15th Sunday after Trinity - 18 Sep 1955

In the Gospel for today we read what our Lord said about the tendency of people to worry and trouble about things. Our Lord gives two reasons why we should not worry. First, we have God as our Father and He knows that we need things to eat and to drink, and clothes to wear. Therefore, it is totally unnecessary to worry about them. Secondly it is utterly useless to worry. Worry does not help at all. There are some things which we cannot do however much we may work for them. Our Lord gave an example. “No man can add one cubit to his stature.” There are certain events which are under man’s control. In these, man’s business in not to worry, but to act. There are others which no effort of body or mind can affect. Here his need is for trust.

The gentiles and pagans, our Lord tells us, have their thoughts centred on what they should eat and drink. They make their aim in life the acquisition of material necessities. What the pagans need for their body others, the people of God, also need for their body, but our Lord will not allow His disciples to regard them as more than accidental or subsidiary. First, seek God’s realm and His goodness, He says; let that be the main purpose of your life. If your thoughts are really concentrated on things pertaining to God’s kingdom, then common sense will tell you that He for whom you toil will see that food and clothes you need will be yours. What the pagans make their aim of life you too will get, but you must place them second, not first. Your aim must be to work for the kingdom of God.

In discussing the subject of ‘attention’, psychologists distinguish between the focal and the marginal. A man sitting in a room and reading a book is concentrating his attention on the book. The book is the focus of his attention. While he is reading the book he is also aware of the furniture in the room, the ticking of the clock on the wall etc. But they are on the margin of his attention. Our Lord tells His disciples that they should have God and His reign on earth as the focus of their attention. Everything else must be on the margin.

Today is the Christian Home Sunday and we are asked to think of the importance of the Christian Home in the building up of the Church. God has called us to live in families and it is the responsibility of all of us, parents and children, to make the home in which we live a Christian home. It is not possible for all of us to make a rich home, to make a beautiful home, to make even a comfortable home; but it is possible for all of us to make a Christian home.

For many of the essential qualities of a home, a cottage is more favourable than a palace. For any good home, there are three pillars to support its roof: unselfishness, purity and love. Where these pillars stand, whether the roof is tiled or thatched, it will be a Christian home.

Unselfishness, purity and love are the qualities that will be found in anyone who sets out to seek the kingdom of God. Where all the members of the family submit themselves to God’s rule in all their relationships one to another, they are helping to establish a Christian home, and such a home will have all the blessings, spiritual as well as material more than we ever desired. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Let us now see the application of this teaching given by our Lord to our national and international life. If the conduct of every community and class within a nation, and every nation in the world were determined by the Christian motive and standards; if all men loved their neighbours as themselves the problem of national unity and the problem of international relationships, grievous as they are in the modern world, would soon prove capable of solution. Certainly, loving one’s neighbour is part of what is meant by seeking God’s kingdom.

If only people would show this love more and more in their mutual relationships connected with their national and international life, the general well being of men’s life would be lifted to higher levels. There is no doubt that peace and prosperity will be guaranteed to people everywhere. For example, when there is love and mutual trust between the nations, there will be no fear of war. The abolition of the fear of war would release immense forces, national and international, which would then be dedicated to the improvement of man’s lot. And the problem of the world’s food supply, which is now a source of grave concern, could and would be approached constructively by friendly and international cooperative action.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” According to J.B. Phillip’s translation: “Set your heart on His Kingdom and His goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course.” ‘All these things’ – the necessities of life and all that works for its enrichment and stability – would be added to man’s life. The individual would find his life more secure, and freed from those deep-seated sources of anxiety with which his life is now so sorely beset. To serve God’s kingdom is therefore to put first things first. It is to see life in terms of the spiritual, and to fulfil those conditions in which alone man’s individual and corporate existence can be happy, and in the truest sense of the word prosperous.

Quite early in their lives most young people are called upon to make three momentous choices: The choice of their partner in life.The choice of the job they are to do in life.The choice of their religious faith. It is the choice whether they are to acknowledge God in all their ways or to ignore Him or even to deny Him. It is the choice whether they are going to be on the side of righteousness and truth, or on the side of wickedness and falsehood. Such a choice has to be made by everyone, whether such a choice is made consciously or not. Of these, the last one – the choice of one’s religious faith – is obviously a sacred one. The choice of a partner for life is also looked upon as a sacred one. At least the Church lays great stress on marriage as a divine institution. People do seek divine aid and blessings on their unions. But in the choice of one’s life’s work and in the condition of one’s daily business in life, God is often left out. Human activities are considered as belonging to one of two groups. They are either secular or sacred. The performance of one’s duties in connection with one’s life’s work is looked upon as secular. It is this sharp distinction, between the sacred and the secular, that we must do away with if we are to bring into our work experiences gained during Divine Worship.

At Christmas we think of the Incarnation. God became man in Jesus Christ. He was born of a woman and was found in the manger. The whole story is that of the breaking down of the barriers between the sacred and the secular. It is the coming of God into the ordinary and the everyday life. The meaning of the text is that we should carry this principle of the Incarnation into our everyday work. It is the coming of God into the ordinary and the everyday experience. It is bringing God or our religious ideas into our classroom and our playing field, in our dealings with parents and boys and with one another as co-workers.

We begin each term with worship and we start each school day with prayers. We do these because we want to bring God, religious ideals and values into our everyday work as teachers. Our work may be looked upon as secular work, but we want to do the secular work with a religious motive. To perform a secular duty with a religious motive is worship. Using the phrases in our text we may say that being not slothful in business is one of the best ways of serving the Lord. Let us not allow slothfulness to spoil our work, and let us keep the fires of the Spirit burning as we do our work for God.

(Editor: Sermon on same text on 10.1.1956)