Harvest Celebration

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Reading: Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵ ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ²⁸ ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Teaching:

So, because it’s harvest, we are taking a break this week from our series thinking about Evangelism, to think about how God provides for us. When choosing a reading for today, this reading seemed to fit in very well with harvest, but when you look at it in more detail you will see how challenging it is.

Before we investigate this passage in more detail, I want you to consider another verse which is in the chapter before, Matthew 5. Because this will provide context for what we are studying today.  So, you will see in Matthew 5:1 it says, ‘Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them’.  Now there might have been others around listening to Jesus, but here Jesus is specifically teaching his disciples, his followers – those men who have left everything behind, and their purpose is to follow him.  And so what begins in chapter 5 is the most famous sermon in scripture, known as the Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is full of words of wisdom for life, but recognise this, these words are spoken to Jesus’ disciples.

And so, Jesus touches on various things – blessings from God also known as the beatitudes, you have an introduction for Christians in the world to be salt and light, you have a section on how Christians out to conduct themselves. But Jesus knows that in this world, when we follow him, there will be things that we have to be careful about. So as we move into chapter 6 Jesus starts to talk about our relationship not with him or with each other, but our relationship with material things. His big point from verse 19 is all to do with what occupies our time – what we are working for and what we are worried about reveals everything about the state of our heart. You see Jesus understands fully the condition of the human heart – like the disciples, if we follow after him, then we have to be totally reliant on him. That’s a very good message when it comes to harvest as the God who provides us with everything.

So, look at verse 19, Jesus says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

So, Jesus is discussing how we make use of and rely upon material things, and he closes that section by saying “Look you can’t serve God and money”. One of those things will rule over the other. Don’t race after earthly priorities because those things are fleeting.

You know in many respects as we look around us with all our decorations, we can do one of two things. We can look at these and not take them for granted because God is the one who has provided everything we can see. Or we can look at these things and not even bat an eyelid – frankly we can easily go out to the shops and buy ourselves flowers, we can go and buy fruit when we want it. It’s easy. So, do we need God at all these days?

But not one thing here will make a difference when it comes to eternity.  You as Christians we have limited time here, and Jesus says use it for the things of the Kingdom. We have limited energy and strength every day, so use it to build the Kingdom of God, and not our own Kingdom here which will ultimately perish. The treasures all around us are physical and fleeting but work for treasure that is spiritual and everlasting.  Now all of us will nod and say yes, that’s correct Jonny. And yet we will leave here today and likely not do anything about it. You won’t go home from here and review your finances and hand them over to the work of God’s kingdom. You won’t go home and review where your energy goes into each day. Human nature does not easily shift from the things that are comfortable to the things that are of God. We are pulled by everything that is around us.

But as we all know these things that we possess bring with it other issues, which is why Jesus speaks next about worry. You see when we place our treasure in things that are nothing to do with Jesus, then our dependency and focus starts to move away from him, and then worry and anxiety about the future steps in. Let me give you an example. If today I came home from church, to find that I had been removed from my role as minister. That Alison had lost her job. That we had to hand back our cars. That monthly bills could no longer be paid; I know for certain the first thing I wouldn’t say would be “Oh there’s nothing to worry about. Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet my heavenly Father feeds them”. I’m guessing I would sit for days in deep worry, in tears. I’d begin putting all my efforts into finding a new job, in examining the bills, maybe speaking to friends to see how they could help. You see if we are truly honest with ourselves, Jesus’ words in Chapter 5 ring very true – “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also”. In other words, the things that we value the most in life will be the things that we spend the most time around.

So let’s think about worry. In our family, Alison is more the worrier than me. I think the reason why I don’t worry is because I rely on her to assure me that everything in terms of our finances and wellbeing is ok. It isn’t that I am suddenly holier than her and have this deep reliance on God, I think it’s more that I assume that everything will be ok. But when the alert sounds in our house about some major issue, when I then begin to worry, I have to say I go into a very low place – far lower than Alison would ever go. Alison will have control of it, but I sink into a place where I can’t see a way out. And yet Jesus knows that the perfect way is to turn to him. “Come to me all who are weary and burdened”, he says. In our reading he says, “Do not worry”.

So that’s the end of that. That was easy to fix, wasn’t it? Let’s just finish now in prayer because that’s it all fixed.

But as we know, it’s a straightforward thing to understand, but not an easy thing to apply. For a moment, think about your own life. Consider your recent history, say over the last 4 years with COVID, with greater financial pressures on our country, with the state that the world is in. Have you been more concerned with your spiritual life or your physical life? What has dominated the decisions that you have made? I suspect in all of us we can admit that it is difficult to ignore the physical things.

