"The world may cling to mammon, but Christ clings to you" Trinity 15 2025

28. September 2025

Trinity 15

Matthew 6:24-34

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Mt 6:31–34).

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Our Lord speaks with words that cut straight through the heart of the matter: “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Not, “you should not,” but “you cannot.” There is no way to split the difference. The two are opposed to one another. Mammon is not neutral. It is not simply money, but money when it becomes master. Mammon is wealth trusted as salvation. It is possessions adored as security. It is gain pursued as a god. To serve mammon is to forsake God. To serve God is to crucify mammon.

And when mammon rules, everything else crumbles. We can see it all around us. Families fracture. Marriages dissolve. Children are not born because they are considered too costly. Health declines, not only in the body but also in the mind and spirit. People live longer and yet live weaker, addicted to substances, entertainment, or the constant distraction of a glowing screen. Anxiety and despair climb while hope and faith diminish. Once the Christian faith was passed down like an inheritance, from parent to child, from generation to generation; now it is often dismissed as irrelevant, optional, and unnecessary. Why? Because mammon has taken the throne. Mammon has stepped into the place of God.

Mammon promises life, but it always delivers death. It promises joy, but it always ends in sorrow. It is fool’s gold—bright, shiny, and attractive, but worthless where it counts. We know it cannot satisfy. Deep down, every person knows it. Yet we keep reaching for it. We tell ourselves: if I just had a little more, then I would be secure, then I would be happy.

And still, when we get more, it is never enough. Fake wealth, fake health, fake friendships, fake happiness. Fake smiles in pictures, fake confidence in conversations, fake freedom in lifestyles. We clothe ourselves in illusions because we do not want to face the truth. And the truth is this: all of it ends in the grave. Every purchase, every possession, every appearance of success—all of it is stripped away when they lower us into the ground. You cannot take it with you.

But the Lord does not leave you to live the lie. He comes to expose it. He comes to speak the truth that breaks through the illusion. He comes to show you that mammon is an idol that enslaves. He comes to free you from its chains. He comes to call you away from serving what cannot save to serving the God who alone gives life. And His Word to you is this: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).

What does this mean? It means that you do not need to spend your life chasing what mammon promises. You do not need to bow down to its power or sacrifice your life at its altar. For your heavenly Father already knows what you need. He has already given you daily bread, clothing, house and home, work and income, family and friends, health and every good thing. And above all, He has given you His Son, Jesus Christ. What else do you lack? If you have Christ, you already have everything.

This is the brutal truth that the world rejects. More is not more. A higher salary, a newer car, a larger house, a fuller closet, a bigger retirement account—none of it adds up to salvation. None of it makes you whole. None of it secures eternal life. Salvation is not bought with money. It is purchased with the blood of Christ. The path of mammon leads only to death. But Christ Himself descended into death to bring you life. He has already walked the road that mammon paves, and He has broken through it to rise again.

And yet, how stubbornly we resist. How quickly celebrities catch our eyes, our ears by politicians, our hearts by possessions. How readily we swallow the promises of advertisements, the distractions of entertainment, the addictions of comfort. We want to believe the lie. We would rather shop till we drop than listen to the God who punctures illusions. We would rather be deceived with a comfortable lie than confronted with a painful truth.

But here is the comfort: Christ does not abandon you to mammon. He does not wait until you have freed yourself. He does not sit at a distance until you have cleaned up your life. No, He died to set you free. He rose to give you life. He baptized you into His death and resurrection. He claimed you as His own. He feeds you with His own Body and Blood. He forgives you again and again. He does not grow weary of rescuing you. He is relentless in His mercy.

So, you don't need to be afraid. You do not need to cling to mammon as if it could save you. It cannot. You do not need to serve it, because Christ already serves you. You do not need to trust it, because Christ is trustworthy. The psalmist says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Ps. 146:3). Do not trust the politicians. Do not trust the celebrities. Do not trust the companies that profit from your fear. Do not trust mammon. Trust Christ, for He is God. He is faithful. He has you. He holds your life in His hands.

The world may drown in its drama, but the ark of the Church is secure. Christ Himself is at the helm. He is leading you through the flood of lies and illusions to eternal life. The cross is your mast, Baptism your passage, the Supper your provision. The ship will not sink because He commands the wind and waves. And when you die in faith, your grave is not a prison. It is a baptismal grave, a watery doorway into eternal life. You were buried with Christ in Baptism, and you will rise with Him. Even death is no master over you, for Christ has already broken its chains.

When you have Christ, even without anything else, you are complete. You cannot serve God and mammon. So serve God. Trust Christ. For in Him you lack nothing. He gives what mammon never can—peace of conscience, forgiveness of sins, freedom from fear, life without end. And so you are free. Free to let go of the illusions. Free to walk away from the idols. Free to receive what God gives with thanksgiving. Free to love your neighbor without calculation. Free to forgive as you have been forgiven. Free to live in the truth.

You cannot serve God and mammon. One gives death, the other gives life. One enslaves, the other frees. One deceives, the other tells the truth. One ends in the grave, the other opens the grave to eternal life. So do not despair. Do not lose hope. The world may cling to mammon, but Christ clings to you. He is not letting go. He has fought for you, He still fights for you, and He will not stop until you are safe in His kingdom. And in the end, that is all that matters.

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin