Luke 12:22-28

I’m going to read through verse 28, 22 through 28 of Luke chapter 12 this morning. And he said unto his disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? In which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit. and if ye then be not able to do that which, that thing which is least, why do you take thought for the next, excuse me, for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clove the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven. How much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? God blessed to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Many years ago, Time magazine ran an article on guilt and anxiety. The article stated that the article stated that the basis of the problem was associated with a breakdown of faith in God in the 19th century and a breakdown in reason in the 20th century. Coupled with that is the accelerated pace and high tension of modern life, which leads to intense anxiety in millions of people. In fact, worry in our society is so great it could be designated as the most debilitating ailments of our time. Worry has many bad effects. Not only can you end up committing suicide, but there’s nervous breakdown, there’s alcoholism, there’s divorce, there’s all kinds of things that can flow out of worry. Time magazine, however, could not provide a cure for worry. The only thing they could suggest, of course, with sedatives and psychiatry to help you. Thankfully, the Bible offers to us an entirely different and far more effective approach to worry. And it provides indeed a remedy for us as the people of God. Jesus Christ in our text is addressing this common problem of worry. And he tells you in verse 22 to take the people of God. no thought. And as we looked at this phrase last week, we said that it meant not to worry, not to be torn up, torn apart, which is the effect of worry, really. But not to worry about these kinds of things. And you notice this is a commandment that he gives all his followers. Because it is a command of God, that he gives all his followers. Because it is a command of God, that indicates to us that all worry on our part is sinful. And yet sadly, how many Christians are guilty of it, who is it? Jesus takes the most extreme case here. What you need things to wear and you need food to eat. I mean, these are the basic necessities of life. So he takes the worst case in the scenario. And he says, how can you fret over worrying about, about lesser things when I tell you don’t have to worry about even the greatest thing. That’s the point of the argument here. Today we will consider some of the arguments that Christ chooses to help you in dealing with anxiety. And so my topic this morning is this. Worry. Consider the birds and the flowers. Now let me begin by saying this. Consider God’s care of the risk. Consider God’s care of the ravens when you begin to worry. Look at verse 24 with me. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? So the Lord here draws your attention to the birds or the files of the air. Now, you have to understand that Jesus is teaching outside. He is out in the open. And so the people that are listening to him could look around them at the trees and the sky, and they were full of birds, and ravens were very common in Palestine at this time. So there were plenty of birds for them to see. It was very visual. for them to pick up on what he’s talking about. So Christ says here, get your mind off yourself for a moment. Now I want you to think about the birds. See how many there are flying around here. You hear them, you know, cheerfully chirping, and you see them flying around and perching in the trees. They are busy gathering straw and twigs for their nest and food for their young and so forth. Consider carefully these small creatures. see every day around you. That’s the first thing he tells you to do. I want you to consider them. Look around you at God’s creation. And then he says, I want you to contrast yourself with the Ravens. Now there’s a great deal of difference between the way they gather food and the way we would gather food. In the case of the Ravens’ food is of course provided for them by God as Psalm 104. tells us all of God’s creatures, including the piles of the air, wait upon thee, God, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest thy hand, and they are filled with good. The Psalmist is telling us that God is the one who feeds the animal kingdom, and he feeds the birds the birds. However, in your case, There’s a definite process involved. We are farmers, and we sew the fields. We get them watered and cultivated and so forth, and the crop comes up, and that we have to gather it in and so forth. The birds don’t have barns and things like that. And so they have to store every day, go out and get things. But they may have to gather their food. They don’t plant or cultivate or harvested. Man, however, does. The Bible says in the sweat of thy face, thou shalt eat thy bread in Genesis chapter 3. Look at the birds, however. They don’t have the means which man does. They don’t have farming instruments. And yet they’re not anxious about where their next meal is going to get. come from. They can’t, in any real sense, plan ahead. They don’t have the power of reason like you and I do. They just go out and gather it. They don’t worry. They