Listen here.

Matthew 6:24-34

²⁴ “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.

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ 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? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today, Jesus preaches to us against worry by making fun of it. Jesus asks, “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (v. 27). Christ is making a joke. Literally, Jesus says, “Which of you by worrying can add a cubit,” a measurement of length, “to your life?” which is, of course, measured in time. I don’t know a lot of tall, elderly people, but my grandfather, who died in his 80’s, was 6’ 2”. When I saw him never thought, “Wow. Grandpa must have worried a lot.” Jesus even makes fun of us worriers. When our translation quotes Jesus asking, “Will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” He is actually calling us a name – “you little faiths” or “little faithers.”

In His preaching, Jesus invites us wise and noble humans to slow down and hear the preaching of birds and flowers. When birds need food, they don’t go to the little bird grocery store where all the food grown by farmer birds is sold. It’s almost as if Jesus was inviting you to imagine certain types of birds working in each role. (Finches would be at the grocery tills – fight me.) Birds don’t keep their food in cupboards and pantries in their nests. Flowers don’t look for best sales of the season for clothes, but they are splendidly clothed. In His wisdom, God has ordered creation in such a way that He takes care of feeding birds and clothing the grass. The birds and grass trust Him, and Jesus says we should as well.

Kids, whenever you are studying science – botany, biology, anatomy, astronomy, physics, etc. – you get a small peek into all the ways we have observed how God has ordered creation. And the more scientists discover, the more we see about the complexity, intricacy, and beauty of God our Father and Creator. God put thought and wisdom and detail into every part of creation as He spoke it into existence. All of creation was designed by God to both continue and sustain life. He does it for birds and plants and animals and planets and stars and galaxies. And He does it for you.

And it is with that thought, I want to take a step back and consider how God gives order to provide for us and protect us, the pinnacle of His creation. As we see this wonderful and beautiful order, Jesus invites us to not worry when we are tempted to do so.

In His wisdom, God has given order to our lives by creating and instituting, what theologians call, “the Three Estates”: The Three Estates are the Church, the Family, and the State (or government), in that order are the three circles of protection that God has graciously given. Science cannot observe and study this, but from God’s Word we can see how God has woven these Three Estates into the fabric of creation to provide for you and protect you. When we consider what is going on in the world through the lens of the Three Estates, it helps shape and guide our thinking in a biblical way so that we do not worry. And even though things can get bad (and, even, currently are bad) in these estates, these estates cannot be completely overthrown or destroyed.

Each of the Three Estates has a “source” or when it was instituted. A “form” or what it consists of. And an “end” or goal. So, let’s talk about each of these:

First, the estate of the Church. The estate of the Church was instituted and has its source at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And this will take a bit of explaining. We are always and only righteous and holy through faith. Scripture repeatedly says, “the righteous shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Ro. 1:17; Gal. 3:11).

Before they fell into sin, Adam and Eve had everything good from God because of the perfection of creation, so they needed a promise of God to believe. That promise was implied when God gave the command to not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:16-17). In other words, God’s command included a promise which was, “Evil is bad. Trust Me on this. When you find out what evil is, it won’t go well for you. In fact, you’ll die.” So, with this command and promise, Adam and Eve could have by faith what God never intended them to have. God didn’t want humanity to experience evil or death by sight, only by faith.

The estate of the church takes the form and consists of the Word of God preached and believed. As long as Adam and Eve believed God’s Word, they had the pure Church. God be praised that now, even after the Fall, we still have the Church which continued when God promised that the Seed of the woman, Jesus, would deliver and rescue us from death (Gen. 3:15).

Finally, the end or goal of the Estate of the Church is for us to have eternal life with God. So, we have, first, the Church: instituted by God’s promise before the Fall (and sustained after the Fall), with the goal and end of eternal life.

The second estate instituted by God to protect and provide for humanity is the Estate of the Family. The Estate of the Family has its source and was instituted also before the Fall when God took Adam’s rib and formed Eve. Then, God told Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). Even after the Fall, we know that God wants the Estate of the Family to continue because God repeats this command to Noah and his descendants after the Flood (Gen. 9:1).

The Estate of the Family takes the form of and us made up by husband, wife, and children.

And the end or goal of the Estate of the Family is also life, but, unlike the Estate of Church, the Family provides temporal, physical life. So, we have the Family: again, instituted by God before the Fall (and sustained after the Fall), with the goal and end physical life.

