Chap. 6: 24-34
We get numberless lessons in the word to show us that the Lord is not satisfied with a divided heart. A little farther on in this same Gospel (chap. 8), one man elects to follow the Lord. There is a play on the word “follow” there; the Lord read his heart. The scribe was after present advantage so the Lord opposed it by telling him it would be far otherwise. “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.” Though often quoted as descriptive of the Lord's condition always, this was not so. Given chronologically, it was when the Samaritans refused Him that this declaration was first used by the Lord. Another one says, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father"; but the Lord will not have a divided heart. The Lord is jealous about our hearts. The sinner is often told to give his heart to the Lord, but there is no warrant for this in scripture. It is not a question of bringing, or giving up on the part of the sinner. But the Christian should give his heart. “My son, give me thy heart” is all right for one in relationship. Here of course it is a question of service, but following and service are intimately connected; so in John it is, “If any man serve me, let him follow me.”
“Mammon” is not a word we get often in scripture. It is only here, and in Luke 16. From the context in each case we see worldly gain to be the prominent thought. Worldly gain, or earthly riches, is called “the mammon of un-righteousness” in Luke 16 So the grand lesson is, that we should give the Lord the first place in everything, and not to be double-hearted, or double-minded. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Then the thought may arise, “Well, if I pursue that path it may take me into a path of trial-.” So it will, and this is the lesson of chap. 8. If they had gone on with the multitude they would have escaped the storm. But it is a path of faith. The Lord will take care of those who are concerned for His glory. God's glory and our good are inseparably linked together for the believer. If we care for His glory, He will take care of our good. This verse 25 has puzzled not a few. J. N. D. gives, in his translation, “Do not be careful about your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink.” It means “anxious thought"-take no anxious thought for your life. Now, we Christians get further instruction in the Epistles: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” What a relief to the soul, to be able to hand up everything to the One who loves me perfectly, who has almighty power, and is always to be trusted! If this is realized, there will be always God's peace keeping the heart and mind. We have no power to keep our own. There we are let into the secret how it can be. You get eating and drinking and raiment here, and some have confined the teaching of Timothy 6:8 to food and “raiment” (A.V.), but this latter word is really “covering” and takes in the shelter of a roof as well, a place to lie down in, as we have already remarked.
How blessed to realize we have a God who has given us Christ I He was not withheld, He was not spared. How becoming of faith then to say, “How shall he not with him also freely give us all things"! Paul's confidence in the Lord's gracious care of him comes out very beautifully in Phil. 4:1919But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19). He knew both how to be abased, and how to abound, and he knew how to suffer need, but he says, “My God shall supply all your need” (not from, but) “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” If a mechanic met a mechanic who told him he was in need, and he gave him five shillings, it would be according to his comparative riches; but if he met a millionaire and he gave him a like sum it would be “from” but not “according to” his wealth. Twenty pounds would be less to him than five shillings to the mechanic. We all have occasion to be thankful that He has given us natural life. He who has formed the body and given it life, will surely supply the needs of that body! This is full of comfort to us, and encourages us to trust, and not to be afraid to go on in the path of faith. What follows shows us we can learn lessons from what surrounds us continually. The Lord drew lessons from the fowls and, farther on, from the sparrows. “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” The word “feed” has the sense of “nourish.” Man is in the place of responsibility to sow, and reap, and gather into barns. Isaiah 28 shows us that God has instructed him how to do it. There is a deeper lesson there, I know. If God taught man thus to use the different resources of nature, He Himself has a purpose in all His different dealings and dispensations. But it is encouraging to see God's gracious care of His lesser creatures. Look at the sparrows, two sold for a farthing, five for two farthings; and yet not one of them forgotten before God! Our poor hearts if left to themselves want to look a long way ahead. Yet scripture shows us all the time that “it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes.” As to our path we have to walk individually, and one cannot lay down a rule for another, but a word of J. N. D.'s has been helpful to many,
“Never go before your faith, and never lag behind your conscience.”
The word “heavenly” is introduced here because the Lord was not then bodily in heaven, as He is now. “As is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly.” The Father was not revealed until Christ came. The Lord said, “I have declared thy name unto my brethren and will declare it"; and yet, although the Lord taught them to say, “Our Father,” almost at the beginning of His public ministry, yet how little did the disciples enter into it. For on the night of His betrayal, Philip says, “Lord show us the Father and it suffices us.” The only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, He hath told Him out. Now we are in the same place of nearness and dearness that He is in.
