your heavenly Father feeds them

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26 ESV)

In this one statement, the Lord Jesus answers both our personal anxieties about life and also some great questions debated by philosophers down through the centuries.

"...your heavenly Father feeds them..." Notice the following: "Your"... as followers of Christ you belong to God as his children and he is your Father who cares and provides. "Heavenly"... he rules over all of creation, heaven and earth. "Father"... he is personal, relational, loving. "Feeds"... he is involved, hands-on with his creation. "Them"... he provides for the small, seemingly insignificant creatures in this world. The argument goes from lesser to greater: if he cares about and feeds the birds, certainly he cares about and will provide for you as his children.

So here, Jesus answers our personal fears and anxieties as we follow him.

But equally remarkable, he also negates all other major worldviews that contend for our trust...

Atheism / materialism. Jesus does not believe that nature is unguided, random, or closed and self-contained, just the sum of natural processes. There is a God, who is Fatherly, and he cares about and is involved lovingly in his creation, even the ordinary and natural events.

Pantheism. Jesus does not believe that the universe is permeated with, or identical with, a non-personal force or an impersonal ground of being. The heavenly Father is a person, a caring and involved person. He is not beyond noticing and feeling the needs of individuals.

Deism. Some believe that some god somewhere may have started the universe like a clock and left it to run on its own laws of cause and effect. Again, Jesus teaches that there is a good, heavenly Father who provides -- even through secondary causes -- for the creation he loves. He is not removed from the care of his creatures.

So in one verse, actually five words in English (seven in the Greek*) -- "your heavenly Father feeds them" -- Jesus answers not only our individual needs for peace and well-being, but also addresses the greatest questions people have asked about our universe.

Comments

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90. This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3. Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I. Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews. Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews. Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches. Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos. The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90: CHAPTER 36 ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ, the High Prie...

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

bible reading july 5-6

Bible reading for July 5 -- 6 July 5 -- Jeremiah 1 and Matthew 15 July 6 -- Jeremiah 2 and Matthew 16 ================ HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, July 4! Throughout the years I have felt varying degrees of loyalty to this nation. The more I have studied history, however, and have observed God's working in it, the more deeply I have come to appreciate the founding principles of this country. In practice this nation has allowed a greater freedom for the gospel to go forth and for the church to flourish than any other nation. Along with the UK the US has been the sending base for thousands of missionaries around the world. The freedoms we have are not to be treated lightly. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." ( The Declaration of Independence ) ================ "...my people have committed t...

my burg

Search This Blog