PARABLES OF CHRIST
THE BIRDS OF THE AIR AND LILIES OF THE FIELD
DR. JIM DIXON
DECEMBER 13, 1998
MATTHEW 6:25-34
Literary scholars define a parable as a realistic but fictitious story, which illustrates truth by means of comparison. By this definition, Bible scholars have identified 40 parables in the New Testament, and the twin illustrations of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field are not amongst the 40. This is because these twin illustrations are not characterized as fictitious stories, but they do have parabolic elements. The Hebrew word for parable is the word mashal. This word means “to set side by side for the purpose of comparison.” The Greek word for parable used in the New Testament is the word parabole, and it simply means “to compare or to make a comparison.” And there is no doubt that in our passage of scripture for today, Jesus uses the birds of the air and the lilies of the field to illustrate truth by means of comparison.
So, this morning we treat these twin illustrations as parabolic. And from this passage of scripture, we have two teachings. And the first teaching is this: you cannot serve both God and mammon. You see, this whole passage on the lilies of the field and the birds of the air really begins with a statement. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. He will either love the one and hate the other, or he’ll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.” And this morning God would ask you, “Who are you serving?”
Do you serve God supremely or do you serve mammon? Now, the word mammon historically and etymologically is difficult. Most scholars believe that the word mammon is built on an old Semitic word which means “to trust.” Over time, the word mammon was used to refer to anything or anyone in which a person trusted. And then, over time, the word mammon began to refer to wealth, property, possessions, and money because people trusted in these things. So in most of your Bibles, the word mammon is simply translated by the word money. The word mammon has become a personification of the whole concept of money.
Jesus is saying to us, “You cannot serve both God and money.” And Jesus wants us to understand that if we serve mammon, if we serve money, then we’ve made a grave mistake because money cannot be trusted. Those who serve money will find their lives characterized by anxiety. Those who serve God have done a wise thing, because God is trustworthy. And those who serve Him supremely will find His peace.
Now, this nation’s motto is “In God we trust.” And since 1864, we have placed that motto on our coins, on our currency. We have placed that motto, “In God we trust,” on our mammon. And the Congress of the United States mandated the placing of that motto on American currency in 1955. And the idea is that as a nation we do not serve money but we serve God. As a nation, we do not trust money, but we trust God. But of course, this is hypocrisy. It’s hypocrisy because so many in our nation do live supremely for money, for mammon. Is that not true (and perhaps not true of some of you in this worship center this morning)?
Now, I’m sure that most of you know that in these last two days, Friday and Saturday, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach the President of the United States in a partisan vote. The vote was 21 to 16. In the latter portion of this upcoming week, the entire house will vote on the impeachment of the President. Now, even if the house impeaches the President, it is not likely that the President of the United States will be removed from office. In order for President Clinton to be removed from office, the impeachment of the house must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. And of course, a two-thirds vote in the Senate for impeachment is not likely. I think most of you know that the polls tell us that most Americans do not want to see the President impeached. According to the polls, most Americans do not want to see our President forced out of office. And there are some Americans who say, “It’s only sex, and if he lied, he only lied about sex.” And of course, this reflects the tragic sexual mores and the decline of sexual mores in our culture and in our nation.
There are other Americans who say that what the President has done is wrong, but personal morality has nothing to do with public service. This is a philosophy I cannot fathom. And of course, if everyone had this philosophy and applied it consistently, it would lead the entire world to ruin. And of course, I think most Americans who do not want to see the President impeached do not want to see him impeached simply because the economy is doing so well. I mean, the stock market is high and interest rates are low, and unemployment is low, and savings accounts are high. The economy is bullish, the economy is robust, the economy is doing great; therefore, let’s leave the President alone. And of course, it’s all about mammon. It’s all about serving mammon. It’s all about trusting mammon. And I must tell you, I fear for our nation, I truly do. I fear for the United States of America. To me, this isn’t really about the president. Supremely, what this is about is the people. It’s about the people of this country and what we expect from our leaders.
