Worry - Part 2
Food
Matthew 6v25-26
21st July 2012
We started looking last week at this well-known saying of Jesus:
Matthew 6v25
"Therefore 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?
Last week, we looked at the subject of money. This week, we're going to look at food.
Firstly, The most remarkable thing Jesus says about food is "Is not life more important than food?" Many think that without food there is no life. But real life is relationship with God, and is eternal, and is not dependant on whether we eat, or survive, on this planet. This is such a radical statement: our relationship with God is more important than our food. A Christian would acknowledge that this is true, theoretically, but I suspect that few of us would continue to praise and worship our Lord if we were to go unwillingly without food for any length of time.
Jesus fasted for 40 days. He did so out of obedience to God - because the Holy Spirit inspired him to do so (Matthew 4v1). Few of us have had our attitude to food tested so severely. And towards the end of his fast, Jesus said:
Matthew 4v4b
"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God".
So the first thing to understand about food is that we need food less than we need God. Perhaps the next time our diner is a few minutes late, we could use the extra time to pray, rather than complain to the cook.
Secondly Jesus also said:
Matthew 6v26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Although Jesus compares us to the birds of the air who do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet are fed by our heavenly Father, the Bible clearly teaches that God requires us to work. As 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 says "... If a man will not work, he shall not eat. We hear that some among you are idle... Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.". We don't need to worry - God will provide. But God designed humans to work. Generally, He provides for us by helping us find an appropriate job. If you can't get a job, pray - confident that God Almighty wants you to work.
God will, of course, ensure that we're provided with enough to eat and drink, if we're willing to work. Our motivation to work is not that we don't trust God to provide for us. It's that, for the overwhelming majority of us, work is the way God provides. We were designed to work, and are incomplete if we don't.
Thirdly (and it's sad that I need to say this) Jesus makes it clear here that humans are much more valuable than birds. Western society has grown so sick that some people are actually beginning to claim that no species is more valuable than any other. Jesus says different. One reason why many are becoming vegetarians is the idea that it's somehow immoral for humans to eat the flesh of other creatures. The Bible says different:
Genesis 9v3
Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you
everything.
If you want to abstain from meat, or fish, or eggs, or milk, or anything else, then that's up to you. But eating these things is not immoral. God says it's OK, so it's OK. You might not like the taste, or you might have taken some medical advice that some foods are bad for you (and that medical advice might be correct) but it's a personal decision, not an ethical one.
Jesus promises to feed us; He doesn't promise us a vegan diet.
But never forget that Jesus thinks you're valuable.
How much less we would worry, if only we understood that we're important to Jesus, and that Jesus is omnipotent.