July 20, 2025
Lofty Places
Matthew 6:25-34
Rev. Shannon Jordan
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. 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 worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry 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 clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
What is it about high places? Why are so many of us drawn to views from overlooks, or mountaintops, or even tallest buildings? When many of us travel, we go to the highest places, think the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower, the sunrise at Lookout Mountain in Montreat.
For me, these high vistas change my perspective. They remind me of how big and amazing the world God created is—bigger than my problems or concerns or my perspective.
I think that has been true throughout history. From the bell towers of old cathedrals, to the pyramids of central or south America or in Egypt, back to the altars placed by the Canaanites on hills—high places, lofty places, have been holy places. They are liminal places. They are places we have to say on some level, “Wow God” which is a form of worship.
The favorite hymn of our congregation this morning is God of Grace and God of Glory. This hymn I believe is a favorite because not only is it fairly easy to sing, but the words remind us that God is in many ways a “high place.” God’s perspective and power is more than sufficient for whatever life throws at us. It is a reminder that God can and will give us wisdom and courage for the living of these days. That every day, every hour, we can trust God to give us what we need.
This hymn was written by Harry Emerson Fosdick in 1930s for the opening of the Riverside Church, a non-denominational church in New York City and financed by John D. Rockefeller. As you can imagine, 1930 was a time of deep economic and social upheaval. It was right between the two world wars at the beginning of the Great Depression, and the lives of most of the people were very precarious and difficult. Add to that, Fosdick, the pastor who wrote this hymn, was given $5M to build the church, highlighting the distance between the ultra wealthy and the poor.
Similarly, our Matthew passage was also written in a time of great upheaval in the early church. Matthew was written after the fall of the Temple in 70 AD. Jews and Christians had been scattered around the Mediterranean—many leaving jobs, family, homes, and belongings. They were experiencing deep Roman oppression. Matthew was sharing Jesus’s teachings, reminding people what Jesus held to be important. They were an encouragement to those who were struggling—and at times, a warning or rebuke to those whose lives were not being directly impacted by the times. Matthew was encouraging people to seek God’s will, God’s way of being, in their daily lives.
This hymn and this passage are what we need to navigate the weighty challenges of our day and age. The hymn and passage give us concrete reminders of who God is and what God can do. Our job is to go to God—not figure it out ourselves. Matthew’s “Do not worry” as we will see this morning, is not a dismissal of hardship, but an invitation and reminder to focus on what matters most.
Our passage this morning starts with a tricky word—therefore. We would never jump into a situation when our explanation begins with therefore.
Therefore you need to give me $500.
Therefore, go to the drugstore and pick up a prescription.
Therefore, you need to do that differently.
We would never make a decision based on information that started with Therefore, and we can’t decide what this passage means unless we take a glimpse back in Matthew. Matthew 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount—an intense call to kingdom living.
The verse just before ours today is No one can serve two masters—you cannot serve God and wealth. So it seems to not be talking to people who were without basic resources. Before that is the passage that includes the eye is the lamp of the body and we only see as well as our eyes can see. Before that is do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, but store up treasures in heaven. Then skimming back you cover fasting, the Lord’s Prayer, prayer, giving, and other teachings like the beatitudes—the Sermon on the Mount is a list of what a Christian life looks like—our passage today is how we do all of that.
Once we get an understanding of the “therefore,” then we can start to explore the “Do not worry.”
Who was Jesus talking to? What did he mean?
His audience was his disciples and the crowds that followed them. So probably a mix socio-economically. I mean today people who have to be at work can’t be at a midday meeting. Only unemployed, retirees or business owners. So what was Jesus saying?
It comes down to the Greek word, merimnao = which means to be distracted, divided, pulled in too many directions. The only way to live the life that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount is to not get distracted by things that aren’t important. Don’t worry meant don’t spend time in “restless anxious care” as Dale Bruner described it. Don’t let distractions about things that are not God centered keep you from what God wants you to do. We know the difference. We know when we are problem solving and we know when we are just thinking of all of the things that could go wrong, on repeat.
These passages are not about food or clothes, but about focus. Where is our focus? What distracts us? What do we notice?
How do we focus on the kingdom of God breaking in? Are we more likely to notice the house or car or clothes of someone, or systemic problems in our world?
Our passage is a reminder to not focus on ourselves but to learn and live into Jesus’s countercultural economic ethic. These verses echo what Matthew said earlier in the Lord’s prayer. “Your kingdom come, your will be done” is reflected in “seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.“ Matthew is saying the same thing in a different way.
