Luke chapter 12 and verse 22, and this is the word of the Lord. And he, that is the Lord Jesus, said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, Why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow! They toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you That Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather, seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Amen.

May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

It is generally the case that those whom the Lord calls to experience his grace and mercy are not numbered among the great or the noble of this world. The Apostle Paul says, And he goes on to explain that this is intentional on the part of the Lord. The Lord has purposefully chosen the weak and the base and the despicable with the intention of confusing and confounding the wisdom of man, the might and the pride of this world.

And in the parable of the rich farmer that we read together last week, that portion which immediately precedes our verses today, In that parable, the Lord taught the importance of being rich towards God more than the riches or being rich in this world. And here the Lord turns It seems that this previous portion had been directed to the congregation in general, the audience that he had before him. Here he turns particularly to his disciples and he speaks directly to them.

These verses were spoken as it appears directly to his disciples, who were poor men and we might imagine having given up their trades and employment, harboured at least some anxiety about their living and how to make it, notwithstanding their hopes of sharing Christ's earthly kingdom. And what the Lord tells them in these verses, no doubt applied to them particularly, but also applies to all his church, to you and to me.

Our priorities are to be on heavenly matters and on spiritual truth. Our Father in heaven knows we have need of temporal things, such as food and clothing and warmth, but he calls us to seek the kingdom of God first. And afterward, he says, all these things will be added to us, or we might say provided for us. The Lord's lesson is that the church, the Lord's people who trust him, you and me, be not anxious. for earthly things and temporal things and such matters as preoccupy the thoughts and concerns of the world.

Our attention ought to be on higher things, heavenly things and spiritual

Our Saviour employs some very fitting descriptions in the images he uses here to exemplify his teaching. He speaks of the ravens of the wilderness, the flowers of the field, the wild lilies and the grasses that grow. And these, he says, have no one to look after them. and yet they thrive under the Lord's care and the Lord's protection. They don't store up food, they don't spin yarn, they don't weave fabric, and yet the Lord preserves them and they continue. And these are the Lord's examples of his Father's providential care for the lowest parts of his creation. God feeds them, he clothes them, he adorns them with natural beauty, even glory.

Consider the lilies. Solomon in all his glory was not adorned like one of these. How much therefore, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

I like that actually. I'm just going to break off here for a moment in my thoughts, the trade of my thoughts, to mention this about ye of little faith. Look at what the Lord says there. How much more will he clothe you? O ye of little faith. There was no pretensions. There were no pretensions about the faith of these disciples. These disciples were men of little faith. But the fact that they had little faith did not diminish the reality that the Lord would clothe them. And I think there's something lovely about that.

Even here, in speaking about these matters of the provision of our daily need, it is not the quality or the quantity of our faith that earns for us in any way the goodness and the grace of God. He will clothe you O ye of little faith. The fact that we have faith at all, the fact that he has given us faith, means that with that faith, with the Lord Jesus Christ, he will give us all things.

And the Saviour's reasoning is that if the Father cares for grass that is short-lived and quickly consumed, Why should we who are loved of God and called the children of God be anxious and concerned for our earthly needs? The Lord our Father will not forget us and never neglect us. He knows what we have need of before we ask and our well-being should be committed to his care. That is a position, that is a way of thinking, that is our attitude. We should commit our wellbeing into the care of our loving Father.

Food and clothing are necessary and the Lord isn't suggesting by what he is saying here that we should be negligent or neglectful or careless about either. He is telling us, however, not to be anxious or fastidious, over-fussy about these matters. We may extend this to matters of health and happiness as well.

Today's influencers, so-called, are full of advice about how to order our circumstances for a satisfied and fulfilled life. We're surrounded by adverts designed to convince us that we're missing out on pleasures. And these feed our natural desires and they stir up discontent and jealousy. Media companies have filled the world with images of dreams and pleasures that are not real, they're false. But that's what is presented to people and then we wonder why there is widespread dissatisfaction and envy in men's hearts.

All these things do the nations of the world seek after. What are the children of the Lord seek? What is it that will satisfy our hearts? Well, Christ tells us. He says, seek ye the kingdom of God. Matthew, in a parallel passage, records, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And Paul tells us what the kingdom of God is, or at least he tells us what it's not. He says, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

These are spiritual realities. Righteousness and peace and joy. Spiritual blessings. Gospel promises that are to be received and enjoyed by faith. Communion with the Lord. Fellowship with the Lord's people. Clearer views of heavenly hope and assurances in the preached word and in the Holy Scriptures. These are the things that are to fill the minds of the Lord's people.