It is said that the president has committed adultery chronically, but you see, many Americans just don’t care. The president has lied to the people, and he has perjured himself before the grand jury. But most Americans, it seems, just don’t care. They don’t care. The judgment of God upon our nation cannot be far away. Do we serve God supremely or do we serve mammon? And of course, to each of us individually, this question is asked, do we serve God supremely or do we serve money?
Of course, the economy will not always be strong. I think most of you know that. The economy will not always be strong. I hold in my hand a book called America’s Last Call: On the Brink of Financial Holocaust, a book by David Wilkerson. It was David Wilkerson who years ago founded Teen Challenge, a ministry which seeks to minister to youth who are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. It was David Wilkerson who years ago wrote a book called The Cross and the Switchblade, an excellent book. And approximately 20 years ago, it was David Wilkerson who wrote a book called The Vision, a not-so-excellent book.
In the book The Vision, David Wilkerson claimed that he himself had had a vision. And in this vision, God had shown him the economic collapse of the United States of America. He said within the next 10 years (and remember he wrote this 20 years ago) the American economy was going to collapse. He warned churches, “Do not build.” He said, “Do not enter into debt. Do not build any new buildings. Those churches who build new buildings, those churches who enter into debt, are going to fall and they’re going to lose their facilities, and many of them are going to cease to exist.” He warned Christians, “Do not enter into debt.”
Since Wilkerson wrote that book The Vision this nation has experienced an unprecedented economic boom. And in regard to the church, the entire church growth movement—with all of the megachurch movement and all of the facilities that are connected with it—has all occurred in the aftermath of his book called The Vision. And I think it’s safe to say that if David Wilkerson were living in Old Testament Israel claiming to be a prophet, he would not be alive to write the book that he wrote today. Nevertheless, with regard to David Wilkerson, it’s safe to say that someday he’s going to be right. Someday all the chicken littles are going to be right. Someday the sky is going to fall on this nation and upon this economy. The Bible prophesizes that the consummation will come the end of the age. The Antichrist will arise, the Antichrist will seek power over every tribe and tongue and people and nation, economic power.
The Bible says that in the consummation, it will be a day’s wage for a loaf of bread—economic hardship. It is coming, but nobody knows the day or the hour. Nobody knows. Now, two weeks ago, Newsweek magazine printed a large article on George Soros on his latest book called Crisis of Global Capitalism. The article in Newsweek was called “Prosperity in Peril.” This article quotes George Soros, the billionaire financier, as saying that the global economy is on the brink of collapse because of the volatility of international markets. It quotes George Soros as saying that a global economy requires global society, A global economy requires global control. It quotes Soros as saying that each individual nation state, if this world is to avoid economic catastrophe, must have its economy under the authority of international regulations. Now, there’s a certain logic to those statements, but it’s scary in terms of biblical prophetic scenarios. It’s scary because it seems to play into the hands of the whole concept of Antichrist who seeks control over individual nation states, economic control.
But of course, someday it is going to happen. Someday it’s all going to happen, and nobody knows the day or the hour. Now, of course, as we approach the millennium, as we approach the year 2000, there are many who think the time is short and millennial madness is arising in our midst. We need to understand, first of all, that as Christians, that in terms of the birth of Christ—which Bible scholars uniformly date to four BC—the second millenniums already passed. I mean, it happened in the year 1996. That was 2,000 years from the birth of Christ. We need to also understand that God does not act in human affairs on the basis of our calendars. We shouldn’t make a huge deal out of the year 2000.
Now, some of you have written me letters and some of you have grabbed me in the hall. Some of you have called me. You want me to speak on the subject of the Y2K crisis and the whole event of the so-called millennium bug and the need for computer upgrading or updating. And I must say, even if it were not for the Y2K crisis, there’d be a lot of people in this country panicking as we approach the year 2000. But with the Y2K crisis, people seem more anxious, more worried than ever. And some of you, you know, have asked me to preach a sermon on the subject, and I’m not going to do that. But I am going to make mention this morning. And I must say I’m not an expert on the Y2K crisis. I’ve read a few books, I’ve read a few articles. I’m sure that’s true of most of you. After reading a few books and reading a few articles, I’m not sure that anybody’s an expert on the Y2K crisis.
