Take care of God's business before seeing to your own

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30: We have been looking at the teachings of Jesus for the past several weeks.

I am so intrigued by His practical teachings, colourful illustrations, and tangible applications. 

Jesus covered a series of topics as He taught a crowd of people on a mountainside outside Galilee one day. 

These teachings are found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. We will now conclude chapter 6. Let’s look at the last few verses. 

Matthew 6:28-34:
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This passage addresses some of the reasons why people are reluctant to serve God on a higher level. 

They feel that if they give more of their time, treasures, and talent to ministry they will lose out on making more money to care for their own needs or wants.

However, Jesus makes it really clear in this passage that if you decide to serve God, He will watch over you.

Jesus reminds His listeners not to worry about clothes. The illustration He uses is wild flowers, the flowers of the field.  These are not the flowers that you will normally find at a flower shop, because vendors generally purchase flowers from commercial fields and greenhouses that grow flowers for the sole purpose of production and profit. 

Here we are talking about wild flowers that in many cases may not even be seen by anyone unless they were walking in mountains or woodlands. 

He says that these flowers do not work and do not have anything to do with making the fabric that covers them; their beauty is due to their Creator. 

Jesus says that even Solomon, the richest man in the world (see 2 Chronicles 9:13-28) with all his wealth could not buy clothing that would supersede the quality, splendour, and beauty of a tiny wildflower.

If Jesus can clothe and feed temporal flowers so that they beautifully grow, will He not make sure you are clothed?

Basic needs are what unbelievers chase after and worry about. They feel that life depends on them. 

Believers, however, will sacrifice time and money for God and His work, and will trust because He has promised to take care of their needs.

So what makes the difference? The clincher application is this: first things first. Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness (living with the priority of pleasing God) and all the temporal things will be added to you. 

God said you take care of His business and He will take care of your business.  Give Him a chance to prove this to you.

Jesus concludes by saying do not worry about tomorrow. As we learned last week, worry is a wasted exercise, like that rocking chair ... it may give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.

Don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself and each day has enough trouble of its own.

If you find yourself worrying today, I want you to think about sparrows and flowers. Both are well taken care of, and you are more important to God than either of them. Trust God to lavish His care on you.

“You can’t get second things by putting them first. You can get second things only by putting first things first.” C.S. Lewis.

Gary C. Simons serves as the senior pastor of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, presently meeting at CedarBridge Academy each Sunday at 10am.