sing happily. They chirp away if they go about gathering your food. Boats don’t worry about starving to death. The ravens are carefree, and yet you and I are often careworn. So we see a contrast when we make comparison with the birds. Entrash yourself with the ravens. Now, you are to consider the fact that birds are provided for by God, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? Now, it’s obviously clear that the birds have provided for by God’s providence. Worms, insects, seeds are what birds. live on and the earth is full of them. There’s an abundance of them. There’s probably an overabundance of them. God makes sure that birds have plenty to eat. He has caused them to multiply and so the birds are busy eating. We were, we had some kind of yellow jacket or hornet nest right out there by the front door. And we used to have carnels that would come in this little red bush that we had out front. And they weren’t coming anymore, I guess, because of the bees. The next thing we know, other birds were coming. And they were going down and getting the bees. They were going after the bees and getting them. So they found food to eat. So God is providing for them plentifully. God asked Job, who provided for the raven his food? And the answer is, his young cry out to God. In Job chapter 38, 41. The eyes of God. of all his creatures, the Bible says, wait upon thee, and thou give us them their meat or food in due season. Psalm 145.15, they wait on you. Now all God’s creatures cry out to Him and the wait upon him for the food. That’s just the simple fact of life. God looks after them. He takes care of them. He is the one who sustains. And God would have us realize, no, wait a minute. we’re much better than they are. We’re more important. Christ points out to you two obvious truths from this example. One is this. You have much better relationship to God than birds. Now, with regard to the birds, God is their creator and they’re a supplier of food. That’s great. But you know what? Never in Scripture does it say that God is their father. But he says that of you and I as believers. We are his children. He’s the father of his disciples. This verses 29 and 30 tell us here seek ye not and seek not ye what you shall eat or what you shall drink. Either be of doubt for mine. For all these things to the nations of the world seek after and your father knoweth that you have need of these things. Matthew’s gospel puts it even more plainly. Your Heavenly Father feedeth them, Matthew 626, speaking of the birds. And Matthew 6.32, your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. If your Heavenly Father shows this much concern for the little birds of the air. Surely, he has much greater concern for you and I as his dear children. And this is the point. On an earthly level, a father may be very kind to animals. Maybe he lays out sunflower seeds during the summer for them to eat. Maybe he builds birdhouses for nesting or a bird bath. Maybe in the wintertime He throws out bread for the birds to eat. But it’s inconceivable that man would show such an interest to provide sustenance for mere creatures like ravens and birds and neglect to do this much for his own children. And if this is true of an earthly father, how much more true it must be for our heavenly father to care for you and I as his people. So you need to ponder these things carefully. Remember, God is not merely your creator. If you know him, he is your heavenly father. This should calm your anxious mind. The second thing here is you are much more valuable than a mere bird. He says, how much more are you better than the files in verse 24? Now the argument is based upon the true greatness and dignity of man. God made all the other creatures, but when it came to making man, the Bible says he made him after his own image in Genesis 1, verse 28 at 26. And man was given authority to rule over all that God created, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the file of the air, and over everything that moveeth upon the earth, Genesis 128. God has endowed man with all kinds of gifts and abilities, and he’s been able to create things. He’s creative, because God gave him that type of mind. Now, when you think about man, he is an eternal being because he has an eternal soul. Birds don’t have an eternal soul. They only live for a short period of life. time and there go out of existence. I could have a fortune if I would open up a cemetery for pets, do little sermonettes, you know. You could be a fortune doing that. But it’s not biblical. You know, the animal’s spirit goes down to the back to the earth, the Bible tells us. It dies off. Man’s returns to God and has to give an account. As a believer, You are being conform to the image of God’s dear son. Think about that a minute. That’s special. That’s unique. So in every way, you’re much better than the files of the air, which today are and tomorrow or not. Does he not care for these inferior creatures? Well, he must if he takes care of them and provides for them. Not one of them falls to the ground without your own. heavenly father, his will and knowledge, the Bible tells us in Matthew 1028. Now, as this is true, look at yourself and realize what you are in the sight of God. Any comparison to the ravens or birds should put an end of your worry. So Christ draws attention to the birds of the air and he points out to you two obvious truths. You have a much better relationship to God than they have, and you’re much more valuable than the birds. Now, secondly, consider the uselessness of all your wearing. Versus 25 and 26. Which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? The cubit is about 18 inches. There’s a royal cubit that’s a little bigger. And if you then be not able to do that thing, which is least, why do you take thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not. Neither do they spin, or they spin not. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, the Greek word for stature here is able to be trained. translated two different ways. It can refer either to your height or it can refer to your length of dates. This exact word is used with regard to Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19. Zekees were told was small in stature. He was little of stature. It’s the same word. The same word, however, is used in Hebrew. Bruce chapter 11 and verse 11, where Sarah was past age when it came to conceiving a child. And so it could be used either way. It’s used to the boy that was a man, I guess, now was born blind. All his life he was blind, and Christ heals him. And his parents are called in, is this your son and all this? And they say, well, he is of age. Same word. He’s old enough, you can ask him. So the same word is used in each of these verses. So we can speak of height. It can speak of life’s being. Actually, Christ’s point is clear, regardless of which word we use. However we translated, it’s still very clear. You can’t by worrying add to your height. God controls that. Zach, he is probably hated being short. But worrying about it would not help him. All your anxiety put together could not add an inch to your height. You never see any advertisements to make you taller. There’s no advertisement about the height gainers. May have weight lossers, but you never have height gainers. You never see that. No matter how anxious, how strong, how wise you are, you can’t change your head. height. Your height is reached by the providence of God alone. You can’t do anything about it. An infant grows from about 18 inches long to about six feet in height. Think about it. They keep adding cubits as they get over. Now, how was one cubit after another added to your statute? You didn’t do it. You couldn’t do it. make it happen. God did it. And certainly, you couldn’t control how high, how higher, how tall you are. Now, in framing your body, God brought you out of the mother’s womb of cubit and lent, and gradually he added cubit after cubit, and he caused you to grow, and you either became a Zakias or a Glythe. I mean, it’s up to him. All the worrying in the world cannot enable you to exceed the height that God has established for you. When I was younger, you had to be a certain height to be a policeman or fireman, I think. But now I think they’ve gotten rid of those restrictions. And so there was one guy who was like an inch short. He was doing all this stretching exercise. He was trying to get that last inch so that he could be an officer. But if you cannot by worrying, do that which is least. Go ahead, try to add just an inch to your height. Why do you worry about great, much bigger things? So you can’t by worrying, add to your height. You can’t by worrying add to your lifespan. God controls that, too. If we take this to mean duration of life, it would certainly fit in with the phrase in verse 22, take no thought for your life. James 14.5 says, A man’s days are determined. The number of his months are, with thee, God, thou appointest his bounds that he cannot pass. What does that mean? You’re going to live exactly as long as God says you’re going to live. He has an hour glass for every person, and when the sand comes out of it, you die. That’s just the way it is. Medical science, with all its skill and knowledge, cannot control your lifespan. Cannot add extra time to your life. now man thinks he can extend life because he doesn’t know the true facts of the man but you can have two patients who appear to have exactly the same degrees because they have the same symptoms you can give them the very same treatment medications one dies and one lives why is that it’s in God’s hands one recovers one doesn’t life starts and ends that’s just the way it is and therefore God argues why all the fuss why all the worry and aggravation when your days are already determined by God so your worrying isn’t going to change what God has purpose to do you just need to stop and think about it you can’t do a thing about it if by worrying you can’t even add an hour or a minute or a second to your lifespan why do you worry about all these other matters thirdly consider the flowers of the field when you begin to order now he takes up one other subject verses 27 and 28 consider the lilies how they grow they toil not they spin not yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these if God so clothe the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven how much more will he clothe you oh ye of little faith you are to ponder the flower in the fields also when you begin to work again Jesus is outside he points them to something they could see something that they could ponder our Lord uses the example from nature here and he asked you to ponder these