I do know that there are some people who are seeking to be objective, they’re seeking to bring reason to this entire discussion. And most of those people who are seeking to be objective and rational and reasonable think that come January 1st in the year 2000 we may have mild to moderate problems in this nation with regard to the updating of computers and the consequences of not having done that. We may have mild to moderate problems. Of course, there are some alarmists who believe that when January 1st, 2000, arrives, we have arrived at the apocalypse. Some of them think that because of the Y2K issue when January 1st comes traffic lights are going to fail in major cities all over this nation, and we’re going to have pandemonium on the streets of America, more pandemonium than we already have on the streets of America.
Some people think that when January 1st, 2000 arrives, we’re going to begin to see planes crash all over the globe. Some people think that when that date arrives, telephones will fail. 9-1-1 will be inaccessible. Major supply systems will fail. Water, gas, and electricity will fail. They view January 1st, the year 2000, not as an approaching storm or even a blizzard. They view it as the coming of the ice age. They view it in an apocalyptic way.
Certainly that is not rational. Certainly that is not reasonable. And of course, chicken littles have always been with us with their collective paranoia. One day, of course, they’ll be right because one day the consummation is coming. But it seems to me that we need to be reasonable and rational with regard to the whole subject of Y2K.
You know, one of the things that happens when you turn 50, one of the humiliating things that happens when you turn 50 is you begin to receive AARP literature. For three years now, I’ve received literature from AARP, and just this last week I received an AARP bulletin relating to the whole subject of Y2K. They wanted to assure all of their readers all over America that they have reason to believe that there’s not going to be any problem with social security and the issuing of social security checks. They want them to know that it looks like the banking community has been faithful in updating their computer systems and they don’t think people need to pull their money out of banks. They want people to know that they think there’s going to be some mild problems, but this isn’t the end of the world.
They do suggest that people might take a few precautions by way of planning. They say it wouldn’t be unwise to set aside a little water, maybe a few weeks’, maybe a few months’ worth of water, so that in case water’s in short supply come January 1st, 2000, you’ll be in good shape. And maybe you want to set aside a little bit of food. You might want to stockpile a couple of weeks,’ couple of months’ worth of food. The AARP bulletin says you might want to get a few weeks of extra medicine. For those of you who need medicine, you might not be able to access it as readily. And they said it would be wise to set aside some extra supply of medicine. And they say, you know, in the unlikely event that there’s a problem with electrical failure or a problem with the delivery of gas, you might want to buy a generator.
They suggest possible precautions that you might want to take. Perhaps some of these things are reasonable. I’ll say this: in a few months, we’re going to offer you a seminar on the subject of Y2K and we’re going to seek to bring the best evidence we can bring to bear. We’re going to seek to approach this reasonably and rationally as God would have us. We encourage you to come and be part of that. But you see, don’t be anxious. Don’t be anxious. Plan, be prudent, but don’t be anxious. I mean, that’s the whole point Jesus is making in this passage as God feeds the birds of the air. As God clothes the lilies of the field, he will feed and he will clothe you.
Now, personally, I hope January 1st, 2000, is a non-event. I mean, I hope that everything pretty much continues as normal, and maybe it will. But if you choose to make certain preparations, I think there’s prudence in that. And I would also say this: some of you have written and you said, “Well, you know, is it biblical to lay aside food or to lay aside water or to lay aside provisions? Is it biblical to stockpile or does that grieve God?” And certainly it doesn’t grieve God to plan. The wisdom literature in the Old Testament is laden with exhortation from God to us, exhorting us and encouraging us to plan for the future. Wisdom demands that. And some people have misunderstood certain passages of scripture, including our passage of scripture for today. In our passage of scripture for today, in verse 32 of Matthew chapter six, Jesus says, “Take no thought for tomorrow,” and some people have misinterpreted that to mean we shouldn’t plan.
