“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to 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, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself 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 furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Since this is part 2 of a sermon called “Treasures”, I will just jump in where we left off. Depending on your translation, verse 25 starts with “For this reason” or “Therefore” or “Because of this” or something along those lines.
So there is no denying that Jesus is continuing a thought here and since verse 24 says “…you cannot serve God and wealth”, His next phrase, “For this reason” ties the inappropriate desire for wealth and trusting in riches to what comes next, which is worrying about going without.
In short, we can be serving wealth in our heart as much by the wanting of it as in the having of it.
So this is truly the second half of a discourse on worldliness versus Godliness; anxiety versus faith. The first part warns those who are rich and the second part warns those who think they do not have enough.
In both cases though, the focus is on the realigning of our priorities.
LITTLE FAITH
There are two phrases in this section that jump out at me as very important for us to consider carefully. One is in verse 30.
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”
Now I’m jumping right down to verse 30 because on the surface we can understand His illustration of the Father’s care of the birds of the air and we understand what He means when talking about the perfect beauty of the flowers of the field, and we clearly see that He is using these things to demonstrate that anxiety over what we will wear or how we will eat is useless and unnecessary.
But when Jesus says, “You of little faith” that gives a whole new dimension to what He has been saying! With this phrase He has taken it from the realm of the psychological into the spiritual.
This worrying about our daily needs is not just an exaggerated concern for the mundane. To God it has more serious implications for His children because it says something about our faith. So let’s spend some time looking at why Jesus chose to insert that phrase where He did.
First of all, be reminded that this entire sermon is directed at the believer. He began by describing the Christian and every thing He has said after that has to do with the Christian’s relationship to the world, to one another and to God.
So it is significant that He didn’t say “You of no faith”. He is at least attributing to the hearer, some faith. He is not talking to the unbeliever. In fact you will see in a little bit that He refers to the unbelievers as a contrast, but He is speaking to believers in doing that.
Our next logical step, then, is to ask, if Jesus is talking to believers and calls them ‘you of little faith’, then what is little faith?
In researching the word that is translated ‘little’ I found that Jesus used this particular word four times in Matthew’s gospel. It is used once more in Luke 12:28 which is the twin of verse 30 here in our text.
The other three times Jesus uses the word in Matthew, (8:26 14:31 16:8) it is used in the same context as here in verse 30; always in reference to a wavering in belief.
As far as I can determine in researching the word it pertains not only to quantity but also duration. It means little, few, short.
So kept in context of what Jesus is saying about God’s provision, the indictment is that we seem to have a problem with continuity of belief.
Saving faith is a one time application of belief in the good news and being born from above. But in terms of faith for God’s provision and the fulfilling of His promises our faith is much like the attention span of a toddler.
This, I think, would explain why the disciples could see Him proving Himself Master over time and nature and circumstance on a daily basis, yet forget in the midst of the storm that He had said they were going over to the other side.
We do that also, don’t we Christians? Whatever sort of ‘storm’ life tosses us about in, sometimes in just the threat of a storm we see on the horizon, our tendency is to fret over the small things, the things He has already promised He would take care of, and instead of applying our faith we apply our imaginations and ingenuity giving Him no opportunity to do what He said He would do.
So ‘little faith’ would be the sort of faith exercised by people who believe the gospel and are saved, but then go on staying immature spiritually, not exercising faith so it might increase so that as time goes by they will believe in God for greater and greater things.
It stays small and it stays weak so that it sort of comes in and out like a lamp with a bad connection due to a frayed cord.
JUST LIKE GENTILES
In verse 33 Jesus gives a very striking contrast that is easy for us to miss if we move too quickly.
First let me make clear that in using the word Gentiles He is not saying it in the strict sense that we think of it today – either a person is a Jew or he is a gentile – because in their thinking being gentile was synonymous with being pagan. And of course, in their minds if you weren’t a Jew then you were indeed a Godless pagan.
So Jesus is saying to us there in verse 33 that when we crave and clamor and covet after the basic necessities of life as though we will not have them unless we demand them, then we are thinking and acting just like pagans.