And the Lord's people, in possessing a lively spirit, the spirit of Christ imparted by God the Holy Ghost, we desire spiritual food and spiritual nourishment. We desire it for our souls.

You know, that's one of the reasons why I think that there is a wisdom in allowing people to find their own time and their own way of coming to that place of worship. There's no point in whipping people, no point in brow-beating or becoming heavy-handed with people who do not express a spiritual hunger and thirst after righteousness. If it isn't there, it isn't there. If the Lord hasn't placed it, if the Holy Spirit hasn't placed that desire, what good are we going to do forcing people as if they did desire these things?

We understand those who are the Lord's. We understand the power of grace. We understand the privilege of imputed righteousness, the wonder of a clear conscience before God, before our holy God. through forgiveness of sins.

And yes, we are tried in this world because we live in this world and physically and emotionally and psychologically we have many of the same needs as every other man and woman. But we've got something more and we've got something better. We have a divine promise of the righteousness of Christ. We have a divine promise of the peace of God. We have a divine promise of the joy of the Holy Spirit.

And these gospel promises moderate all our physical needs because they are a testimony of our Father's enduring love and care and attention toward us. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not die for us and provide for us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places only to leave us bereft of those blessings that are freely dispensed to the ravens and the lilies and the grass.

The world pursues physical temporal pleasure. because it is all that the world has and all it has to look forward to. As I grow older, and I recognise that there's a few here who are older than I am, but as I grow older, I find myself thinking more and more how blessed I am to have hope of eternal life with Christ.

What has your neighbour got to look forward to? A long, cold grave is the best that can be hoped for. They are desperate to believe that there is nothing after death. And we fear for their souls far more than they do. For they've no promise. of righteous acceptance with God. They have no hope of justification on the merits of Christ's blood. They've no grounds to expect peace with God, having rejected and despised him all their lives. They've no joy in anticipating the end of their earthly life at all. And fearfully, they have only the horrors of hell beyond.

the fleeting and vanishing pleasures of life are done. And goodness knows they're done for many, many people already. What does the Lord say to us then? What does he say to you and me today? What did he say to his disciples? Seek ye the kingdom of God.

And the kingdom of God is the promise of grace in the gospel. The promise of grace in the gospel. And this is a very suitable blessing for you and me to seek day by day.

Some people have a very narrow view of what the gospel is. They think of it as a few duties and propositions incumbent upon sinners to believe. Well, we have a much greater and grander view of the Gospel than that. The Gospel is the fullness of God's grace towards us in Christ. It is what Christ has done for us, delivered to us, and promises for us for time and eternity. And it's a daily comfort and an everlasting joy to the Lord's people. We can go every day to the faithful promise of God for grace sufficient for the day and the needs thereof.

Are you cold? Are you hungry? Are you sick? Are you frustrated? Are you impatient? Are you despondent? Are you lonely? Are you angry? Every need can be taken to the footstool of God's throne of grace and left there. Paul tells the Philippians, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Amen. We can take that promise to the bank of heaven and cash it in every day.

Imagine you're going to check arrived in the post every morning by the early post delivery and you could take it every day and cash it in at the bank for the needs of that day. And it was always sufficient. That's what we have in Christ. That's what we have at the throne of grace. Our Jehovah Jireh is unlimited in his goodness and he knows all our needs before we ask.

The Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples, seek ye the kingdom of God. And we see the kingdom of God is the promise of grace in the gospel, but even that's not enough. The kingdom of God is union with Christ and his body. What a weight of glory we have in Christ. Grace now and glory hereafter. It's one of the Lord's little ones. We are united to Christ and members of his body. He is our head and he takes care of us as we take care of our own body, sustaining and nourishing and protecting and providing for it.

He is our head and we have brothers and sisters who with us are united to him. I like this little gathering here on a Tuesday or a Wednesday morning for our Australian friend. I like this little gathering because I realise that it brings the Lord's people together, if only for an hour a week, to worship and pray. But what a privilege that is to those who are old and perhaps largely housebound and otherwise restricted to a few casual acquaintances. And yet we can look around these windows and identify friends who share our love of the Lord and our confidence in the gospel. And you may not have spoken to another person all day, but you have spoken to Jesus tonight and you have met together with his family.

Peter says, his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Yes, we are to seek the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the promise of grace in the gospel. The kingdom of God is union with Christ and his body. And the kingdom of God is our home in heaven.

Our Lord Jesus told his disciples, these very men to whom he is speaking here, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. Thank you, Lord.

Brothers and sisters, if we have Christ, we have everything and we need to be anxious for nothing. And I know that that is easier to say than practice. But we have daily recourse to the throne of grace by faith. Let us employ that access and let us try it and prove it to be true. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. Amen. Amen.