This is a tragic misunderstanding because these words of Jesus “Take no thought of tomorrow” are really only found in the King James Version of the Bible, and the King James Version of the Bible was written at a time when the word “thought” meant “fret.” Do not fret about tomorrow. And when you look at the Greek language, you see that the Greek word means “worry” or “anxiety.” Jesus is just not saying, “Don’t plan for tomorrow.” Jesus is saying, “Don’t be anxious, do not worry with regard to tomorrow.” And that’s why He uses the twin illustrations of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. So certainly make plans, but do not worry. Do not worry. And you know, don’t get carried away by alarmists. Don’t get carried away by alarmists.
Jesus said, “Consider the birds of the air. They neither sew, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them all.” He said, “Consider the lilies of the field. They neither toil nor spin, and yet your heavenly Father clothes them all. Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so feeds the birds of the air, if God so clothes the lilies of the field, how much more will He feed and clothe you, O ye of little faith?” So we have this message from Jesus Christ that we are to serve God and not serve mammon. And if we serve God, we will have his peace. If we serve mammon, we will be riddled with anxiety. Certainly we live in a culture and we live in a nation that trusts and serves mammon.
Well, there’s a second teaching here in this passage. The second teaching concerns the subject of supreme seeking. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness” (or “Seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness”). The first teaching: who do you serve? You cannot serve God and mammon. The second teaching: seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. And God would ask you today, not only who are you serving, but what are you seeking? What are you seeking?
Now, at 11 o’clock just a few minutes ago in the Meadowlands, the Broncos began to play the New York Giants. We had a huge first service because some of our normal 10 30 crowds showed up at 8:45 not wanting to miss the Broncos game. I think it’s very evident to most of us that the Broncos are now seeking a perfect season. They want to go 16 and 0, and then they want to be victorious in the playoffs.
They want to go all the way to the Super Bowl and win it. They want to go 19 and 0, and they want to have a place in NFL history. And everything they do is predicated on that seeking, on that quest. And of course, they are seeking a fading crown. Now, we live in a world where everyone seeks something. And God wants you to ask yourself this question this morning: what are you seeking? What do you seek most of all? Jesus tells us that if we are followers of Him, then we should be those who seek supremely His kingdom and His righteousness.
Now, the word for kingdom here is the word basileia. This word, as used in the Greek, is normally dynamic rather than static. Normally the word basileia is used in the sense of reign rather than realm. So what Jesus is saying in this verse is seek first His reign and His righteousness. Is that true of you in your life? Do you seek first His reign and His righteousness? Now, of course, there’s a sense in which we receive His righteousness the moment we embrace His reign, the moment we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior. In that moment we embrace His reign, His righteousness is imputed to us, vested upon us. And that’s all grace, and that’s all mercy. And it’s through that grace and through that mercy that we are saved. But this little verse and this passage of scripture is really not dealing with imputed righteousness. Jesus is speaking to people who are already following Him, and He is saying to them that they need to keep on seeking His reign and to keep on seeking His righteousness.
As a Christian, you never reach the point where you cease to seek His reign and His righteousness. Now, of course, we live in a world and we live in a nation where most people seek neither His reign nor His righteousness. Just about a month ago, Barb and I were in Edinburgh, Scotland, visiting our son. We were walking down the Royal Mile from the Edinburgh castle down towards Holyrood Palace. And as we walked down the Royal Mile, we approached John Knox’s house. Most of you have heard of John Knox. John Knox was the Protestant reformer who brought the Protestant Reformation to Scotland and indeed brought Presbyterianism to Scotland. He was often allied with Elizabeth. He was oftentimes at odds with Mary, Queen of Scots, and also Mary Tudor. And we looked forward to taking a look at John Knox’s house.
