For the last two Sundays we’ve looked at two questions a lawyer asked Jesus: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ and ‘And who is my neighbour?’ They’re both really important questions. The two questions are connected. In order to be saved we need to love our neighbour – so we need to know who our neighbour is!
There are many more good questions which people asked Jesus. But we’re now going to move from some questions which PEOPLE asked JESUS to questions JESUS asked PEOPLE.
Of course, when Jesus asked questions, he was speaking with specific people. But most of his questions apply to all of us.
I’m going to start this new series with this question that Jesus asked: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
We find the question in Matthew 6:25. Jesus was teaching a crowd on a mountainside. Let’s read the passage it comes in. [Read Matthew 6:25-34.]
What is Jesus talking about here? The word ‘anxious’ comes six times. Jesus is talking about anxiety.
This section on anxiety is Jesus’ longest teaching on a human emotion. The fact that Jesus spent so much time talking about anxiety means that anxiety must have been a big issue in Jesus’ day. It’s also a big issue today.
I’d like to give you some brief information about anxiety in the UK.
This slide provides some information from 2013. It shows that there were 8 million diagnosed cases of anxiety that year.
This slide provides some information from 2020. University College London studied reports from nearly 800 GP surgeries over a 20-year period. It found that there had been a significant increase in the number of cases of anxiety recorded over that period. The rise had been especially rapid since 2008, and younger women were more likely to struggle with anxiety.
This slide contains some information from the Office for National Statistics. That’s the UK’s main statistics organization. The ONS found that in the 2019/2020 reporting year, anxiety was the highest it had ever been. The period this data covered was BEFORE lockdown started. It will be very interesting to see what the statistics show for the past year!
So it’s very evident that anxiety is a really significant issue today. You probably don’t need any convincing!
It will be very interesting to see what Jesus had to say about it!
We can see Jesus’ argument in v.26. His argument is, ‘You don’t need to be anxious because God cares for you.’ But Jesus makes his argument stronger. He says, ‘The birds are fine, aren’t they? God cares for them!’ Then he asks, ‘Aren’t you more valuable than birds?’ It’s a rhetorical question. Of course, people are more valuable than birds. So work it out! It means that you can trust God to care for you.
There’s a very nice little poem called ‘The Robin and the Sparrow’ which I’d like to read to you:
Said the robin to the sparrow,
‘I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.’
Said the sparrow to the robin,
‘Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.’
In the poem the sparrow talked about its heavenly Father. In this passage about anxiety Jesus says ‘your heavenly Father’ twice. He’s reminding us that God is our father! God isn’t some remote being who has no interest in us. If God is our father, then there’s no question that he cares for us.
Jesus repeats his argument in vv.28-30. He says, ‘The lilies of the field have a nice set of clothes, don’t they? So God cares for them!’ Then he asks, ‘If God clothes the grass of the field so well, won’t he clothe you?’ It’s another rhetorical question. People are certainly more valuable than grass. So work it out! It means that we can trust God to care for us.
That is WHAT Jesus is telling is. In a moment I’d like to look at HOW Jesus tells us this, how he makes his argument. But before we do, I’d like to go on two small side-tracks.
First, let’s note that God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Later in Matthew Jesus says, ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.’ If God loves and cares for non-human creation so much, then so should we!
Second, let’s note that Jesus expects us to learn things from the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The world of nature has something to say to us! We’ve just had a series in Jonah. In the last chapter of Jonah, God speaks to Jonah through a gourd, a worm and a very hot wind. God speaks through the natural world. If you don’t know that you might miss what God is saying to you.
Let’s now look at HOW Jesus makes his argument.
Jesus could have said: ‘Don’t be anxious. Remember that you have a heavenly Father who cares for you. Remember that God cares for birds and lilies. Remember that people are more valuable than birds and lilies. Be confident that he’ll care for you! Don’t be anxious.’
In this example, Jesus didn’t use a single question. But that isn’t what Jesus said. In reality, Jesus asked five questions. Here they are, slightly paraphrased:
1. ‘Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?’
2. ‘Aren’t you more valuable than birds?’