The contrast I was alluding to is that on the one hand He says the gentiles eagerly seek for those things then immediately says “…your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things”.
The contrast: They have no heavenly Father, but we do. Shouldn’t the awareness of that fact alone cause us to take pause and wonder why we clamor?
What Jesus said in verse 33 reminds us of who we are and who God is. Let’s take a look at both.
WHO WE ARE IN HIM
First, if He is our Father then we are His children. Does a father provide food and drink and clothing for his children? Yes. Does the child have to ask for those things? No.
Now don’t start over-analyzing here. I know there are deadbeat dads out there and it’s a growing problem in our society. I’m talking about just the basic understanding of what a reasonable, loving human father does for his children.
How much more, then, our Heavenly Father who. “…did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Rom 8:33
What does the Bible say about us?
It says we are established with Christ in heavenly places. That means that in God’s economy we are assigned a permanent place there already and we will see that reality when we are glorified.
It says we are heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, which means that heavenly riches await our completion, again, a reference to our final glorification.
It says that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It says many other things about us. If you read the last three chapters of the Revelation to John you’ll get a fuller picture of what is in store for us.
In light of all this you must see that when we act like we don’t trust God to supply our need, and even worse when we act like we can and must do those things for ourselves, we are demonstrating a marked lack of continuity in our faith.
We believe in Jesus, but do we believe Jesus?
That’s really where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it?
If you think about the heroes of the faith that are listed for us in Hebrews 11 for instance, what great things about them set them apart to be worthy to be on this list? Well, when you think about it, the answer is nothing, really.
Nothing about any of them was particularly special or great. What puts them on the list is that they believed God. Not just that they believed in God, but that they believed Him. They took Him at His word. They took Him very literally.
Abraham, a loving father who waited long for a son, was willing without hesitation to take that son to a mountain top and plunge a knife into his heart at God’s command. Why? Blind, unthinking obedience? No. The belief in God’s previous promises concerning that son, and the belief that God is able to raise the dead.
When Abraham’s hand lifted high over his head with a knife in it ready to descend upon his beloved son it was lifted in faith.
Now Abraham didn’t have all this written history that we have. He didn’t have this record of time after time God fulfilling promises and bringing about miracles through faithful saints, as we have in the Old Testament account. All he had was simple faith in the Creator God who had called him out from his homeland, made him a promise concerning his future and led him to a place he had never been.
And that makes me wonder, Christians, what kind of rebuke we are worthy of, who have this entire Biblical record, both Old Testament and New, of men and women living victoriously through simple trust that what God says is true, yet we go largely through our days so much like the unbelievers around us that they don’t usually know we’re even Christians unless they read our shirts?
And they don’t usually understand the message on the shirt! And many of us are incapable of explaining it!
So it always comes back to the same thing, doesn’t it? We aren’t really aware of just who we are in the family of God, the One Jesus called our Father in heaven. If we realized that we are princes and princesses maybe we’d approach life with a little more nobility and confidence, knowing that we serve a King who supplies all our needs; indeed, who is all we need.
WHO HE IS
Let’s look at who this God is who Jesus calls our heavenly Father, not in a study in systematic theology; just in the context of what is being said here.
He’s our Father. Jesus said, “…your heavenly Father…”
He has already used that term 14 times in this sermon and will use it twice more before He is done. When teaching us the proper way to pray He began with, “Our Father who is in heaven…”
That’s worthy of pausing to consider, isn’t it? He says the gentiles, meaning unbelievers, clamor for the basic necessities of life because they do not have knowledge of God nor do they trust Him for those basics. They think they have to do it all themselves.
Then He says, ‘your Father’. Not just ‘your God’. We’ve already said all this, I just want to remind you because of what comes next.
“…knows you need all these things”.
Wow, Christians! Y’know what? I have to admit to you that as my children have grown there have been many times they’ve had to say “I need new shoes” or “I need new pants”.