But when we were almost there, Barb noticed a store on the right side of the street, which was really a toy museum. Barb said, “Oh, let’s go in there.” And so we went into this toy museum, four stories high right across from John Knox’s house. I’m sure it wasn’t there in John Knox’s time. This toy museum had toys that had been assembled from all over the world from throughout history. We got up into the third floor of this toy museum and there was a section that was entirely given over to teddy bears.
Now, I have to say I’m not really into teddy bears, but as we were looking at these teddy bears, there was posted there, “The History of Teddy Bears.” And I read about the history of teddy bears. And according to this toy museum on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland, teddy bears originated in the United States of America. In the year 1902, there was a border dispute on the Mississippi Tennessee border. Theodore Roosevelt came to solve this dispute. He decided if he would get the people who were arguing with each other to go with him on a hunting trip, perhaps there’d be a bonding and maybe they would become friends. And in the midst of their friendships, they would seek peaceful resolution. And so he took them on this hunting trip.
As they were hunting, they came upon this little bear cub and some members of the hunting party were about to shoot the bear cub. And Theodore Roosevelt put out his hand and he said, “I draw the line there.” He said, “I draw the line there. No shooting bear cubs.” Well, this story was taken back to the American people and the story spread, and a cartoonist named Cliff Berryman printed a cartoon in local newspapers that showed President Theodore Roosevelt putting out his hand, holding at bay the hunters who are going to shoot this bear cub. And the cartoon was called “drawing the line.” Of course, in the wake of that cartoon, different stores and different cities began to market little bears and began to call them teddy bears. And since 1905, 200 million teddy bears have sold in the United States of America.
Now, I cannot vouch for the historicity of that explanation regarding teddy bears that’s given in that toy museum in Edinburgh. But I do know this: I know that throughout history, all people have drawn lines. It doesn’t matter whether they’re hunting trips or whatever they’re doing, people draw lines, nations draw lines, cultures and societies draw lines. People groups establish governments for the purpose of creating laws, and they form police departments to enforce those laws that lines might be drawn and people might not cross them. And every nation and every culture, every society, has moralists and ethicists and religionists who speak to the whole subject of moral law and they draw moral lines.
And of course, what’s true of every other nation is true of this nation. In this nation, we have lines that have been drawn. But is it not true that the lines are constantly changing? I think we all know that. There was a time in this nation where premarital sex was considered wrong. That was a line you didn’t cross. We drew the line there and we called it fornication and we called it sin. We did that because the Bible calls it fornication and the Bible calls it sin. But we’ve erased the lines and we’ve drawn them in new places today. And today, premarital sex is no longer regarded as wrong throughout most of America. Premarital sex is viewed as recreational, and people have sex when they feel like it and they live together when they feel like it and the lines are gone. People don’t seem to feel much guilt about it.
There was a time in this nation where gossip was considered to be a horrible thing and gossip and slander were called sins. But of course, we live in a world today where gossip has become a multi-billion dollar industry. You can go into the supermarkets and you can pick up the National Enquirer, any one of those tabloids, and they have a vast readership. And somehow we’ve reached the point today where the lines are no longer there. People don’t feel guilt when they sit down and just read two hours’ worth of gossip. The lines have changed.
I mean, we live in a nation where the lines are changing morally and ethically. Is that not true? But you see, if you’re a Christian and you believe in Jesus Christ and you follow Him, you need to be different than the world. If I believe in Christ, I need to be different than the world. And I can’t redraw lines. In fact, I don’t draw the lines in the first place. As Christians, we know God draws the line and we find the lines in this book, the Bible. And Christianity isn’t really about line drawing. I mean, it’s about a relationship. It’s about a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. But if you love Christ, if you love Christ, you care about His commandments. And if you love Christ, you want to please Him. And if you love Christ, you care about the lines that He’s drawn. If you love Christ, you seek His reign and His righteousness. Even if the world doesn’t, you do because you love Christ.
So here’s a time for the people of Christ to be different than the world. The world’s changing, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Here’s a call to faithfulness. Here’s a call to seek His reign and to seek His righteousness no matter what the world says.