wildflowers that they toil not neither that they spin and yet they are wonderfully clothed by God they grow without any toil on their part without any human hands this is not these are not flowers in your garden that have been cultivated and carefully watched over by you and yet we see how easily and freely and freely these gorgeous flowers bloom out there in the wild in the fields look at their beauty look at their perfection these lilies do not spin a single thread they don’t sew a stitch of fabric and yet they exceed Solomon in all his splendor when we think about Solomon and the riches think about the royal robes that they must have worn you see that how he made you know his furniture was covered with either gemstones or gold or precious materials and so forth we read about his uh his uh chariot and his his pavilion that’s carried about in the book of song of solomon but the glory of solomon was a proverb among the jews because of the richness there was no king on the face of the earth like solomon because of his extravagance and riches. Magnificent, we think about all the things that he had. And yet Christ says all that pales in significance when compared to one of these lovely wildflowers. There is an inherent quality about these wildflowers and smell and design in their texture. and their coloring, in their form, man, and all his ingenuity cannot imitate it. You can make plastic flowers, but they’re not the same. Such wildflowers demonstrate God’s perfect creation. They reflect some of his glory. Why, these wildflowers at times, are never even seen by human beings. Can you think about this? Some of these flowers grow and they’re never seen by human eyes at all and yet they clothed the field with their beauty. These wildflowers are not naked. They’re beautifully dressed by God, aren’t they? If God clothes what will pass away, will he not provide for you as his child? If God does all this for wildflowers of the field, doesn’t he love his elect people more than that? These lovely flowers are but great. grass of the fields. Now, they’re so insignificant that people would go out and gather them, let them dry out a little bit, and use them to fire their ovens. they had stone ovens, and so they would heat their ovens with just fuel with ovens. Think about that in it. They weren’t very valuable, were they? Now, if God decks these wildflowers with such beautiful garments, which really could end up in the oven anyhow, and they’re not really of great value. Surely, he will clothe his own children who he cares very much for. These wildflowers are mere grass. They’re going to be used as fuel. But you are destined for eternal glory. So when it comes to the necessities of the body, there is no need to worry. Consider the flowers of the field, he says. So let me close. Worry is a terrible sin because it is a distrust of God’s providence. That’s what the problem is. Sadly, you can see how God provides for the creatures, the birds. Still, you simply doubt his concern for you. Why the animals trust more in God’s providence than you and I do at times. Can you see how strongly Christ’s rebukes? you here in verse 28. O ye a little faith? That’s a rebuke. You’re not showing much faith, he’s saying. So if you fail to put your faith in God in his providence, worry’s going to eat you up. It tears you apart. How much you and I need to ask the Lord for forgiveness for doubting his provision for his people and ask for faith to believe that he will somehow take care of us. So there are two areas that we need to improve on. One, we often worry when we shouldn’t, and we need to ask God for forgiveness, and two, we need our faith strengthened so that we don’t reach that point. Second point I’ll mention is this. Let’s let God’s creation around you, comfort you when you begin to worry. The next time you’re tempted to worry over future needs like clothing, or necessity like that, consider the wildflowers in the field. God has much greater concern for you than he does for these flowers. When you think about God’s creation, it’s quite marvelous. I read an interesting little story. Up on the lofty snow-covered mountains of the Matterhorn, the Alps in both Switzerland and Italy, Some explorers were awed by the wondrous works of God. A tiny fly was caught. He’s known as the Matterhorn fly. And they put him under a pocket microscope to take a look at him. And they were amazed at what they saw. Now, when you see a common fly today, if you look at his legs, they’re naked. But the Matterhorn fly, has hair on his legs. It’s almost as if God gave them pants so that when they’re up there in the cold, he takes care of. Now, if he takes care of the Matterhorn flop, put some pants on him, so to speak, surely, God knows our needs and will take care of us. Friend, you don’t need a sedative, you don’t need a psychiatrist. You need to consider what God says about worry. You need greater faith. You need greater faith. You’re guilty of little faith if life circumstances and cares overwhelm you. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. The Bible says, 1 John 5.1. Don’t be a doubting, Thomas. Don’t say, well, I know what God’s word said, but. No. Get your thinking straight. Exercise your faith is what God is telling us to do through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. close with a word of prayer.