We continue to study the words of life, the wonderful teaching of our Lord Jesus, in Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 to 34.
"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? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day."
Here in this passage of the Lord's teaching, He is speaking to us about the meaning and quality of life. And as always in Jesus' teaching, He deals with the really fundamental matters of life. You see, in this passage, He teaches us what is the great hindrance to life as a whole, to spiritual life in particular. The problem with mankind is that he is tied up with anxiety. Anxiety is not necessarily a certain feeling, but anxiety is a state of mind that is always worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow.
The first thing we have to see about this whole passage is Jesus is speaking about the contrast between anxiety on one hand and faith on the other. If you have anxiety, that means you do not have faith. If you have faith, you do not have anxiety. Anxiety means to be anxious, to be worried, to be concerned about things which are to come. It is worrying about where am I going to get enough to eat, worrying about the clothing that I have to wear, worrying about the future. Will I have enough money to finish my studies? Will I have enough money to see the doctor if I get sick? Will I have enough money when I retire? And so it goes on and on. It is anxiety. It is worry. Worry is the enemy of faith, but it is the enemy of all life, not only of faith.
So the first point we can see in this section is the threat of anxiety. Anxiety is the uncertainty that threatens you all the time. You see, we as human beings simply don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? Do you know what is going to happen today, even this evening? We never know, isn't it? We never know what to expect, because the future is always uncertain. So we are always seized with a sense of uncertainty, and uncertainty brings insecurity, and insecurity brings anxiety.
Don't tell me you are not anxious. As soon as the exams come, I see many people disappear from the church. Anxiety. You are worried. Why are you worried? You are worried you might not pass the exam. You are worried you might fail. The anxiety hangs over you all the time. The best student cannot be sure that he will certainly pass. He cannot be sure. I have known some of the finest students, the most brilliant students, scholarship students, to fail their exams. You don't have to be a genius — geniuses can fail exams too. And some of the guys who don't seem to do very much work, for some unknown reason, they seem to pass.
One of my dear friends was a brilliant student, and he really knew his work. He worked systematically and was always ready a long time before the exams came. When most of us were still slaving for the exams, he was sitting back, you know, twiddling his fingers. One week before the exams, he was our envy. We couldn't understand how anybody could finish their studies and be ready for an exam one week before. I never seem to be ready even when the exam has come. There always seems to be more work to do. How does a person ever manage to finish all his studies before the exam? And there he was, a brilliant scholarship student in Cambridge, and yet he failed. He failed the exam, to his astonishment and amazement.
So the future is always uncertain. Is that not why you worry? Now, if you have this kind of anxiety, if you are anxious about exams, if you are anxious about life, it proves one thing. It proves it to you — it doesn't matter whether it proves it to me — it proves to you that there is something inadequate about your faith. Your faith is not sufficient. There is no need to make excuses for yourself. It just proves that your faith is not adequate, because you are afraid of the future.
You see, the Christian has a certainty. He doesn't know what the future holds, but he knows who holds the future. That's what matters. I don't know what the future holds. I don't know what will happen to me tomorrow. But I know who holds that future. That makes the difference. If you are not a Christian, of course you have no such confidence. If you are not a Christian, I can understand your anxiety. You have every reason to be anxious, because you have no certainty. And their ignorance is bliss. That is to say, it's a good thing we don't know what the future holds.
For a small example: New Year's Eve, I went outside, and we were having a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship. I went outside and found the nose of the car smashed — not my car, the church's car. The damage to the car was over $300. So we never know what the future holds. But who knows? Maybe if you go home tonight — are you going to worry? How do you know that while you are sitting here, or while you are sitting somewhere else, the house has burned down? How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? How do you know if you go outside you haven't had an accident? We don't know. That's the fact. We don't know.
I remember the elder of a church talking to a young man, telling him about receiving Jesus. He said, "Come to Jesus today. Today is the only day you have got. This moment that you have now is the only moment you have with certainty. This is the only moment you are sure you have. Whether you have the next hour or not, you are not sure. Whether you have tomorrow or not, you are not sure. And whether you have next year is even less sure. The only thing you can be sure about is that you have this moment right now. This is the only real moment in your life, because yesterday is gone — it will never come back again. This morning is gone — it will never come again. Whether tomorrow will come, we do not know. The only certain thing you know is you have now. And so make use of it. Seize it for God." That's what redeeming the time means. Take this time which is now, this moment which is really yours, and make use of it for God, because you may never have another time.
