Matthew 6:28

LESSONS FROM LILIES

‘Consider the lilies.’

Matthew 6:28

Is there nothing ironic in proposing to a congregation of hard workers to take courage from the lilies, which toil not, nor spin? If we resembled them we should all starve. And is there no flaw in the reasoning which infers that we ought not to be ‘anxious for our lives,’ while admitting that these, for all their loveliness, to-morrow are cast into the oven? These objections are plausible only if we have quite missed the real thought of Jesus. Between us and the bird and the lily, He institutes not a comparison but a contrast. They toil not nor spin: they have no mandate and no mission; yet, slight though they be, their splendour is beyond the pomp of kings. Surely His workers are much more precious; He shall much more clothe and feed you.

I. It was Christ Who spoke.—Jesus said, ‘Consider the lilies.’ If He were no more He would still be not only the greatest of religious teachers, but quite alone in the character of His teaching. Jesus Christ, amid the awful things of time and eternity, taught man, as none other did, the lessons of the impulses of nature. He bade us be not too busy to consider the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field. He was really interested in such things; they were not to Him the material for rhetorical phrase-making. He said, ‘Your heavenly Father careth for them.’ To the mind of Jesus, and therefore to the mind of God which He declared unto us, beauty was a sacred thing. It was His Father Who spread the Galilean fields with a carpet more splendid than the robes of Solomon. No wonder, then, that He recognised and bade men ponder well their loveliness. Gazing upon their sumptuous beauty, He was glad because these gifts to the humblest outshone the pomp of kings.

II. To whom He spake.—To whom did Jesus thus speak? To whom was it reasonable that He should say, ‘Reflect upon the beauty of a wild flower’? Not only to His own, His chosen, the glorious company of the apostles. No; around Him while He spake were simple-minded people, Galilean peasants; untaught, perhaps, but also unsophisticated. And observe well that cares and heavy burdens pressed them down, which He bade them to dismiss, not saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ He says not, When all within you is bright and happy, then go to Nature. Rather He says, When disquieted and anxious, when you know not where to look for food and clothes, then let the lowlier things of creation speak to you and reassure you. Think how little the bird can do for itself; but God makes that little to suffice: He feedeth it. And if the lily can do nothing at all, nothing is required of it; beauty is rained down upon it by the sunshine and the shower, and steals into it in sap from the earth below. And their Guardian is your heavenly Father. If He has set you in a place infinitely more complex and difficult, this is surely not in order to forsake you there—‘you are of more value than the birds.’ ‘Shall He not much more clothe you?’

—Bishop G. A. Chadwick.

Illustration

‘This gospel of beauty—for it is a gospel—is for all men yet. From many, as from the dwellers in a great city, it is possible to build out or to wall in the grass; but you cannot wall in the stars. Mountain and cataract and pines tossing in the storm, many shall never see; but who shall forbid them to look when God makes Himself an awful rose of dawn, or in the golden lightening of the sunken sun? Therefore it is that from among the children of labour, and from the depths of smoky cities, many a great artist, and many a beautiful poet, has come forth. What is wanted is the eye to see and consider, and the heart to feel; and that heart begins to stir in us when we rise from created beauty to the Creator, and thank our heavenly Father and trust His heart, upon the evidence of all His love, from the bloom in the meadows to the forgiveness of our iniquities. And these words of Jesus protest against the insolence which supposes that any rank or class can assume to itself a monopoly of such perception.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

A CHILDREN’S FLOWER SERMON

God is always trying to get us to listen to the lessons which He has to teach us, not only out of this book of His, which we call the Bible, but out of that great green lesson-book outside. ‘Consider the lilies,’ said Jesus Christ. You have often thought of the flowers; but now ‘ consider the flowers.’ I have three lessons for you.

I. A lesson about God.—You are glad when the winter is over and gone, and the fresh flowers appear on the earth. Do you think of the good God Who sends you all those beautiful things to gladden you and make you happy? God might have sent us, you know, all the useful things that are necessary for our body without giving us beautiful things also. But He has given us flowers always with the food. ‘He feedeth among the lilies.’ And He has done so, I think, because He wants our souls to be happy as well as our bodies.

II. A lesson about our neighbours.—Did you ever notice, when your little baby brother first went out into the fields to pick the daisies, what was the first thing that he did with them? Was it not to bring them to you and shower them down as a gift into your lap? I think it was. Well, there is my second lesson, the lesson of love-gifts.

