which means ‘money’, ‘wealth’ or ‘riches’.
But why does Jesus specifically call out money?
There are so many stumbling blocks and earthly desires that come between us and God, that Jesus could have spoken about – lust, jealousy, anger to name just a few – but why wealth specifically?
Because just as 2000 years ago when Jesus spoke these words, so it is today, that the accumulation of wealth for its own sake, coveting, is a symptom of distrusting God and His promises.
It is the thing that so many people make an idol of, that they serve, that replaces God. It is why Jesus says later in Matthew’s Gospel that:
“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Because once you start worshipping the idol of riches, of coveting money, it is very difficult to let go.
As Paul tells the Colossians in chapter 3 of his letter to them:
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. “
It goes to the heart of the First Commandment – “You shall have no other gods before me”. For if you’re trusting in your wealth, you’re not trusting God. For: “You cannot serve God and money.”
So, do you trust God in all things?
To be clear, it is not forbidden to have money and possessions. We cannot get along without them, but it is one thing to have possessions and another to serve them; to have mammon, and to make a god out of it.
The unrighteous, those who do not have the hope and assurance that we do, strive after wealth and other earthly pleasures as THE most important things in life. They have no thought beyond the gratification of their bodily desires. As we hear Jesus say in verse 32 of our text:
“For the Gentiles seek after all these things,”
The pursuit of wealth and possessions gives the external illusion of security and comfort that we all desire, but it comes at a heavy price. Jesus asks the question later in Matthew’s Gospel:
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”
Matthew 16:26
When we don’t trust God to provide for our needs, we become self-reliant, we worry, we become anxious.
Worry makes us believe we’re doing something but it achieves nothing positive, perhaps an upset stomach, sleepless nights or even an ulcer or two. In more extreme cases it can lead to short term memory loss and premature coronary disease, heart attacks and depression. But:
“… which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” as Jesus asks us in verse 27.
Worry and anxiousness over our daily needs of food and clothing is a distraction, and means the Giver of all good gifts is forgotten.
That He doesn’t care for us, or love us.
But you only have to start counting the wonderful blessings that God has freely and lovingly poured out on you to see that this is a lie.
Count your blessings and see why you can trust in God in all things
Look at the blessings God pours out on those who trust Him:
- The greatest blessing is the person of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God, who died for each and every one of us, to conquer sin and rose again to win victory over death for us.
- His Holy Word in which we hear the Law that condemns and guides us, and the sweet saving Gospel that restores us and strengthens us. In the blessing of Scripture, we see our loving God’s plan for all people’s salvation and hear and see Jesus.
- Baptism where God forgave all your sins and marked you out for His own.
- Faith which He planted in you to open the door to everlasting life.
- The Lord’s Supper where you’re reassured that your sins are forgiven through the body and blood of Jesus, and where we commune as Christ’s Holy Church.
- The Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught us, so that we know that we can come before God at all times and bring our concerns to Him.
- The Holy Spirit who is our Helper and Advocate who guides us and shines a light on the Word so that our faith may grow and be strengthened.
- Christian brothers and sisters who are always a blessing to us.
- His creation that we can wonder at and enjoy.
God has done all this for you.
I don’t see a God who is holding out on us and doesn’t care, do you?
In fact, quite the opposite is true, so why would He withhold and deny us our earthly needs?
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
God has taken the care to create, to paint, to dress His creation with such delicate and beautiful detail, so why would we think that He wouldn’t care for us?
To worry about clothing, money and possessions is very strange in view of the thousand miracles surrounding us.
God knew you before you were conceived, He knows what you need and will do what is best for you.
God wants you to trust Him with ALL things so He can bless you in ALL things. For:
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change
James 1:17
So:
“seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
In putting God first, He has promised that the things of this earthly body and life will then come and be taken care of according to His will.
He has done ALL things for you through Jesus. You can trust in God in ALL things. Go in peace, all that you need He provides. Amen