Verse 27, “A cubit” (18 inches) is a good bit to add to one's stature, but there are some who think it is not so much one's stature, as the length of one's life that is meant! He has numbered our steps, and we cannot take a step beyond that number; and that would correspond with a cubit, I think. Of course either is true. So the Lord, to inspire our confidence in Him, gives us lessons from the fowls, who make no provision for the future. “Your heavenly Father feedeth them.” There is one Psalm called David's “Psalm of praise” (145) wherein it is said, “The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season” (ver. 15).
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these” (vers. 28, 29). I dare say, though it is going away from our chapter, that you have preached the gospel from this. Link it with Canticles, and hear what the Bridegroom says of the earthly bride: “As the lily among thorns” —the gorgeous lily growing in the thorn brakes of Palestine— “so is my love among the daughters.” We have the teaching about the thorn; how it was introduced; and what its end will be. We were all thorns once. We can adopt these words for ourselves, and say that His grace has transformed us into the lily; arrayed in Christ, and the believing soul has that fragrance and beauty before Him. God is He that doeth this; it is not the result of their scheming and toil. The contrast in the Song of Solomon is between the lily and the King, who is as “my Beloved among the sons” (2:2, 3). God formed the lily, and we can boast in Him “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
How frequently, when people speak of faith, do we find that they think a believer ought never to be suffering from sickness; that it is a shame, and due to something wrong in his path, and they talk of “faith-healing.” But while we know God can do everything, and all things are possible to him that believeth, we want faith also in His love, and wisdom, and care. Sickness may preserve us from going the wrong way. Paul's thorn in the flesh was not for anything wrong in his past path, but was given him as a preventive, lest he should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations. The danger was not when in the third heaven, but when he came down. “In everything let your requests be made known unto God.” It is our holy, blessed privilege to hand everything up to God, but it is also our privilege to say, “Not my will, but thine be done.” We would not limit the Lord's power, but we bow to His wisdom and purposes in all that He does. He is far more deeply interested in us than we can conceive. How much there is to inspire our hearts! But I think as to faith, the one who knows most about it, has the least to say about it. David kept the secret about the lion and the bear within his own soul, until it was right to speak of it, when he bore testimony before king Saul. But if you hear people constantly talking about their faith, I don't think there is much faith there: “Hast thou faith, have it to thyself before God.”
What a wonderful wealth there was in Solomon's reign! It has been estimated that there was enough gold in Solomon's temple to more than equal the national debt before this war! and silver was like stones, we are told. The Queen of Sheba fainted at the sight, it so far exceeded her expectations, so we can see why the Lord here selects Solomon. However grand and beautiful his apparel was, it was but artificial. The other was of God.
“O ye of little faith” (ver. 30). Faith is the gift of God. It is our wisdom to use what God has given us. That is one lesson impressed upon us by the Lord's teaching. Faith works by love. When faith increased, love abounded. Another thing, speaking of that, is clear, namely, that faith without love has no real value. It works by love, and overcomes the world. Can there be the one without the other? Turn to 1 Cor. 13:22And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2), “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.” It is very important to see, in John's First Epistle, the place that love has as seen in the saint It was seen in its perfection in the Lord when here, but in us it is first obedience and love, then righteousness and love, then truth and love.
“Therefore take no anxious thought” (ver. 31). This is to encourage us to have confidence in the Lord. I suppose the whole life of the Gentiles is taken up with these questions, “What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?” Our Father knoweth that we have need of these things, and He never withdraws His eyes from the righteous. What a blessed thing to have our souls stayed upon Him! What we have had before us here has some connecting link with the training Elijah had when taken to the brook Cherith. The Lord was training him for what we have in 1 Kings 18 that follows. He proved the Lord's care. The ravens brought him bread and flesh, till the brook dried up. Then he was taken to a widow. The Lord refers to this in Luke 4. There were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was sent to a Gentile, and you know what occurred. It was a blessed day for her when Elijah came there. But that was not Elijah's deepest lesson. He learned that God was the God of resurrection. The apostle Paul at Troas (2 Cor. 1) was in great distress; but he too learned that God was the God of resurrection. God gives faith and He sustains faith. Untried faith is no faith. If a person has great faith, he will have great trials. Little faith has little trials. Of the Thessalonians it was said, “Your faith groweth exceedingly.” Abraham's trial in Genesis 22 could not have come at the beginning of his course. He had been trained for it, and was sustained through it.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (ver. 33). This is the summing up of this part. It supposes submission of soul to God's holy revealed will. “And all these things shall be added unto you.” The great thing must be God's glory, “God is faithful,” the simple meaning of which is, God is to be trusted.
In the second clause of verse 34 we have “the morrow” personified, “The morrow shall take thought for itself” ("the things of” should be left out). How blessed and practical the lesson! Perhaps when the morrow comes, the thing dreaded will not be there; and if it is, God can bring us through it. “I can do all things,” said the great apostle, “through him that strengtheneth me.”