III. A lesson about ourselves.—You remember some of the lily plants of spring; such as the crocus and the daffodils, Lent lilies, as you call them, and the flag that grows by the brook side, and the tall tiger lily of the cottage garden. Well, do you know there is one thing which is common to all these plants—common to all lily plants, and that is that they don’t grow up like other plants—first the stalk, then the branches, and then the leaves, then the buds and flowers; but the leaves and flowers spring up directly from the root. I want you to be like that. You are spring flowers, and I want the flower of a good life to spring right up out of your very hearts while they are still fresh and young. I want you to find room in your hearts for the Lord Jesus, while you are still young.

IV. A word to parents.—(a) Remember that the children who are yours are also God’s. (b) Reverence the good hearts of your children. Christ has sown good seed in the children’s hearts. Take care that you do not sleep, and the enemy come and sow the tares there. Nourish the good seed. Expect good fruit from it.

—Bishop C. W. Stubbs.

Illustration

‘Did I ever tell you the story of the little boy, the little German boy, in one of those educational hospitals for which Germany is so famous? It was a dark stormy night, and the children were sitting down to supper, and the teacher, as they did so, repeated the usual grace—“Come, Lord Jesus, and be our guest at this time!” And the little boy, of whom I speak, looked up in the teacher’s face and said, “You always ask the Lord to come; why does He never come? Will He really come?” “Oh, yes!” replied the teacher, “He will come.” “Then,” said the boy, “I will set a chair for Him to-night, to be ready if He comes.” Shortly after a knock was heard at the door, and a poor man let in, all dripping with the rain and famishing with hunger. They tended him with care, and led him at length to the vacant seat placed by the child. This opened the boy’s eyes to the whole truth, and he said, “Teacher, I see it now; the Lord Jesus was not able to come Himself, and He sent this poor man in His place. Isn’t that it?” “Yes,” replied the teacher, “that is it.” ’

(THIRD OUTLINE)

THE STORY OF THE LILIES

No object in nature from a religious point of view is trifling, all the world is a book, and the devout mind can read there lessons to keep the heart from sinking and the soul from sleep. What then do the flowers of the field say to us?

I. God cares for you.—He clothes the flowers of the field. If God takes such interest in them, and nourishes and cares for them, and decks them in a simple beauty surpassing all King Solomon’s glory, much more will He takes care of you who are created, not merely like a flower, but after His own image. The youngest child here is thus an object of God’s care. He has tended it as one of those flowers. By water of Baptism He has imparted to it the moisture of the Holy Spirit, and under His watchful eye it is nurtured in the way of His Commandments, and grows upward to blossom for eternity.

II. Trust God.—Nothing you can do can make the tiniest seed burst into life. As in nature so in grace. The flowers bid you trust in God. They tell you that you must do your work, fulfil your round of duties, in the sweat of your face eat bread, bear your sorrows and crosses, and trust that God will guide all things aright, and make you to grow up in His nurture until you come to His everlasting kingdom.

III. Little beginnings may have great results.—Tiny seeds may grow to great plants. Do your work and hope and trust. Do your duty in whatever state of life God may place you. Do not be aiming at doing great things, but fulfil the little trivial matters of everyday life, and who can tell what you may be in the end. Our loving Saviour does not want us to be always trying to do great acts, but to be honest about little ones.

IV. We shall rise again to life.—One great law in the life of a flower is reproduction. You offer for the glory of God and the enjoyment of God’s sick ones the beautiful flowers which He has formed and which your thoughtful love has gathered. May not this little act of yours bring you abundant blessings, both here and hereafter? And when you are transplanted into the fair garden of heaven, may it not impart a bloom and a fragrance never known on earth, and of you Christ’s words would be true, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’

—The Rev. W. Fraser.

Illustration

‘A great African traveller (Mungo Park) tells how once he was alone in the vast desert; he had neither food nor clothing, the rain was likely to make the road so muddy that he would not be able to travel on it, the wild beasts surrounded him on all sides, and, even were he to escape these perils, he had still to confront men more wild and savage. What was he to do? Hundreds of miles separated him from his own countrymen—on every side was danger and difficulty, and the vision of a slow and painful death was reflected, in all its fulness, before his eyes. While he thought of these things, a tiny piece of moss attracted his attention, the form of its roots, leaves, capsules, called forth his admiration. Can that Being, he thought, Who planted and watered and brought this to perfection in such a place—can He look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after His own image? Can He Who thinks this small piece of moss of so much importance desert me in the hour of danger? Surely not! The tiny plant filled him with fresh courage and energy, and, disregarding the hunger and fatigue, he started onward; relief came at the time needed, and he learned the truth of the Saviour’s saying, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” ’