I’ve tried to be a good father. I’ve tried to anticipate their basic needs and not make them ask for things. I’ve even tried to treat them on occasion with extras just because I want them to know they’re special to me.
But our heavenly Father…is aware, consciously and deliberately and acutely aware…of everything we need. And He too gives us extras now and then just because He wants us to know we’re special to Him.
He knows the number of hairs on our head. Before we were born He had intimate knowledge of us. Before the worlds were formed He had an eternal plan for us.
The Apostle was able to say with settled conviction “I am persuaded that He is able to preserve that which I have committed to Him”, meaning his very life.
And we sinfully worry about…tomorrow…
What is the definition of sin if it is not failing to completely and constantly trust the One who graciously makes us His children and gives us all of these assurances for our future and provides life and breath and all things needful without cost?
WHAT FAITH SEEKS
Now I want you to notice what Jesus says we should be seeking after.
He’s been telling us not to worry about food drink and clothing, the basic necessities of life. Not because they aren’t important. They are important. But when our focus is on those things as most important then we’re living like the beasts of the field who literally live day to day moment to moment for those things.
Even ol’ Balloo had it wrong. Some of you may remember the song from The Jungle Book.
“And don’t spend your time lookin’ around
For something you want that can’t be found
When you find out you can live without it
And go along not thinkin’ about it
I’ll tell you something true
The bare necessities of life will come to you”
No, Jesus says that our Father in heaven supplies those things. So Balloo is calling for a sort of happy-go-lucky kicking back letting it all happen kind of philosophy but Jesus says no, they don’t just fall out of the sky when you’re not looking, your Father knows you need them and gives them to you. So that frees you up to live like children who are well provided for and apply a deeper, stronger faith to what really matters.
And what is that? Something eternal. Not something passing like food and drink and clothing that fades. Something that you were made for and that you are being prepared for and that is also being prepared for you.
The kingdom of God and His righteousness.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”
This is the purpose that consumed Him during His earthly walk. This was His mission. “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…” Matt 4:23
He sent His disciples out and gave them the instruction, “As you go, preach, saying, ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand’.” Matt 10:7
The Father’s kingdom, the Father’s will. That was His heart. It was at the center of everything He did, from the time his parents found him reasoning with the old men in the temple to the day He spread out His hands to receive the spikes.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.
Christian, Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”.
Do we do that? Do you do that? What consumes you? What do you spend most of your time thinking about? What is your primary focus from day to day?
You have to work, sure. We all do. You have to plan for your future in the sense that God wants us to be responsible people, not just scratching our back against a tree and laying around the forest like ol’ Balloo, waiting for everything to just fall in our lap.
But the things we do in this life to provide for ourselves and our families, for the child of the heavenly Father, are only supposed to keep us going while we pursue the coming of the kingdom of God and the doing of His will.
Jesus didn’t say not to think about those things at all. He said not to worry about them. But then He said, ‘seek first’, which means in the matter of priorities. That can also be translated ‘continually seek’. If we’re continually concerned with the kingdom of God and His righteousness then it’s going to have first priority, isn’t it?
So this takes me back to what I said in the beginning of this second part of this sermon.
We can be serving wealth in our heart as much by the wanting of it as in the having of it.
Whether we’re putting too much trust in what we have or worrying about what we don’t have either way we’re serving that which is passing.
If we’re seeking as our very life’s mission the kingdom of God and the doing of His will we will not be serving the lesser god of mammon. Instead those things will be in their proper place, serving us.
The heathen seek to fill their bellies and as a result end up only finding that which they’ve sought.
The child of God, when he seeks diligently the face of God, finds what he is seeking also.
Do you want to live life on a higher plane, Christian? Here is the secret revealed to you by Jesus, sitting on a hillside, the happiest man who ever lived telling you how to be happiest and most fulfilled, and He lived every day, every moment, doing what He preached. You can trust His words to be true because He demonstrated them all the way to Calvary and the joy that was set before Him.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and he who seeks shall surely find. Matt 7:7
Ps 139:14 Lk 12:7 Matt 25:34 2 Tim 1:12
