Trusting The Father�S Provision

I'll question for you this morning, how many of us here would be honest enough to admit
that at least occasionally we worry?
All right.
I feel much better because honesty compels me to admit that particularly in recent years
because of some of the things that our family has been going through, I've done a lot of
re-ent, and I've been more anxious, often on in the last couple of years probably, than
I have in all previous years of my life put together, and I'm willing to bet that there
will be seasons in your life too.
Sometimes there are seasons of overflowing blessings, things go really well and we're
just grateful, but other times there are those moments in our lives where our needs seem
to go unmet, our prayers seem to be uninsured, and we become anxious.
And we become anxious about just about everything often, and not only we can be anxious about
our health, we can be anxious about our finances, we can be anxious about our children, we
can be anxious about our parents, we can be anxious about our relationships, we can
be anxious about our work, our boss, our neighbor, Lord knows there's no limit to what it is
that we can be anxious about.
And then when we read these verses of Jesus here in Matthew 6 telling us not to worry,
but rather to put our hope in our faith in God, it almost sounds simplistic, doesn't it
like Jesus, where are you coming from?
Sounds like he's from a different planet, indeed, of course he is.
And the challenge then is for us to learn to be like him and to learn to trust the father
with the simplicity of a childlike faith like Jesus was able to demonstrate in the course
of his life.
In an order to be able to do that, we need to be able to get into the mind of Jesus and
understand the thinking that he describes for us here in these verses that we have
read together from Matthew 6.
And so as we look at these verses together in the time that we have this morning, let's
see if we can unravel the foundational truths upon which Jesus is building foundational
truths that he says will lead to a life of trust in God the father.
It begins as Jesus with understanding that all of life is a gift from God.
Notice again how he begins this particular passage, "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 important than food, and the body more important than clothes, is not life
more important than food, and the body more important than clothes."
Now think that through with me a little bit, what makes us worry and why do we become anxious?
Well we worry and we become anxious because we are creatures with needs.
And when those needs go unmet or when it looks like they're going to be unmet then we
become anxious.
And at a bare minimum we need food clothing and shelter, those are significant needs.
But beyond that we look for things like companionship.
We look for a meaningful job, we look for significant relationships.
And we don't know what worry is until we find ourselves in a situation where those significant
needs of our lives seem to go unmet and we wonder what in the world is happening.
And so as a result, as I pointed out last week, people who lack faith spend most of their
time and their energy trying to figure out how to get food in the table, how to get the
clothes they want, how to get their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs met.
I mean go to any bookstore, look at any magazine shop, look at the titles of the books that
are selling the magazines that are being promoted, what are the issues that sell?
How to have a better sex life, how to have the latest hairdo, how to be more fashionable
in your dress, how to find more enjoyment in your job.
All of these things are the things the natural man is interested in.
And as you know, diagrammatically we can represent it this way.
God is not part of the equation.
We buy into Satan's line of wisdom that God helps those who help themselves.
And we are primarily responsible ourselves for meeting our need.
Jesus summarizes it this way later on in this passage when he says after all these things
that is food clothing shelter and every other human need that we have the Gentiles seek.
Why do they seek?
Because that's what they think is the abundance of life.
And now Jesus tells us that life is more important than food and the body more important than
clothes.
That is to say from God's point of view, our life is not sustained by the food we eat,
the clothes we wear, the jobs we have or the money that we accumulate, no, it is determined
by what?
It's determined by our relationship with God.
If we are in our right relationship with God, then God is the one who looks after our needs
and he promises to provide for us.
And so diagrammatically we can represent that this way.
As you know, God is in the center.
We look to him for life.
He meets our needs.
We're able to meet one another's needs.
All of this is summarized for us later on by Jesus when he says seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be given to you as well.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be given to you
as well.
So here is Jesus' argument in the opening verses of this passage.
Jesus' life is a gift that God has given you.
You've got no control over it.
You didn't create yourself, you didn't cause yourself to be born.
It was his sovereign choice and wish to put you here in the world.
And if he created you, then will he not also look after you?
And that's the second observation then that I want to make as this passage continues
and as we try to get into the thinking of Jesus because he has created me, because I am
his handy work, he has committed himself to providing everything that I need both for
time and for eternity.
And I find it fascinating how Jesus continues to go forward in this passage because here
is what he says next.
Look at the birds of the year.
They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
And then he goes on furthermore in verse 28 and 29 to say, "Look at the lilies of the field
how they grow.
They don't labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of these."
Now what's he doing?
