You are to have no gods.

Question: What does "to have a god" mean? Answer: A "god" is the term for that to which we look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.

What do you think of that answer? These lines were taken from the Large Catechism. "Look for all good;" "find refuge in time of need." This is our god.

Was Jesus very far off then, when He says, "You can't serve two masters."? It's either God or money. Do we have a tendency to look to money for our good? Do we try to find refuge in having it? Before answering it, consider what happened to a rich, young man.

He was a good boy. His teachers liked him. He would have been an active member of 4-H or scouts. He went to church every week. He was devout. He was pious. He was sincere. He was fair to his servants, not overworking them and letting them know they were appreciated.

One fine day, he asks Jesus what he must do to be saved. It's uncanny, but I suppose since Jesus is God it should be no surprise. Jesus knew exactly where He was coming from. "You want to save yourself, then keep the Ten Commandments perfectly."

This guy was like a lot of people we know. He thought he was keeping the commandments. That's because he actually thought he could keep them. Isn't that crazy? This guy thought he could actually keep the Ten Commandments! Have you ever heard anything more unbelievable? I mean, who can really keep them?! They are put there first to show us we can't. I know you can't. I know I can't. But he thought he could. Everyone told him he was a good kid, and he mistook that for thinking he was keeping God's commands. So Jesus sees this guy deluding himself right into hell, thinking he is actually keeping the commandments.

Jesus comes in with a frontal attack...which sneaks in from behind. He says, "Sell everything you have and then follow me." Interpreted, it would say, "Give away all your riches, and then you will go to heaven."

He didn't circle in and go for the kill. He went straight in. He didn't say, "No, you are not keeping them like you think. Look at this, and this, and this." No, He just goes straight in and hits him with the first commandment. But He doesn't even tell him he's hitting him with the first, he just does it. Ouch! The guy goes down hard. He didn't even know what hit him!

What was his god? What did he look to for all good? What did he look to for refuge in times of need?" It wasn't his heavenly Father, that's for sure.

But what about us? What do you do when you start to feel a pinch? What would you do if Jesus said that to you, "Sell all you have and give it to the poor?" Ah hah!

So, was Jesus right? Is he describing the situation you see when he talks about serving only one master? He is only too right. Whether we worship money or not, whether we save and save and save and then hoard it, spend it like there's no tomorrow, or fall somewhere in between, the temptation for it to be our god is always there. We feel safe when we have it; we feel lost and uneasy when it is short.

This is a particularly good reading to have now, when money really is tighter than usual. The cost of living has jumped with the price of gasoline, and our money doesn't seem to go quite as far as it used to.

It's also good because we are celebrating Labor Day this weekend. Labor Day is that national holiday designed to give us a chance to stop, to pause and remember the gift of our vocations by which we make our income.

Remember, our God, in Christ, has freely poured out His gifts of eternal life on us. Providing a way we can show Him our gratitude, he puts our neighbor in front of us, our neighbor with needs. Our closest neighbors are the members of our family, but we also recognize that we are serving our neighbor in our jobs. Whatever is our job, we are serving someone, your neighbor, if you just think about it. You might have to go through a few steps to see who you are serving, but you are. But not merely serving, we actually get paid for it; we are given what we need so we and our families can survive, and not merely survive, but even enjoy life.

But we return to Jesus sermon and look at what Jesus has to say. He is speaking to a large crowd. Who makes up that crowd? Are there landholders and the wealthy? Probably. What about craftsmen, like carpenters? Probably. Farmers? Undoubtedly. Fishermen? Of course. Religious leaders? Could be. Tax collectors? Possibly. Soldiers? Most likely. There's a wide range of incomes represented out there, and yet all of them had the same problem. They had a tendency to make money their god.

But Jesus doesn't come down on them very hard. He gently chides them for their worry and leads them to see what it means. "You guys don't trust your heavenly Father." He puts it out on the table for all to see.

We may not think about it this way. When we worry or when we get stressed about paying the bills, we are not inclined to see this as a spiritual issue. But Jesus puts it out on the table and says, "Yes, this is spiritual issue. You are not trusting the words of your Father who says He is your Father."

David wrote a song where one of the stanzas of the hymn went like this: "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or His children begging for bread."

