Somebody Forgot To Tell The Birds

Somebody Forgot to Tell the Birds

A Sermon in the Midst of Uncertain Times – 3/22/20 – Pastor John Bright

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For 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 shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

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So, I was staring out the window of my kitchen door, watching the bird feeders. I have 2 suet feeders and a feeder with seed I got at Christmas. There were about 4 different kinds of birds on the feeders and on the carport getting what was falling down. For a few minutes, I was lost in watching the birds come and go. Then my mind came back to times in which we live. The world of a global pandemic that affects us right here in Pittsylvania County, VA. Yes – once I realized where and when I was standing my kitchen, the Lord brought to my mind a scripture about birds… His care for them with or without my bird feeders. They don’t worry!

I guess somebody forgot to tell the birds. Tell them about a virus that has closed colleges and local schools. Somebody forgot to tell them that churches and restaurants attract more than 10 people at a time. Somebody forgot to tell them everyone is supposed to stay 6 feet apart.

For us who live in a world of “New Alerts” on the TV and notifications on our smart phones, what’s the message of this scripture? Jesus spoke these words in His “Sermon on the Mount,” This passage, like so many of His teachings, follows a Jewish patter of teaching – tell folks the point and then explain it to them. That’s very different than today.

Verse 25 gets right to the point – “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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?”

DON’T WORRY! That’s the point Jesus is making here – do not worry… about your life. Your life – your whole life – that’s a looooong time. If you have been around me for very long you have heard me quote the first half of Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “To everything there is a season.” In other words, what we are facing is a season, it won’t last forever. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said that or thought that since I got a letter from Bishop Lewis to cancel all church activities for 2 weeks. It’s just a season. That’s not really the source of our fear.

Eternity is forever and we react strongly when our mortality is threatened or our loved ones. Within each of us is a powerful reaction – fight or flight – and It’s helpful (usually). What if we can’t do either one? What is the threat is global? Some have chosen to buy all the toilet paper they could find. ALL OF IT! We need to pray for those folks.

Jesus’ teaching moves on to the birds and flowers – v. 26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” v. 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;”