He is trying to illustrate the provision of God for all of his creation.
And he says, "If you have difficulty believing that God cares for you and that he is interested
in you and that he will meet your needs," then he says, "Study nature."
He says, "First of all, look at the birds of the year."
Now what's unique about the birds of the year?
Well, he says, "They don't take any thought for tomorrow.
They don't sow, they don't reap, they don't lay up in storehouses.
And yet how do they stay alive?
They stay alive because God the Father provides for them.
He has so structured nature that he looks after their needs.
They know how to be fed.
I love the story of the atheist who was wandering through the woods."
He was admiring creation.
He says, "What majestic trees, what powerful rivers, what beautiful animals."
And as he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him and
he turned to look and he saw a seven-foot grizzly bear charged towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder so the bear was closing
in on him.
He looked over his shoulder again and the bear was even closer.
He tripped and fell on the ground.
He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him reaching
for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
And that instant, the atheist cried out, "Oh, my Lord, time stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
A bright light shone upon the man and a voice came out of the sky.
You deny my existence for all these years.
Teach others I don't exist that even credit creation to a cosmic accident.
And now do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?
Am I to count you as a believer?"
The atheist looked directly into the light and he said, "It would be hypocritical of
me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now.
But perhaps you could make the bear a Christian."
Very well said the voice.
The light went out.
The sounds of the forest resumed and the bear wouldn't you know it.
He dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head and spoke, "Lord,
bless this food which I am about to receive from your bounty."
God provides for all of his creatures.
And the lily of the field, it neither toils nor spines.
That is to say, it doesn't have to work addressing itself up to look good, nor does it worry
about it.
But even Solomon says Jesus in all his splendor was not arrayed like one of these.
And so the emphasis that Jesus makes here is that even though we attribute a lot of these
things to natural processes, and we often talk about Mother Nature, I want you to know
there's no such thing as Mother Nature, there's only Father God.
And Father God feeds the birds of the air and he closes the lilies of the field.
Some 104 puts it this way, the earth is full of your creatures.
These all look to you.
That is to the Lord to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them, they gather it up.
When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
Jesus is to you and to me.
You have questions about the Father's love for you, the Father's willingness, the Father's
desire to provide for you.
He says, look at the birds of the air, look at the lilies of the field, the words in Greek
are stronger, it's like study them, examine them, let it sink into you.
And his purpose in doing so is to fold.
His point is, first of all, then that you and I are of much more value than they are.
Are you not much more valuable than they says, Jesus?
Later on in Matthew 10, he says, are not to sparrow sold for a penny, yet not one of them
will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
And if even the very hairs of your head are all numbered, don't be afraid.
You are worth much more than sparrows.
Now, we live in a day and age where curiously enough, as part of our evolutionary teaching,
we are lowering the importance of human beings, we are elevating the importance of creation.
And so not infrequently, the same people who are so terribly environmentally conscious
they are not a wit about the unborn that are being destroyed.
Or even about wars that are being waged, God knows where in the world.
And people spend more on their pets and on the need of their pets often than they do
on children and the needs of children.
And we need to understand from God's perspective that important is all of creation is.
And much as God loves the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and much as we
ought to be concerned about looking after all of them, they pale in comparison to you and
to me why, because we are made in the image of God.
God has a relationship with us and God has an eternal destiny for us, and not all pet lovers
love this, but I don't see anything in scripture about pets ever going to heaven.
And I don't know if they'll be there, but it certainly won't be your dog and cat, maybe
a new creation.
But we live forever because we share the image of God.
Are you not of much more value than they are?
Says Jesus.
And then he goes on to say because we are of much more value.
We warrant that much greater care, and if even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without
the will of my Heavenly Father, that's radical, that's amazing.
Even the hair on my head is numbered.
How infinite is God's care and God's provision for his children?
And Jesus has stood you into me.
You want to learn not to worry that it begins by understanding that all of life is a gift
from God.
God has created you in Christ.
He has redeemed you to become one of your children.
And because he has created you and because he has redeemed you, you are like the apple
of his eye.
And he's not just interested in meeting our spiritual needs and getting us to glory.
Or on Jesus says here, your Father in heaven knows what all of your needs are.
And so he cares about whether we can pay our bills or not.
He cares about whether we've got enough to eat or close to where or shelter or a job
or that special relationship for which we crave.
Often our faith will be tested.
And often we wonder, Lord, where are you in the midst of this?
But faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, and
the great necessity in your life and in my life is to understand then that even as God
cares for all the creatures of the year and the animals and the lilies of the field and
the grass which is grown today and thrown into the oven tomorrow.
So he has committed himself to meeting your needs and my needs in the here and now, as
well as for the life that is to come.
That raises a very interesting question, of course.
Does that mean we just sit back passively, open our hands and receive it directly from
God in heaven?
And here again, looking at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field is very instructive.
How does a bird live?
Not just by passively sitting back and saying, "Well, you know, God said He will provide
for me and the worm will come to me."
How does the lily grow?
Well not just by passively hanging around and hoping that it will happen now, the bird
has the strength, the energy and the initiative to go out and find its food, knowing that God
has provided it for Him.
We have in the back of our house a bunch of bushes, I don't know what they're called
or what they are, but they bear these little berries, check full of them.
At almost every fall, during bird migration there is a swarm of birds that comes a flocking
in and they will take over all those trees, there must be hundreds of them and in a matter
of minutes they pick it clean and off they go.
And every time we have a groundhog that runs off with one of our tomatoes, I tell my wife,
this groundhog is just very grateful to God the Father that we are being instrumental
in providing His food into season.
It eases the pain to know there is a great cosmic purpose behind our stolen tomatoes.
Our Father in heaven most commonly provides our needs by giving us the wisdom, the intelligence
and the strength to be about our daily work, to find the right kind of job, to find the
right kind of employment and to steal our things wisely so that our needs can be met.
It's not to say that God doesn't also provide for us supernaturally, but the supernatural
provision from God either takes place in moments where God really wants to demonstrate to us
that He knows us and He cares for us or in those places where obviously we cannot look
after ourselves and other people cannot look after us because typically it starts with
us, then when we don't know how to look after ourselves because of whatever reason, other
people will be called forth to step up to the plate.
And in the cases of widows and orphans, those clear-cut cases in Scripture, there are no
human institution or resources to fall back on.
God Himself steps in and He's able to provide for us mana from heaven, water out of the rock.
And if we were to take the time here this morning and hear each other's stories, a lot of
us can testify how God has been present in providing for us in each of those ways.
There have been times where God has just given us strength, wisdom and energy and we could
find the right job, but just the right time and life has come together.
And others of us, we've been in situations either on the giving end or the receiving
end, we didn't know how to be able to pull it off ourselves and God raised up somebody
else.
They came alongside us and they poured their time and their talent and their treasure
into our lives and they helped us walk that part of the journey that we could not walk
alone.
And then there have been those moments where God really drove us into a corner where God
really wanted to establish us in faith and where all the efforts of our hands could
have solved the problem, where everybody around us seemed to be oblivious to our needs
but we were driven to our needs and where we discovered in our extremity that God's
really there, that God loves us with an everlasting love and that He provides for our needs.
In fact, sometimes God pushes us into those places, doesn't He?
Especially in the deep places of our hearts.
That's so that He can reveal Himself as Jehovah Jaira, the God who provides.
So Jesus says life is a gift from God because life is a gift from God, God has committed
Himself to looking after all of our needs and because of that says Jesus, it doesn't help
to worry.
Two of you, verse 27, by worrying can add a single hour to His life.
Later on, He puts it this way, don't worry about tomorrow.
For tomorrow, we'll worry about Himself each day has enough trouble of its own.
Somebody has made this observation about the things we worry about and here I'm preaching
to myself as well as to you, just so that we're on the same page.
40% of the things that we worry about will never happen.
30% of the things we worry about are things that have happened in the past that we cannot
change.
12% of the things that we worry about are about criticism by other people, most of which
will be untrue.
10% of our worries will be about our health and that health will only get worse with the
stress of worrying and then 8% of our worries are about our real problems that we need to face.
And Jesus says every day has enough challenges of its own.
What's promise is that He will meet our deeds according to His riches and glory in Christ
Jesus on a daily basis, give us this day our daily bread.
Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow because each day has enough trouble of its own.
To summarize then, how do we come to grips with the worrying and the anxiety that is so
often a part of our lives?
Again it begins by setting our priorities, it begins by understanding that life is a gift
from God and that therefore the focus of my life ought to be my relationship with God.
And hour spent in His presence and hour and a half spent in worship on a Sunday morning
can do more for the practical realities of our needs than 10,000 hours spent trying to
worry and trying to solve our problems because sometimes it is precisely in the presence
of God, that God alumans our understanding gives us our insight and shows us the way out.
And that's why we need to hang around with Him.