In fact, in verse 32, Jesus knows that we need these things. He says this, “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them”. So does our Josh need finances for Uni, yes. Do we need food, of course. Do we need a roof over our heads, yes. But life was always meant to be more than just material things. So Jesus in verse 25 says “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear”. There’s three things he highlights – the food we eat, our physical bodies and what we wear. Why does he highlight those specifically? Well, those things are basic essentials aren’t they, but Jesus says they should not be considered anywhere near as essential as your spiritual life. And so the question is this – how are we doing at arranging our lives according to the priorities of Jesus?  On Harvest Sunday where we specifically recognise the God who provides, do our lives truly reflect the joy of how God provides? If people looked at the things that you are working for, and people looked at the things that you are worried about, what would they say is the priority in your life? Would they know that you have a need for the physical, but that you always prioritise the spiritual? Would they know that your deepest desire was not resources but is the deeper relationship with God. Could we tell that you care more about Christ than anything else in this world simply by looking at what you work for and what you worry about?

So, Jesus uses as always imagery and illustrations which everyone of us will be able to understand. He’s painting this picture of the birds in the fields, and he says they’re not pacing up and down sowing seeds, they’re not waiting for the harvest hoping and praying that it will yield a good return. They’re not worrying about their next meal. Whilst we don’t have to worry so much about whether the harvest is going to yield a return, because more often than not the food that we pick up from our supermarket shelves has come from another part of the world, but for the people listening to Jesus’ message at the time it was a huge source of anxiety for the people waiting to see if the harvest will be good. Their health, their wellbeing, their happiness, their future so relied upon it. But it was entirely outside their control – they couldn’t affect how good the harvest would be, so Jesus says don’t worry, but it is not outside of God’s control. Therefore, there’s a need Jesus says to trust in him.  So, if God provides for the birds, Jesus says, is God not going to look after those that he loves, that’s us?   We are made in his image, we have been brought into his family, we have been saved by his grace, he considers us to be his father, so how valuable are we in his sight as his children.

Next Jesus makes the point that worrying cannot add anything to your life. Someone said that while worrying is not the most serious of sins, it is likely the silliest. Worrying will do absolutely nothing for you. It will not add a day to your life. Worrying will not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but worrying will empty your day of its strength. We worry about so much that never actually happens.

Then in verse 28 Jesus says that God will look after us. Jesus is sitting on the side of a hill, probably surrounded by flowers and beautiful countryside all around him. Jesus is saying, look at the beauty of this place, God has made this so majestically, but that same God who made all that, Jesus says, will look after you. Folks, our God is worthy of our trust. When we have little faith, it denies and downplays the goodness of God. We as Christians when we are worried about things in the same way as the rest of the community is worried about, then unfortunately we are broadcasting and witnessing to them that our god gives us no more peace, no more stability than the fleeting than the pleasures of this world. But that folk is simply not correct. Jesus makes a very blunt point that the way the pagans who have no concern with God, and those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus, is shown in how you worry or how you don’t.

So Jesus says instead, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. It’s wonderful. It’s not that we don’t need things – physical provision. It’s just that we don’t need to worry about them, and you certainly shouldn’t prioritise these over the spiritual responsibilities that you have.  As Christians we must make a call on what we consider most important. We can’t make everything our priority. Is it clear that from how you live your life that your priority is seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness.

So, folks, if you follow Jesus, you have nothing to fear. If God is your Father, you have nothing to fear. If you are not a Christian, then you are effectively saying that you will take responsibility for how things work out in your life. But you will very soon realise that you have absolutely no control on many things that happen, and regrettably when they come you have nothing to hold on to. You know it grieves me at times when I am with people in hospital, and even in that point of illness, will decline prayer.

Jesus however tells us in 1 Peter 5 “Cast all your worries on him because he cares for you”. And yet for the non-believer they say, no it’s fine, I will look after that myself. I think our passage today says that there is a better way to live, but it starts with seeking God’s Kingdom, that he is in control, to trust in him. If you seek after him, then you have nothing left to worry about. If you have received his righteousness, then you truly can go about your work without any worry at all. If God is your Father, you have nothing to fear. We can trust that he will give us all that we need according to his wisdom. And whether we have little or plenty we will have God, which is all that we truly need. Go from here, being a witness to our world, that we declare God’s faithfulness, that all that’s around us is his provision, and that we walk trusting in his goodness every day.