And of course, to seek the reign and the righteousness of Christ is not only a matter of personal holiness. It’s also an issue of social justice. The word for righteousness used by Jesus in this passage of scripture is dikaiosune. It’s the equivalent of the Hebrew word mispat. These words were oftentimes used in the sense of social justice. If you really seek the reign and the righteousness of Christ, you not only seek holiness in your own life but you seek to make the world you live in a fairer place, a more just place. And when you reach out to the poor in Jesus’s name, that’s seeking the reign and righteousness of Christ too.
Just a few weeks ago, as we dealt with the parable of the rich man in Lazarus, I invited you to volunteer to work in our Whiz Kids tutoring program in the inner city—to go every week into the inner city and tutor an inner city child and to do it in the name of Christ and with the love of Christ. And 54 of you volunteered. Actually, 70 of you volunteered, but 54 of you went into our training program and you are becoming tutors. I’m so pleased and proud of you. We now have 155 of you who are going every week, and will go every week, into the inner city to tutor an inner city child and to help them with their schoolwork and to tell them about the love of Jesus Christ.
All of this has to do with seeking the reign and righteousness of Christ. Thank God for you. We need a hundred more inner city tutors. Thank God for all of you who are helping with our Manna Ministry. Thank God for all of you who are going down to Juarez with our mission ministry and seeking to reach out to people there. It all has to do with the reign and righteousness of Christ.
The reign and righteousness of Christ not only has to do with personal holiness and social justice, but it also has to do with evangelism. And with this we conclude. Certainly, if you seek first His reign and His righteousness, you must be involved in evangelism because it’s the gospel of Jesus Christ that invites people the world over to embrace His reign and embrace His righteousness.
Barb and I had the privilege Friday night of going over to Homeless and Friends and there was a gathering there to honor a person. And there were a lot of pretty famous people there at this dinner gathering on Friday night. I mean, the newly elected governor and his wife were there and some of our senators and congressmen were there. A lot of wonderful people were there. But one person was being honored, and people were there to hear from one person. And that one person’s name is Bill Bright. And who is Bill Bright? Bill Bright is the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International. He’s the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International, a ministry which ministers in 176 nations of the world with a full-time staff (paid and volunteer) of 301,000 men and women seeking to take the gospel to the nations of the earth. Bill Bright is 77 years old. I can tell you from hearing him Friday night he’s just as excited today as ever he was. And he just long to see the gospel cover the earth. And he’s doing everything he can in the time that has been given him to take the gospel to the nations.
But even with an army of 301,000 full-time staff, he can’t get the job done because, you see, it’s going to take the mobilization of the Christian laity the world over. It is going to take you. We can’t pay enough people to get the job done. I mean, we’re never going to evangelize the planet through paid staff. What we need is a mobilized laity in this church and in every single church the world over, a mobilized laity. And I hope you understand the Great Commission is given to you. “Go ye into all the world, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded.”
You see, it’s all about His reign and His righteousness, and we’re all called to take the gospel to the nations. I hope you take that seriously. I hope you’ll be willing as we approach this year, 1999, to make a new commitment—to be an evangelist, to take the gospel of Jesus Christ and your love for Christ to people in your community and your neighborhood and your place of employment. I hope that you’ll find the courage somehow and the strength and the conviction to share a little bit of your love for Christ with a few other people.
We have classes here to train you with regard to how to share your faith. We want to help you. We want to mobilize you. We want to invite people all over the city and all over the world to embrace the reign of Jesus Christ and to seek His righteousness.
So we have this passage of scripture and we are told to serve God and not to serve mammon. You can trust God. You can’t trust mammon. And if you serve mammon, your life will be characterized by anxiety. But if you serve God, He’ll give you His peace because He’s trustworthy. And as He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, He will feed and clothe you. Times are going to change. The world is changing. But He’s called us to trust Him and He’s called us to faithfulness, called us to seek first His reign in His righteousness. Let’s close with a word of prayer.