We need to set our priorities, we need to know that even as God cares for the birds of
the air and the lilies of the field so He cares for you and for me.
I remember as a young man growing the Christian life, reading books about the walk of faith,
I had this stereotypical image of people living by faith, being poorly dressed and poorly
looked after and I was fearful that that would be my story in my history if I were to give
my life to Jesus without any reservation and it wasn't until I came across this passage
where He talks about look at the lilies of the field, how splendidly they are dressed,
far exceeding Solomon in all His glory that I finally began to understand.
If God exercises that kind of care about the lily of the field, how much more will He
care for me?
And how much more will He care for you?
Has that faith been tested over the years?
You bet your bottom dollar it has.
Am I always successful in standing up under that test I would say no, I know as much about
worry and anxiety as the next person.
But the reality is that God cares for us and He cares deeply and because He does He invites
us to cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us.
And so we need to learn to present our needs to God.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way, one of the most powerful anti-worry passages in Scripture
do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving
present your requests to God.
And the peace of God which transcends all understand there, well guard your hearts in
your minds in Christ Jesus.
How do we get rid of worry?
How do we get rid of anxiety?
We commit our lives to the Lord, we learn to trust His provisional care, and then we
learn to take all the challenges of the day and roll them over in prayer to God.
So I'm worried about my marriage, I'm worried about my job, I'm worried about my child, I'm
worried about my aging parent, I'm worried about the state of the world, I'm worried about
the state of my health, I worry about the state of my heart.
None of these things is of disinterest to our God and our Father.
I know that sometimes it feels that way and I know that sometimes you know we struggle
because he's not there quick enough to give to us what it is that we want and so we very
often learn how to live a very split life.
We do our little religious world over here and our real world and our real needs are over
here and somehow the two don't mix but when you read the word of Jesus he says God cares
and he cares deeply.
And while yes there will be those times of testing and yes there will be those times
when it sounds like the heavens are brass and the answer isn't coming God says cast all
your anxieties on me because I care for you.
And you know the beauty of it is that it is then in the midst of our practical everyday
living that faith and everyday life begins to integrate because now I discover God will
give me insights about my job.
God will give me insights about my relationships.
God will give me insights about the opportunities and the challenges that I face and not only
that but He will give me strength He will give me wisdom He will give me insight so that
I can step into these situations and all of a sudden I begin to discover that God gives
me the answer in the practical realities of life that make me fall on my knees and worship
Him.
I'll never forget a story my good friend Bert used to tell us.
Bert was one of my best friends in the first church that I pastored and he was a man
who in his own spiritual journey had really been learning that there isn't a need to
small or a problem too little but that it could be given to the Lord in prayer and God
would care and have need be do something about it.
And Bert had been witnessing to one of his neighbors who was not a believer and not a church
guard and so happened that this neighbor had trouble with his combine I believe it was
one fall he had a busted bearing and had been trying to get that bearing off the shaft
without any success and so he was telling my friend Bert about this and Bert who was just
really learning how to verbalize his growing faith in the Lord he said well have you considered
praying about it now this is to a guy who is not a Christian well the guy was desperate
enough because as you know there are never any atheists and foxholes and so the man told
him later that he had taken Bert at his word he had gone back to his combine he had asked
the Lord to help him get that bearing off the shaft and believe it or not tapped it with
his hammer and often flew now the skeptic in you and me will tell us that it was almost there
anyway and it would have come anyway it's like when you're trying to take the cover off the
lid off a bottle and you've tried and you've tried and it wouldn't go and then you give it to
your wife or one of your kids and they go like this and offered pops and you know that it really
wasn't their strength that did it was really you right but as one bishop said many years ago about
coincidence as he says it's a very strange thing but the coincidences of life seem to increase
in proportion to the prayers that I have prayed and in that particular instance that story
was one of the incidents the Lord used in that neighbor's life to bring him to faith
and one of the ways in which we can most powerfully bear witness to the world around us
is by a demonstration of God's presence in our daily lives
learning how to share those kinds of struggles and answers to prayer so that our neighbors will
know too that our God is a God who not only gives us life but he sustains us with his power
and with his care
like the river glorious as God's perfect peace over all victorious in its pride and praise
perfect yesterday for every day perfect yesterday growing deeper all the way
trusting in the Father hurts our fully blessed finding as he promised perfect peace
hidden in the hollow of his mighty hand where no heart can follow in his strength we stand
we may trust him holy all for us to do those who trust him holy find him holy true
trusting in the Father hurts our fully blessed finding as he promised perfect peace and rest