3. ‘Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?’
4. ‘Why are you anxious about clothing?’
5. ‘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?’
Why do you suppose Jesus asked so many questions?
Psychologists tell us that we are more convinced about something if we reach the conclusion ourselves. Let’s imagine a barrister asks a jury: ‘Mr. Pearson has told us he had other opportunities. So why did he continue to work at the company he claims treated him so unfairly?’
The barrister asked a rhetorical question. She isn’t expecting the jury to answer her. But she expects the jury to answer her question in their minds.
I don’t know why Jesus asked so many questions. But he didn’t ask the questions because he needed the information! He clearly asked because he wanted the crowd to work things out for themselves.
Jesus is arguing that there is no need to be anxious. He’s the barrister; the crowd on the mountainside is the jury.
Jesus: ‘Does God look after the birds?’
The crowd considers. They can see birds flying around. The birds look perfectly happy. So the crowd thinks to itself: ‘Yes, he does.’
Jesus: ‘Does God clothe the lilies?’
The crowd can see lilies all around and they’re very beautiful! So the crowd thinks to itself: ‘Yes, he does.’
Jesus: ‘Are humans more valuable than birds or lilies?’
The crowd thinks to itself: ‘Yes, of course!’
Jesus: ‘Does God know your needs?’
The crowd thinks to itself: ‘Of course! God knows everything!’
Finally, Jesus draws it to a conclusion. ‘Why do you worry about clothes? If XYZ are true, will God not clothe you – you of little faith? So do not worry!’
Jesus has persuaded the crowd more effectively by asking questions than he would have done if he’d simply stated his case. He has forced the crowd to engage with his argument step by step. At each step the crowd had to admit that he was right. So the crowd can’t avoid his conclusion: there’s no reason to worry! Hopefully, you’ve been part of the crowd too, and you’re also persuaded!
So, Jesus' questions are effective.
But let’s imagine the following. Jesus has convinced us that we have no reason to be anxious. But we’re still anxious! What would that point to? It would suggest that we don’t really believe X, Y or Z. Probably, we don’t really believe that we have a heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us.
There was an American missionary called Eli Stanley Jones who said, ‘Worry is atheism’. That makes sense to me. Worry strongly suggests that we don’t really believe that we have a heavenly Father who looks after us. If we've followed the logic but we’re still worried perhaps we need to examine some of our basic beliefs about what God is like.
At this point you may be thinking, ‘Thank you for the message, Simon! Now we don’t need to be anxious. We have a heavenly Father who cares for us.’
But Jesus didn’t finish here. He had something more to say and it’s important.
Look at verse 32. Jesus says: ‘For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’
In Jesus’ day, Gentiles were non-Jews. In our context we can take ‘Gentiles’ to mean people of the world, people who haven’t put their faith in God. People who have no faith in God worry about this and that. God’s people are not to be like that!
Go on to verse 33. Jesus says: ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’
We could look on this rather negatively and sigh, ‘Oh dear, there’s a condition on God’s provision. I won’t meet the condition. I thought it all sounded too good to be true!’
But don’t look at it like that! What Jesus says here is a really liberating statement! I’ve come across several examples where missionaries found that what Jesus said here really helped them.
One example I read concerned a Ukrainian couple called Anastasiia and Yuriy Vovk. In 2015 the Vovks believed God was calling them to go to a tiny village in a remote part of Ukraine. They were wondering how they could do that. How would they be able to make ends meet? But they remembered what Jesus said: ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’ They trusted that if they sought to build God’s kingdom, God would take care of their needs. That belief encouraged them to go. And it’s evident from later news items that God has taken care of their needs.
Does Jesus’ instruction mean that we shouldn’t give a thought about tomorrow? No, it doesn’t mean that. Planning is good. Jesus isn’t telling us not to plan. He’s telling us not to be anxious.
We need to follow the logic, realise that we have no reason to be anxious, and then tell our hearts to quieten down. If we do that, we’ll feel better. But more than that, we will feel a liberty to follow Jesus wherever he leads, confident that he will take care of our needs.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 1st August 2021, 4 p.m. service.