But this young man, he put off coming to Christ. He said, "No, I am young, you see. I have plenty of time to believe in Jesus." He hadn't understood the reality that we have only now. We don't have tomorrow, and we don't have yesterday. We have only now. He didn't believe it. He still thought the yesterdays would be his, the tomorrows would be his too. That man walked out of the church. Five minutes — walked down to the next block, and he was killed at that next block. He was run down by a car. He did not know, as he stood at the church door, that his life had only five more minutes to go. Now, that is not to frighten anybody. You may not be frightened by that. I am not terribly frightened by that. But it's a fact that our life is uncertain, and the only thing we have for certain right now is this very moment, which itself is passing away. And so the future threatens us with uncertainty, unless you know the God who holds that future.
No one can serve two masters. So a person without faith is full of anxiety and worry, because the future — tomorrow, that is — is always uncertain. Tomorrow and the future are always unpredictable. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. Not just tomorrow — we don't even know what will happen tonight. Our future is always unstable. That is what brings anxiety and worry: because we don't know what the future holds. We don't know how our future will unfold. If we knew how we would die today, we might already be in a panic. I don't know how I will die — will it be a car crash, or a plane going down? Every time I get on a plane, how do you feel? When you sit on the plane, you think, "I don't know if this is the last time." When the noise gets loud as it's about to take off, I look at everyone's face — they're tense. Quick, look at the newspaper, don't look outside. Don't think about it. The faster the plane goes, the more nervous everyone gets. Once the plane is up, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. But then you worry about the landing.
So what does the future hold? We are always worried. We don't know what the future holds. We don't know what our prospects are. We don't know how our health will be. We don't know if we'll go home tonight and find our house burned down. We don't know if we'll walk outside and find our car smashed — like the other day, I went out after church and found the front of the car had been hit. The repair cost was over three hundred dollars. Who did it, we don't know — it was just hit. So our future is always uncertain. We don't know what tomorrow will be like. It's best not to think about it — the more you think, the more you panic.
But some people can't stop thinking about it. If you don't think about other things, you think, "Where will my next meal come from? Will I be able to finish my studies? Will I be able to graduate? Will I find a job in the future?" So life is full of anxiety. We cannot predict what the future holds.
But why should Christians not panic? Why should they have faith? Even though we don't know what the future holds, we know that God controls that future. God controls tomorrow. We cannot control tomorrow, but God knows what tomorrow holds. He has arranged everything for us. If we are children of God and don't have this kind of faith, then what kind of Christians are we?
The second thing about anxiety that the Lord Jesus teaches us in this passage is the futility of anxiety. We saw the threat of anxiety, the threat of the future, but we must also look at the futility of anxiety. Anxiety, the Lord Jesus tells us in chapter 6, verse 27, accomplishes nothing. It's no use being anxious. You don't know what the future holds, but worrying won't help the matter. He says here in verse 27, and this is just plain wisdom — the Lord Jesus sometimes speaks just such plain, obvious, common sense. It's so obviously true. He says, do you think that by worrying — "taking thought" is not just thinking about something, but worrying about it — that you could add a few days to your life? On the contrary, the more you worry, the shorter your life gets. Or do you think that by worrying you could add a cubit to your height? You couldn't add one millimeter to your height, never mind a cubit. A cubit sometimes means one foot six inches, and that's an awful lot to add to one's height — seven feet tall, seven and a half feet tall at this rate. No, you cannot add. This is picture language. The Lord Jesus is saying: by worrying, by being anxious about this matter, you add nothing to your life, you add nothing to your height. It accomplishes nothing. It is completely pointless.
