The Lilies, Solomon, and You :: Matthew 6:24-34

[Introduction]

Jesus said, Consider the lilies of the field ... (v 28b).

Yes ... let’s do that first. We see them most often on Easter Sunday and at weddings. They’re tall, bright, elegant, joyful. They come in all the colors of the rainbow. They usually have six petals shaped like trumpets. Their filaments resemble tiny golden torches. They’re just gorgeous.

Now don’t confuse them with the so-called daylilies you see on the side of the road around here ... Those aren’t really lilies. Daylilies are a different type of flower. Though the plant produces hundreds of flowers over the course of weeks, the flower of daylilies literally die every day. The flower of the true lilies live a week, maybe even two, even after being cut. The fragrance of lilies is simply sweet. Their petals are soft ... velvety. And though they can be bruised when pressed, the flower itself is quite hearty.

Then Jesus said, Yet I say to you: Not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these (v 29). 

1. And that’s saying something!

Do you remember how gloriously Solomon clothed himself ... how luxuriously he fed himself ... and cared for himself ... and all of Israel? He had all he needed and more.

While Solomon didn’t ask for all that ... he asked for a heart to hear God’s people ... our Heavenly Father nevertheless gave him riches and honor along with the wisdom and understanding that no man has ever had (1 Kg 3:13). He was a royal man’s royalty.

Under his reign, Israel enjoyed extraordinary peace. As the scribe of Kings writes, [the people] ate and drank and were joyful. Every year, his treasury received $1.4 trillion worth of gold. He had so much of it, he had it beaten into shields for the army and used it on his ivory throne. 

Meanwhile, Solomon’s DAILY provision was 180 bushels of fine flour, 360 bushels of meal, ten fat oxen, twenty pasture fed cattle, one hundred sheep alongside deer, gazelle, roebucks, and fattened fowl. He had 40,000 stalls for horses, and tens of thousands serving him ... 700 wives ... 300 concubines. He had no care in the world (1 Kg 4). 

The temple Solomon built was even more magnificent. It had cedar and olivewood walls ... floors made of cypress. The whole place was filled with gold. The altar ... the table for showbread ... the lampstands ... the cherubim ... all gold. The Holy of Holies ... overlaid with 45,000 pounds of gold. Today, the best estimates say all of the gold described in that temple would be worth at least $2.7 billion. And we haven't touched the seven-year construction cost.

All in all, scholars today suggest that Solomon’s net worth was $2 trillion ... maybe even $3 trillion ... five or six times more than the richest man in the world today. Nothing ... nothing ... was lacking in his life (1 Kgs 4). Even the Queen of Sheba was speechless when she saw the house he built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his ministers, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings (1 Kg 10:3-4). 

Then Jesus said, Now if God clothes the grass of the field in this way, which exists today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will he not clothe you, O You of Little Faith (v 30). 

2. Before the original sin, man and woman had nothing to worry about. 

Adam and Eve knew only one God ... the One True God ... the one who provided for every need of body and soul. But like Adam and Eve, and ultimately Solomon ... we have come to know more than one god, haven’t we? 

All too often we seek something for ourselves ... just like Solomon with all the women in his life ... just just like Adam and Eve in their quest for knowledge. We do this because like them, we invariably become acutely aware that we are naked ... that we have need. And it worries us. 

Worry and anxiety stem from our shame ... the shame of sin ... the shame of knowing evil ... the shame of worshiping another god ... ourselves. That worry is grounded in doubt ... doubt that God would love us because of our sin ... doubt that God would forgive us because of our transgression. Doubt comes from a lack of faith ... that is, trust that our heavenly Father always gives us what we need. And that doubt leads us right back to mammon.

Jesus said, No one can serve two lords. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I tell you, stop worrying about your life: What you will eat, and What you will drink; and about your body, What you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? (vv 24-25)

Mammon is not simply money and possessions. Mammon is a false god, an idol of the heart. 

Mammon worship is what undermines marriage and family. Mammon worship destroys relationships. Mammon worship dulls our compassion and generosity. It breeds envy and rivalry. It leads to anxiety and worry. It leads to life apart from God.

When we rely on OURSELVES to provide for the support and needs of our body, we worship mammon. 

When we worry that we might lose our homemade sense of security, we worship mammon.

When we think we don’t need anything from God, we worship mammon. 

When we think we don’t need the forgiveness of sins today, we worship mammon.

Therefore, heed the Word of our Lord, and repent of your self-idolatry.

As Jesus said ... Look at the birds of the heavens: They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Do you not have more value than these? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? (vv 26-28a)

GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS PROVIDES ALL THAT’S NECESSARY FOR THIS BODY AND LIFE ... TODAY, TOMORROW, AND INTO ETERNITY

3. That’s what Jesus is telling us today.

God’s kingdom and righteousness is found in Jesus alone. He provides all that you need.

Whereas the god of mammon causes more worry and more anxiety ... about your bank accounts ... about relationships ... and even about yourself and your faith and your salvation ... Christ says rely on him instead. 

You don’t have to worry, saying, What will we eat? or What will we drink? or What will we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (vv 31-33).

You can do this. 

He’s already called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified you here. He has already united himself with you here ... and come into communion with you here. 

Won’t you now allow him to serve you?

He’s given you the forgiveness of sins. He’s led you to the cross. He’s borne our abuse, our hatred, our violence, our cruelty, our idolatry, our lack of fellowship. He carried all of that to the cross ... being pierced for your transgression, bruised for your idolatry. Jesus died for you, redeeming you. 

And in the perfect demonstration that he provides for body and soul, he was raised from the dead on the Third Day and has begun sharing his peace with you, delivering his means of grace to you: the Word of Absolution that the Lord is with you, the Water of Holy Baptism that clothes you in his royal robes, and the bread of life and cup of salvation of his Holy Supper that feed and nourish you. This is all you need for this life and the life to come. 

Therefore, Jesus said, don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself. Sufficient for today is its own trouble (v 34).

[Conclusion]

Now remember how richly God cared for those lilies, the birds, and even Solomon. Remember how richly Christ has clothed you, and where and how he continues to satisfy our hunger and thirst for righteousness. 

Through his undeserved, unearned love, we most certainly have received all that’s necessary for this body and life. Let us therefore always remember to share God’s riches with one another ... forgiving and being forgiven. As you do, all your anxiety and worry will become as Solomon once said ... like vapor ... in Jesus’ name.