This morning we’re celebrating God’s goodness to us. We can see it all around us. We can smell it, but just don’t taste it! Our school used to go to my church for our harvest service, and if there were apples along the window sills, people would take a bite out of the apples and then turn them around... Don’t be doing that today!
But even as we’re surrounded by God’s goodness, it might be that some of us are feeling like the man on the screen. How do you think he feels? Is he happy? Don’t think so. How does he feel? He’s worried.
And you might be worried about something today. Health, money, school, family, work, or not having work - lots of things we might be worried about. But Jesus tells us that we don’t need to be worried.
Here’s what he says: Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
Jesus is speaking about two particular worries - food and clothes - but as he does so, he helps us deal with all our worries.
Sometimes I bring along something to look at, but today the harvest decorations are a great reminder of the truth that Jesus teaches. Because Jesus also told people to look at things, and think about things, to help them see what he was saying. In today’s reading, he says look up, and then look down.
So here’s his first picture, looking up. Does anyone know what this is? It’s a raven. In Matthew’s gospel he talks about the birds of the air. Now think about the birds. When was the last time you saw a raven driving one of these - a John Deere tractor? Never! Or when was the last time you saw a robin driving a combine harvester? I’m fairly sure you haven’t - unless the farmer’s name was Robin, but that’s different!
The ravens and the other birds don’t have to plan and prepare. They do not sow or reap; they have no storeroom nor barn. So how are they fed?
Yet God feeds them. God the Father cares for them and feeds them. You don’t see the birds worrying about food, they get enough to do them, fed by God.
Now Jesus isn’t calling us to start eating like the birds, as if we’re Bear Grylls eating all the bugs. He’s not urging you to change from eating spaghetti to eating worms. Here’s the point: ‘And how much more valuable you are than birds!’
You are more precious, more valuable to God than the birds. If he cares for them, he will care for you as well. If he feeds them, he’ll feed you. We can depend on God.
And we have to depend on God, because our worrying won’t actually make a difference. Does anyone know who this is?
The man on the right is the world’s tallest man living - Sultan Kosen from Turkey, at a height of 251cm or 8ft 2.8inches. And to the left, maybe you haven’t spotted him, is Chandra Bahadur Dangi, the shortest man in the world, at just 1ft 9.5inches.
Here’s a short video of them meeting in London in 2015.
VIDEO
Would anyone like to be a little taller? Or maybe a lot taller? So we’re going to try an experiment. I want you to worry about your height, and try to make yourself grow taller. Ok, go! ... So how did that work out? Jesus tells us how that will work out: Who of you by worrying
can add a single cubit to his height?
Worry won’t help us. So why worry about anything?
Having looked up, Jesus now gets us to look down. Does anyone know what these are? They’re lilies. And Jesus tells us to consider them, how they grow. Just look at the variety of colours and shapes in the flowers that are here. Or imagine walking along a path and suddenly finding a whole field of wildflowers. Or walking into a florist’s shop. Now how do the flowers do it? Do they have floral fashion shows with all the latest looks? Do they worry about being designer daffodils? Of course not.
Does anyone know what this is? It’s not an upside down bicycle. It’s a spinning wheel, used to make the thread or yarn to make clothes. But Jesus says the lilies don’t labour or spin. They’re not working hard to produce their floral fashions. They don’t traipse around every clothes shop for hours. They’re naturally beautiful. The catwalk can’t compete. The supermodels aren’t as beautiful as the lilies of the field. Does anyone know who this is? This is Solomon the richest king of Israel, the one who gave his life to pursue wisdom and wealth. Yet even he wasn’t arrayed like one of these.
And what’s the point? Just like the birds, it’s an argument from the lesser to the greater. If our Father feeds the birds, he’ll certainly feed us. So here, If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
When God was making grass which was going to be used to fire ovens, he could surely have made it functional and plain. There was no need for it to be fancy. Yet if God has clothed something so temporary; how would he not clothe you as well?
When we look at the birds, we see how our heavenly Father feeds them - and will feed us. When we look at the flowers, we see how our heavenly Father clothes them - and will clothe us. Our heavenly Father knows what we need. He will indeed supply it. We don’t need to worry, when we put God as our Master.
When we make his priorities our priorities; when we seek his kingdom, when we live the way God wants us to live, we discover that God will indeed provide for our needs. When we put God first, everything else falls into its proper place.
So are you worried today? Remember that God is your Father. He cares for you. Turn your worries into prayers, and discover how he provides for you.
This sermon was preached at the Harvest Service in St Matthew's Richhill on Sunday 1st October 2017.
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