And that shows why faith is the only meaningful course of action a person must have. If anxiety accomplishes nothing, then what's the point of being anxious? Much more meaningful it is to have a positive faith in God when you know God, that He holds the future. But the strange thing about anxiety is this: though you know it's entirely futile, that is, meaningless, pointless, you still worry, don't you? You still worry. You got your nice new car outside. You know there's no point worrying whether somebody will bang it. What help would it be? He'll still bang your car even if you worry yourself sick. But you still can't help worrying. "Hey, I hope somebody's not banging my car outside there. Now I'm worried in case I go outside and look what happens to my beautiful car." But you still worry, even though you know it's useless. That's the strange thing, isn't it? Does that not show man's unreasonableness? Does it not show his weakness, his uncertainty about everything? Man is so weak. He is so exposed. He is so pitiful. He is so defenseless in so many ways. The future threatens him all the time, and man is pitiful, he is defenseless. So defenseless.
I have known many wise and clever men in other respects who consult the fortune tellers, because they are worried about the uncertainty of the future. They know worrying is futile, so maybe if the fortune teller can tell them something and forewarn them, maybe they can take an evasive course of action. Unfortunately, one of the things about fortune telling is that they tell you the future but don't tell you how to avoid it. They don't tell you how you can evade it. It's like the government official that my father was telling me about. The fortune teller told him that on such and such a day he would die. I think he would rather have wished he didn't see the fortune teller. He would have been more peaceful if he hadn't seen. How do you think — you pay your money only to be told you are going to die? He would have said, "Give me my money back. I didn't come here to listen to this." But unfortunately, it was too late. The fortune teller looked up the thing and said, "You are going to die on such and such a day." But why doesn't he also tell him the solution? The reason is, the fortune teller doesn't know what the solution is. So all that he has done is increase your anxiety.
And this government official — this was during the war, and he was in Chongqing. He was a colleague of my father's. Chongqing, of course, was the wartime capital of China, and it was just immediately after the war, and he went to see this fortune teller. And the fortune teller said, on that day — I don't remember what day it was, but it was a certain day — the fortune teller told him he would die. So he thought he would outwit fate. He was going to try and evade this terrible thing that the fortune teller said would happen to him.
Now, you know, don't despise certain fortune tellers. Some are charlatans, but some are in league, in communion, with spirits, with evil spirits. So don't fool around with fortune tellers. Let me warn you right here. There are some Christians — and I say it to their shame — who fool around with fortune tellers. They call themselves Christians, and they do things like this. Let me tell you, if you go to a fortune teller, the curse of the Lord is going to be upon you, and you are going to reap the results of it. And I know Christians who have gone to fortune tellers secretly, but I happen to have found out.
Now if you do this, like this man, what did he do? He then decided to try and escape this terrible fate. The fortune teller was right, you know. And so he decided to get away. So he decided he was going to go several days early away from Chongqing. Maybe he thought the spirit powers would get him in Chongqing, so if he got out of Chongqing, he might be safe. And off he went by air to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the plane got held up in Yunnan. It was a very small plane, and got held up in Yunnan, and he wasted several days hanging around waiting for that plane. You know, wartime conditions — no planes go on schedule. And what happened? He found himself approaching Hong Kong in that aeroplane on the very day the fortune teller said that he would die.
How do you feel about that? Can you envisage his moments as he sat in the aeroplane, biting his fingernails, and said, "I was trying to get down on solid ground before that day that the fortune teller spoke about." You know what happened? He crashed. The plane crashed. It went into the mountain in Hong Kong, that famous mountain that killed so many people before they extended the runway in Hong Kong. You remember, even now you seem to be coming almost on top of the mountain as you come down, but now the runway is much longer. In those days, the runway was short, and the plane went right into the mountain. He was killed on the very day the fortune teller told him he would be killed.
Impressive. Don't despise fortune tellers. Those of us who have been in spiritual warfare know that many of these fortune tellers — either they are quacks and charlatans, cheats who don't know anything at all and are just making a living out of this, or there are some of them who are in communication with the spirits. And I know very definitely that some of these, on their own testimony, are in communication with spirits. Their accuracy is therefore understandable. He got killed on that very day. But he didn't know the way of escape. The more he tried to escape from it, the more he found himself in the midst of it. He could not win. The fortune teller can tell you what the future holds, but doesn't tell you how to get away from it. This is the problem.
