Just Look at the Birds!
Matthew 6:24–34
[Jesus said:] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But 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, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 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.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (ESV)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Give us childlike confidence and contentment in You. Give us courage and give us blessing in our vocations. Do not give us treasure or riches, but apportion to us our allotted bread. Lord, You know our heart and our temptations; have mercy, and fill us early and often with Your mercy, so that we may sing joyfully and be content all our days. Amen.
Dear Friends in Christ,
God has a way of getting his point across. Sometimes, he even uses humor. Take, for example, the prophet Balaam. God provided great military victories for the Israelites. So much so, that King Balak and all of Moab were overcome with fear of the people of Israel. King Balak knew that he couldn’t defeat Israel with the sword, so he asked the prophet Balaam to curse Israel, so that they could defeat Israel. However, when Balaam inquired with the Lord, the Lord commanded Balaam not to curse Israel, because Israel was blessed—God was with them. But King Balak was persistent and promised to reward Balaam greatly, if he would curse Israel. Eventually, Balaam went with the princes of Moab. God knew the hidden motives of Balaam—he wanted material gain.
When Balaam was on the road riding on his donkey, the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey turned aside going into the field, and Balaam struck the donkey. He kept going, but the donkey turned aside again. So Balaam struck her again. Finally, they got to a point in the road where the donkey could no longer turn to the side to avoid the angel of the Lord, so the donkey simply lays down. Balaam is furious and hits the donkey again. But then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and she said, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand for then I would kill you.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No” (Numbers 22).
Finally, the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam to see the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his sword drawn. Balaam falls on his face in fear. The Lord taught Balaam not to go against God’s Word, but it took the most stubborn animal, a donkey, to speak to make Balaam realize his own sin. God has a sense of humor.
Our lesson for this morning comes from the end of Jesus’ sermon on the Mount. Here, Jesus reminds us that we cannot serve God and money. We are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. When we fear, love, or trust in anything, we make it our idol. When Balaam ignored God’s word for the sake of earthly gain, he made money his idol. When we ignore God’s word for the sake of earthly gain, we make money our idol. It is very easy for you and me to worship God’s creation rather than our Creator. It has been said that man’s heart is a factory of idols. It’s easy for us to love the things of this world, to fear losing them, and to feel safe when we have them—to trust them. Yet, we have God’s first and greatest commandment: “You shall have no other gods.”
There is nothing that God disdains more than unbelief and idolatry. Yet, in our lesson today, Jesus doesn’t threaten and promise revenge if we break this commandment. Rather, in a loving and beautiful way, he reminds us that we have no need to worry. God is in control. He knows what we need. He will provide for us. Just look at the birds!
Have you ever noticed the humor in this? Our Lord reminds us that we do not need to be anxious about what we will eat or what we will wear. To further his point, Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
Have you ever seen a bird till the ground? Have you ever seen a bird plant seeds? Have you ever seen a bird harvest crops and then store them in a barn for winter? Of course not! That would be ludicrous! How funny it is to imagine birds planting seeds one by one, harvesting the crops, and then storing them in a barn. We only see this type of thing in a cartoon.
It is preposterous to think of a bird doing all those things. God is telling us here that it is even more preposterous for us to worry about what we will eat and what we will wear! To worry about the things of this life, which are completely in God’s hands. “Are you not of more value than they?” Are you not more valuable to God than a bird? Yes, you are.
Sometimes we are like little children who forget what we’ve just been told. But even little children know the answer to this question. Even a child can sing, “Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong… Jesus loves me! See His grace! On the cross He took my place. There He suffered and He died, That I might be glorified” (ELH 179:1, 2).
Every second of our Savior’s life was committed to saving our souls from eternal death in hell. He lived the life we could not and died the death you and I deserve, so that he could take our sins away. He did it all for you. Jesus died for you. He rose showing his victory for you! Do you matter to God? Are you more valuable than a bird? Yes, dear Christian, you are more valuable than a bird. You were bought at a price. The cross of Christ is proof. There is no greater symbol of love than the cross!
And so, Scripture says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). If God gave his own Son to save us, Paul argues that he will also take care of our other needs. Or as Jesus says, “But 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, O you of little faith?” God gives us every reason to trust him. Yet, as sinners, we continually find reasons not to.
As we enter an election year, people from all sides are in dismay. People think, “If our candidate doesn’t get elected, America will fail!” Can you imagine God saying, “You are right. You should be very worried about politics. I know I created the world and made everything in, I am all powerful and control all things, but if this person gets elected, I don’t know how I can still be God.” Or do you think God would remind you when you are worried about earthly governments, that Christ is King and that he rules over all things for the good of his church, and that nothing can separate us from his love?
As the economy goes up and down, inflation rises, the elderly person thinks, “How will I survive in retirement?” A young parent says, “How can I have more kids at these prices!” Can you imagine God saying, “Yes, you should be very worried! I know I said I will provide for you, but I didn’t realize inflation was going to rise so quickly. I didn’t think of that.” Or can you imagine him saying to the young parent, “I know I said children are a blessing and to be fruitful and multiply, but I didn’t realize how expensive all these extracurriculars were going to be and that this world would be so evil. We wouldn’t want more Christians in this world, to be light in a dark place, would we?” Or would God say, “I provided for Jacob’s large family through seven years of famine, I provided for millions of Israelites with manna in wilderness, I will certainly provide for you. I will take care of your family and your children will be a blessing to this world.”
There are so many things that we can waste our time on—worrying, fretting, you name it! But God only wants us to be concerned with one thing—”Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Seeking God’s kingdom is receiving the forgiveness and joy the Holy Spirit works in us through the Word. It is the kingdom of the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. We seek his righteousness by living a godly life, where we serve and love God, and show love to our neighbor. And our Savior promises, “and all these things will be added unto you.” You and I have the one thing we truly need, and it is the only thing that truly satisfies our thirsty souls. Even if we were to lose everything else in this life, if we have Christ, we still have everything.
But the devil is constantly seeking to get our heart’s attention and affection. He wants us to be worried. To doubt God, ignore his word, and fear everything but God. And you and I do a pretty good job of falling for his tricks. We get worried. We doubt God’s providence and power. We sin. We seek earthly pleasure and satisfaction, over and above God’s word. We are often like stubborn donkeys.
Hopefully, it does not take a donkey to wake us up. God’s word is enough. When you worry, just look at the birds. Do you see them frantically planting seeds, harvesting, and storing things for winter? No. But still, your heavenly Father feeds them. You are more valuable than birds; God will take care of you too. As the Psalmist says, “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed” (Psalm 37).
When you have sought after the things of this world and been more concerned about the things which perish, repent and seek God’s mercy. He doesn’t scold us when we come to him confessing our sins, he forgives us. When you are tempted to worry or are troubled by your sins, just look to the birds and the lilies of the field. Look to the cross and the empty tomb. Christ is King. He has paid for our sins. He will comfort and strengthen you through his Word and Sacrament. And he has and will continue to graciously give you all that you need to support this body and life. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Amen.