Our hymn today speaks directly to this. We need wisdom and courage to live this way. We need to learn to trust God. We need to ask God to set our feet on lofty places so we can do God’s work with courage and wisdom.
I have always been fascinated by the story of Corrie Ten Boom—she certainly lived a life that showed God’s courage and wisdom to allow her to live her life in alignment with God’s reign. As you may know or remember, she and her family hid the Jews from the Nazi’s. They were eventually captured and imprisoned. Ten Boom survived her time in the concentration camp and went on to become a Christian writer and speaker. She is probably best known for The Hiding Place.
One quote about worry really stuck with me: “Worry does not empty tomorrow its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. It does not enable us to escape evil. It makes us unfit to face evil when it comes. It is the interest you pay on trouble before it comes.” Over and over her family could have worried about what would happen. Instead, they planned, they did what they were called to do to the best of their ability, and trusted God to give them wisdom and courage. This trust does not mean everything will go well, but it means God will be with us in the midst of pain and suffering.
That said, I also want to lift up what our passage is not.
This passage is so misused and misunderstood. I have heard many people say and teach that worry is a sin. You may have heard that. Let me be really clear, worry is a feeling. It may be a habit that you can break, but I firmly believe that God’s heart breaks when we are consumed with worry. I know that in pastoral counseling I have heard many times that people feel guilty because they are worried about something and don’t have enough faith. They just need more faith like it is something that they can buy at the store. Not worrying is not the same as not being afraid. We can fear real dangers. Cancers, death, divorce, joblessness. These things are all thing that can cause us to be afraid. AND we have the choice in how we respond. We can do our part, like the sparrows finding the food God has provided, and then we can keep our eyes on God, who God is, the power of God. Do we let our fear distract us, or do we keep our eyes on God who is bigger than what we fear?
This passage is also not about ignoring real needs. The Greek word did not imply to not work or not plan. Sparrows work hard to find the food God provides. Lilies use the sun and the water and the nutrients in the soil to be as beautiful as they are. It isn’t about not working, it is about focus. It is about not being distracted.
It is also not permission to neglect the vulnerable (“God will take care of them”). When we see systems that keep people in poverty, when we see people who are living on the margins, we can’t glibly say, “Do not worry, God will provide.” WE may well be how God is providing. WE may be God’s answer.
Jesus is inviting us to an undistracted focus on God’s kingdom.
This passage is also not only about individual piety, or faithfulness, it is a collective reorientation of the church, beginning with these first disciples, into a way of living that points to God’s Kingdom. It is about us as a church orienting our lives together toward God’s reign.
Imagine the impact of our congregation if we became known as people who were not consumed by anxiety, but who lived out God’s values of generosity, justice, and care? What if instead of bemoaning our situation, we, together, acted in a way that really showed the boundary breaking love of Jesus?
As I mulled over how this passage spoke to Matthew’s time and our hymn this morning spoke to the church in the 1930’s and 1940’s, I wondered what it could mean to us.
The image that kept coming to mind for me was the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started with the arrest of Rosa Parks that began a 13 month bus boycott—a movement that had everyday people choosing to live differently in the face of injustice. For over a year, thousands of Black citizens in Montgomery walked, carpooled, and sacrificed comfort, not because it was easy, but because they believed in a different kind of world—one shaped by dignity, justice, and the boundary breaking love of Jesus. The power of this choice by these people is one of the reasons that a group of our congregation is going to Montgomery to learn more about how everyday people can make a real difference. Montgomery wasn’t just individual courage; it was collective, kingdom-focused action. What if we, too, as a church, chose to live that way—not distracted by fear or scarcity, but moving forward together with wisdom and courage for the living of these days? What if our trust in God was bold enough to reshape how we live, give, serve, and hope—together?
Friends, this is the invitation of Jesus—to rise above fear and distraction and live with clear-eyed trust in God’s abundance. Not just for our sake, but for the sake of a world longing to see what the kingdom of God looks like. Maybe this week, when we find ourselves distracted by anxiety, we can pause. We can let the birds and flowers remind us. We can remember the grace and glory of God. We can remember those who have walked hard roads before us—disciples, bus riders, the saints sitting beside us now that have helped “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And then, instead of spinning and bemoaning how bad things are, we can take a deep breath, pray to a God of grace, and ask God to give us the wisdom and courage to make one more step toward the world God dreams for us. Lofty places aren’t just found on mountaintops—they are made wherever people of faith seek God’s kingdom first, with courage, clarity, and trust that God will give us everything we need for the living of these days.
Amen.