01.18. The Sermon on the Mount (26)
The Sermon on the Mount (26) Take No Thought for Your Life
Matthew 6:25-34 The Lord Jesus has just warned His disciples against laying up earthly treasures and concluded with the words: ’Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ The now following teaching is in direct connection with the preceding: ’Therefore I say unto you; Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?’ (Matthew 6:25) Provision or Worry?
Worry and even fear as to the future burden many people more than ever. Worries seem to be a natural thing to our hearts but how much more so when economic and political stability seem to stagger! The Lord Jesus tells His disciples that these worries are the characteristic of the Gentiles (Matthew 6:32). This is why he encourages them in this heart-touching paragraph not to worry (see Matthew 6:25, Matthew 6:27-28, Matthew 6:31, Matthew 6:1-34). The one who worries about earthly necessities or the future in fact does not think differently to the one who wants to become rich! Such a conclusion may appear exaggerated but it clearly comes out of the context. ’Therefore’, because God does not want us to serve mammon, we shall not take thought of eating, drinking and raiment (that are the necessities of earthly life). For life does not consist of daily nourishment only and the body is not meant to be raid only. As disciples of the Lord we shall and ought to be to His disposition and service with body and soul. This does not infer that we should not work diligently and so earn our living. But we must not confound responsible providence for ourselves and others with fearful, tormenting worries in regard to job, living and the future! Some time later the Paul writes to the Ephesians: ’Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth’ (Ephesians 4:28). Paul himself was a living example of it to the saints (2 Thessalonians 3:7-12).
Two Examples
’Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?’ (Matthew 6:26). The Lord Jesus points His disciples to the fowls of the air as example of God’s care in feeding His creatures. The fowls do not sow, neither reap, nor gather into barns. But this does not imply that we (that is men) are not in need of doing it. Already in Proverbs 6:6 the sluggard is presented the ant as a picture of diligence. The fowls also have to look for their food. But they do not know any sorrow. And yet, God who feedeth them (Psalms 147:9), is not called ’their’ but ’your heavenly Father’. He is here not called the Father of all men not to mention of all animals, but he is called the heavenly Father of His children (see Matthew 5:16; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48).
’Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?’ (John 6:27). No-one can change anything by his own strength or worry in regard to his stature as in Luke 19:3 or his age as in John 9:21 and Hebrews 11:11 (where the same expression is used in the original). And it would not be of any profit either. The second example is of nature too, but this time the Lord speaks of flora. ’And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?’ (Matthew 6:28-30) The fowls at least have to do something for finding their food; but the lilies do not toil for their ’raiment’! They grow and develop so to speak ’by themselves’. It is solely and only the glorious grandeur of our creator which is displayed in the manifold colours, the beauty and tenderness of flora-and this is so to our joy as well. Not even king Solomon’s glory as described in 1 Chronicles 9:1-44 can compare with the beauty of blossoming nature. And yet this splendour only lasts for a short time, and especially so in the hot climate of the Orient. Stalks and leaves of faded flowers used to be gathered in these countries to fuel an oven. God the creator of all fauna and flora has fitted them in such admirable manner and sustains them. He will also provide for His children, who are much better than they, in fatherly manner with food and clothing. Yet how often do we also show little faith in this respect!
’But Seek Ye first the Kingdom of God...’ This is why the Lord Jesus summarises His teaching in the conclusion: ’Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.’ (Matthew 6:31-32)
What counts in this world are the things we can see and ’this side of life’. We are meant to get on and to take care for wealth and good standing. So it was in Bible times and so it is still today. In contrary to the heathen nations the Jews had God’s promises for material and spiritual blessings, especially those of the future Kingdom of God. But how was it in everyday-life? The striving for earthly things and the worries linked with them are a disease that every nation encounters. And we Christians also have to confess, that there is often hardly any difference between us and the people around us. And yet we have received much greater blessings than Israel. Furthermore we have a loving Father in heaven who knows our needs and wants to give us all that is good for us with his beloved son, who is the greatest of all gifts (Romans 8:32; 1 Peter 5:7). This is why the Lord Jesus draws his disciples’ attention to the essential thing in the centre verse of this paragraph: ’But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matthew 6:33)-With this positive invitation he shows the goal at which the disciple should aim first of all. It is the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The Lord Jesus does not say: ’Seek ye only the kingdom of God..., but: Seek ye first the kingdom of God...’, for he does not want us to forsake our other duties. Nevertheless he clearly points His disciples to what ought to be first in their lives.
Generally the Lord Jesus uses the expression ’kingdom of heaven’ in Matthew’s gospel (in contrast to the other gospels). The expression ’kingdom of God’ only appears five times (Matthew 12:28; Matthew 19:24; Matthew 21:31; Matthew 21:43). The reason for it is as follows: Matthew’s gospel especially answers the Jewish expectations and presents the Lord Jesus as king of Israel. With the expression ’kingdom of heaven’ the heavenly character of this last dispensation (era of God’s salvation) is stressed. With the promised kingdom of God the Jews had hoped for liberation from the Roman yoke and also for earthly blessing. In comparison the expression ’kingdom of God’ in this gospel stresses the general character of God’s government in power through the Lord Jesus Himself or through the Holy Spirit during the Lord’s absence (compare Romans 14:17).
’First...’
What is the practical meaning for us in the words ’Seek ye first the kingdom of God’? They invite us to give the Lord Jesus the first place in our earthly relationships, tasks and interests. Be it our time, our energy or our money, the Lord Jesus would like to be in the first place in everything:
How much time do we daily use for prayer, for reading the Word of God, for fellowship with brethren? Do we take the opportunity and gather with the brethren when they gather to His name? Do we use the means he has entrusted us for ourselves or for him and his work on earth also? And yet the most important question is: Do we make our decisions, be they small or great, in dependence upon him, that is praying and waiting upon him, and do we so really let him rule our lives? This is the only way to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The righteousness of God here, different to the one in Romans, is the practical deportment which answers to the authority and rule of God through the person of the Lord Jesus in our lives (see Matthew 5:20; Matthew 6:1 especially footnote N.Tr.). But will this not lead to neglecting our earthly duties and therefore to self-inflicted misery and even greater worries? Let us read the promise of the Lord Jesus again: ’... and all these things shall be added unto you.’ To him who has recognised the most important thing and seeks after it, the Lord will even add all else! The only thing is to set the priorities right. The Lord concludes this paragraph with nearly the same words with which he began in Matthew 6:25 : ’Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.’ (Matthew 6:34) -How often our self-made inward needs and worries have proved totally without reason the next day already! How often have we been put to shame by it and had to confess our little faith to the Lord. This is why the Lord reminds us as His disciples finally once again not to worry for the morrow.
YESTERDAY is gone TOMORROW has not yet come the Lord helps us TODAY.