Consider the Lilies of the Field

TEXT: Matthew 6:24-3524
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. 25 “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? 26 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? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 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? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Oh, to be a lily. Don’t you marvel at how they grow? They grow as a creature of God. God crafted them. They are the Divine design of the third day of Creation. God spoke and the beautiful lilies appeared.

In the springtime, it is God who causes their leaves to emerge as bright green sprouts. He causes them to turn dark green as the months pass. Then the flower comes. It’s complete with petals splashed with color. They are lovely… more lovely than Solomon and all his splendor. More lovely than any human invention. Lilies are the artwork of the Creator.

But a lily cannot credit itself with its own beauty… as if it is something that it has earned or accomplished. It’s beauty… it’s vitality… even its existence is gracious gift of a loving, living God. The lily does not desire to be a tree or a tomato plant. It is satisfied to be a lily. It is content with what God has made it to be.

Oh, to be a lily. The lily is content to trust the Creator’s will. In the Spring it sprouts up. In the Summer it blooms and adds beauty to the rest of creation. In the Fall it withers and dies. In the Winter it lays dormant awaiting its springtime resurrection.

Jesus Christ is the rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys Who is mentioned in Song of Songs (2:1). He was the Lily that was born in the dirty stable in Bethlehem. He grew up with little recorded of Him in Holy Scripture… a quiet maturing for some thirty years. After His birth narrative, the coming of the Magi, and His flight to Egypt, only His teaching the rabbis in the Temple is mentioned until He is baptized by John in the River Jordan.

Jesus was content to be a lowly carpenter’s son. He was a boy at school. He made friends and played games with His friends. Jesus was content to be one with man in human flesh even while the fullness of the Deity dwelled in Him. He was content to be like the lilies of the field.

The beauty of Christ would not be measured by human standards. His beauty would be measured in His love for humanity. The Lily of the Field, the Rose of Sharon, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the World would display the fullness of His glory on the Cross. With nails and blood and sweat and thirst the Son of God would be presented in full bloom as the beautiful ransom for your sin and mine.

Oh, to be a lily. No, not to beautiful or pretty like a lily. God has given mankind its own unique beauty… we are created in His image. But rather that we might be like the lily in that the lily does not serve money, or is not devoted to Mammon, or is not anxious about life. That’s the example of the lily.

The lily and the birds of the air… they don’t worry about how God will provide for them. They simply trust that He will. You know what it costs to feed animals today. On both the sheep project and the hog project my kids lost money at the county fair. It cost more to feed them than could be made at the market. I wonder what enormous amounts of money it would take to feed and water the wild birds of the air? Perhaps not even Bill Gates or some of the wealthiest in the world could afford all of them. They neither sow nor reap and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.

“Oh you of little faith,” Jesus says. You who doubt that God can provide for your family and think that you will have to do it alone. You who think that a good job with benefits is worth more than an hour in God’s House on the Lord’s Day. You who are anxious and wonder where your next meal will come from or even more, how will you live into retirement even while God has already promised you a home in the splendor of the heavenly mansions for the rest of eternity.

How do you know that God will care for you? He has already shown you in Jesus Christ. He has proven to you that He is willing to even lay down His life for you. He has justified you for Christ’s sake. He forgives your sins for Jesus’ sake… even the sin of doubt and the sin of idolatry (making money your Master and Lord). He has washed you clean in Holy Baptism and recreated you to be His Bride… a Bride without spot or wrinkle or any such thing… but a beautiful Bride adorned in the righteous white robe of Christ. He has made you the apple of His eye. He is constantly driving anxiety out of you by reminding you of what He has done for you. He chases away your fears and bolsters your faith in Word and Sacrament. The kingdom of God has found you in the Word.

God loves the lilies of the field… no doubt. He created them and still takes care of them. Don’t worry about life… Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Don’t worry about death… it has been defeated on the Cross. God loves you. Therefore, consider God’s lilies of the field.[i]

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

[i] The idea for this sermon is excerpted from Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel, (CPH: 2004).