The Estate of the State is a little more complex because it was instituted only after the Fall. And there isn’t a direct passage of Scripture where God clearly establishes the Estate of the State. However, Scripture does clearly teach us that the Estate of the State is a good institution of God in both Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 where Scripture teaches that the State is not a terror to good conduct but to bad and that the State carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

A couple possibilities of when God establishes the Estate of the State could be: When God sent the cherubim to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22-24). By prohibiting Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of Life, God was protecting them from living forever in sin. Some suggest that the Estate of the State was instituted after the murder of Abel, and there are some good arguments for that, but for the sake of time I’m not going to get into that now.

The Estate of the State takes the form of and uses the instrument of the sword and punishment. In other words, the State uses either punishment or the threat of punishment to protect and preserve life. Think of it this way, God established the State to bring about ‘little death.’ To the State God has given the tools of rules, punishments, jail, even execution and war to prevent more or bigger death.

Try this as an example: your car can probably go over 100 mph. But the authorities that God has established in the State have brought about a ‘little death’ for your car through speed limits. You have to drive down Columbia at or under 40 mph. because driving 100 mph. would endanger the lives of others. And if you refuse to obey the law, there is the threat of punishment through a speeding ticket, or, if you actually do drive 100 mph. down Columbia, you should be thrown in jail for reckless endangerment.

The goal of the Estate of the State is to preserve life. Because it is impossible for the state to give life, it’s only function is to preserve life through the means of that ‘little death.’ An analogy for this would be when a surgeon cuts open a person to do surgery on their heart or to remove a tumor. This brings about pain and death, but in an effort to preserve life. So, we have the State: instituted by God after the Fall, with the goal and end preserving life through punishment or “little death.”

Now, this ordering of creation has very important ramifications. When we worry about what is going on around us, the Three Estates let us see how God has provided these three circles of protection. The Three Estates also helps shape what we are to do. We are to be faithful citizens of the State by voting and following the laws that the State gives to protect life. We are to be faithful to our Family by being good parents and obedient children. And we are to be faithful members of Christ’s Church by trusting Him and growing in God’s Word and faith.

We are constantly bombarded with news, and it is easy to get caught up with what is going on in Washington D.C. or St. Paul or Bismarck. We tend to get so focused on the coming election and what is happening in the government – both at the federal and state level. With the economy in a bad place, an open seat on the Supreme Court, and pandemic, we start to think that the State has to do something, and the State does have a place to make rules and laws to protect life. But then – when you throw in riots, fires, hurricanes, masks, and social distancing – it is easy for us to look to the State for things that God hasn’t given the State to do. There certainly may be a place for the State to have care and direction when it comes to those things as well. And there is also a place for polite discussion and disagreement on what level and to what degree the State should or shouldn’t make those decisions.

But in all of this, we should recognize that the State exists only to protect life by minimizing death. It also means that the Estate of the State has nothing to do and has no purpose apart from the Estate of the Church and the Estate of the Family. Since life does not exist apart from the Church and the Family, there is nothing for the State to do without the Church or Family. So, the State is the most temporary and the least important of the Three Estates because it only exists to serve and protect the life that comes only through the Church and the Family.

Also, it is important for each of the Three Estates to “stay in their own lane.” Pastors should not shepherd their flock like a president or king. Families should not look to the State or the Church to provide for them. Politicians should not guide on what is right and moral. We could go on and on, but I hope you get the point. (And we can talk about all this later too.)

The end of all this, dear saints, is this: A lot of our worry (at least for me and what I see on social media) comes from what is going on in the State. Repent! It shouldn’t be this way. Yes, the State is important. The State and the authorities God has placed over us matter and are there to protect life. But what is going on in your Family much more important than what happens in the State. Put more of your focus and attention there.

Remember that Jesus promises to provide for your family. Jesus hasn’t given you permission to worry about anything. If Jesus wants to give you permission to worry about something, He’ll be sure to let you know. But until then, go about your work. And worrying is not work – even though it often feels like it. Worrying takes a lot of time and energy, but worrying isn’t productive. Remember, God has promised, and He will provide – even if it means sending ravens or a miraculous provision of flour and oil like He did in our Old Testament text (1 Kgs. 17:8-16). While you remember that what happens in your family is more important than what is going on in the State, even more important than what is going on in your family is what is going on at here at Church.

Here God provides everything you need for eternal life. He has given Christ to go to the cross, shed His blood, die, and rise again for your justification. He continues to pour out His mercy upon you from this very altar with this holy Supper. Sure, things are currently bad in the state. Maybe, things are even not so great in your family. But both could certainly be worse. Remember, God still protects and provides everything you need for eternal life through the Estate of the Church. And no matter what happens in this world, the gates of hell will never overcome Christ’s Church (Mt. 16:18). Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry, little faithers.

I want to close here with what Jesus says when He preaches almost the exact same sermon in Luke 12:29–31. Your Savior says, “Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.