Surely this was in Jesus' mind as He preaches to these crowds. "Your father will never abandon you. He knows what you need."

Yet some in the crowd may have been questioning God's providence. It didn't look like He was providing the way they expected. "My husband died. I have no way to make money. I have a fatal disease. I was born blind. My child was attacked by a mountain lion. My family land was lost through a shady real estate deal. I was accused falsely of a crime I did not commit, and now people look down on me. How can you say, 'Your Father knows what you need.'"?

We have our own situations today. They are too numerous to list, but we all have our objections. We all question if it's really true. Does God really care? Is he really my Father? When our health is failing, or times are rough, the devil comes along and pops those questions into our heads. Yea, hath God really said?

A little later in the same sermon Jesus gives a beautiful example of the Heavenly Father's care. He asks the fathers in the crowd, "Would you give your sons harmful things? Of course not. If they ask for egg, you wouldn't give him a scorpion. If he asks for a fish, you wouldn't give him a poisonous snake. In today's terms, if he asks for milk, you wouldn't give him bleach. If he asks for a cell phone, you wouldn't give him a tazer. Now, if an earthly father, would do only what is best for his son, don't you think your heavenly Father, who knows all you need, and loves you like a son with a perfect love, would only give you what you need?

Jesus speaks gently. He calls them. "O you of little faith." They are not faithless, they just have small faith. Their faith is too small, too weak to rely on the words they had been taught.

But then we have the same trouble. We want to rely on what we see, the money we know that can give us comfort. And although we may not worry if we will have food, or if we have enough to drink, or if we will have any clothes, we still do worry about pretty much the same things.

We want to eat out at certain restaurants or eat out as much as possible and don't appreciate it if the money gets a little short so that we have to cut back. But that's not the big deal. It's fashion. It has to be Hollister, or American Eagle, a Coach purse, or a Prada, and the best in shoes. We have to have the latest style, the best names, and if we can't get it, we stress over it. It's not just clothes. We need to drive the latest model pick-up or have the best boat our money can buy. We have to have symbols of status.

Why? Does this make us more important? Or is it just important to us how people think of us? We can hear Jesus say, "Why do you stress over these things? You'll get what you need. Don't get caught up in this game of trying to impress people."

But consider again what He calls them, and how this is actually comfort. "O you of little faith." They're not unbelievers. He regards them as followers, just having weak faith.

We're the same way. He addresses us as having faith. He still considers us His children. Maybe it is little faith, maybe we struggle with unbelief, maybe we struggle with constantly violating the first commandment, seeking comfort and all good in what money can buy, but He still acknowledges faith. As you look to Him for mercy, you are still His children.

Then He saves the best for last. He gives the solution to worry. "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Die to the god of money. He destroys as you try to worship at his altar. When he seems to withdraw his favor, your stress increases causing irritableness, ulcers and other chronic diseases. Die to this god and rise again as a new creature, a creature who knows your value in Christ.

Worry ends at the cross. When we stress about having what we need, when we wonder if we really are His children and He is really our Father, when we wonder if He really has our best interest in mind, when Satan raises these doubts in our mind, there is one place to go, one thing to do. Seek His kingdom and His righteousness.

This is not merely an escape, a distraction, it is the way the Lord has given you to deal with the questions that rise with the situation. Here is where you see the value He places on you. The Kingdom is God's merciful rule in Christ. His righteousness is the holiness He gives to you. Learn of it. Receive it. Live in it. It always comes back to what God is doing here. It always leads us back to this building, these pews, this altar, where God is giving His gifts, reassuring you that you are truly His children.

He speaks it to you, but then backs it up with the very thing that made it so. Over the body of the sinless Son of God, we have become sons. The blood He shed, the flesh broken on the cross was the payment for us to be His children. So, He puts it here. The very thing He used to make the payment is given to you as your seal you are His child.

Jesus asks a few questions. Are you not of more value than a couple little birds? Yes, He who did not spare His own Son for gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, give us everything we need?

There is your value. In Christ. You can't afford to leave Him out of it. You will lose your perspective. If you never had Him in it, you can't afford to leave Him out any longer. You won't be wealthier, but you will happier. You will be satisfied, because you will know your heavenly Father values you and will make sure all that comes to you would be what He would have come to you because you are His child.

AMEN