And so we find here: it is futile to be anxious about the future. It is futile to try and think that if I can find out what the future holds, I can evade its power. That's futile too. Trust rather in Him who can remove every power against you. If this poor man who was trying to run away from death had cast himself upon the mercies of God, do you think God could not have saved him? Of course He could. God was the only one who could have saved him from death, from certain death. But he tried to do it himself, and ended up in disaster.
The more you try to save yourself in the face of the future, in the face of anxiety, the more it will kill you, the more it will destroy you. The whole message that the gospel is telling you is that you can't save yourself. If you could save yourself, there would be no need for Jesus. There would be no need for God. There would be no need for Jesus to die on the cross. You can't save yourself. It is futile being anxious about the future. It is futile to try and run away from the future.
Being a Christian is not escapism. It is the courage to look into the future and say, "Okay, I see that the future is uncertain. I see that the future is fearful." Just as brother Clement was sharing with us about the men of God who are warning us all the time that the end is approaching — we are not only told it is uncertain, we are told it is threatening. We are told it is going to descend with disaster upon the world. But does that make us anxious? Does it make Christians nervous wrecks? Not at all. It strengthens our desire to turn to God, to take hold of God, to put our trust in Him who never fails. And the point is that He never fails. This is not some kind of opium by which we can dull our senses. The gospel is not an opium by which we run away from the future. No, the gospel is that which gives us clarity of vision regarding the future. It looks the troubles in the eye and says, "I am not afraid, because God is the one who will bring me through all this victorious. He is my Savior; He is my Lord."
Anxiety is pointless, ineffective, and without value. But anxiety is also foolish — very foolish. How is it foolish? You think life's problems are already enough. You think today's problems are already enough. The Lord Jesus tells us here: tomorrow's troubles are enough. Tomorrow's anxiety — we don't need to carry it today. Today's anxiety is already enough of a burden for us. But now, you have today's troubles, today's difficulties not yet resolved, and you want to pile tomorrow's troubles on your own head as well? Is today's burden not enough for you? Do you need to go looking for trouble a day early?
And we often find that this is foolish, because what you worry about for tomorrow may never happen, while the things you didn't think about do happen. So all your worrying was a complete waste of energy. It's like sometimes when we're concerned about someone, or someone in our own family, who comes home an hour or two late. We're so scared we don't know whether to sit or stand or what to do. It makes us miserable. We keep thinking, "Was he hit by a car? Did he fall into a river?" The more we think, the wilder our imagination gets, until we're shaking all over. And then, not long after, the door opens, and in he walks with a big smile, no problem at all. You think — I wasted an hour or two in such anxiety, and it was all for nothing. But didn't you already know it was for nothing? What did your worrying attitude solve? It didn't solve anything. It's just foolish.
The Lord Jesus says: will you bring tomorrow's anxiety into today to think about? Maybe by tomorrow, that anxiety won't even exist. But the anxiety you didn't think about may appear instead. So thinking about it doesn't solve any problem. What must we do? A Christian should not be crushed by these things, should not be overwhelmed by them. Rather, let the pressure of these things push us toward the Lord.
So faith is something wonderful. True faith — the greater the pressure, the stronger it gets. The less the pressure, the weaker it gets. The secret of faith is not to fear pressure, because it knows that the greater the pressure, the stronger faith's response becomes. If you truly have faith.
So we see that true faith is something wonderful. True faith is that which accepts the challenge of anxiety and problems, and the greater the pressure that is brought upon it, the stronger it gets. That's if you have true faith. Now whether you have true faith or not can be seen precisely there. As we saw in the Friday Bible study, many people — their faith collapses under very little pressure. But those who have true faith — the stronger the pressure, the stronger their faith. Faith gets strong with pressure. You see that in Hebrews chapter 11: "who waxed strong in battle." In the spiritual battle, faith gets stronger all the time. Those who have little pressure have weak faith.
But the fourth point we notice is the danger of anxiety. We have seen the threat of anxiety, the futility of anxiety, the foolishness of anxiety, but also the danger of anxiety. What is the danger of anxiety? The danger of anxiety is that it turns you inward. Have you ever noticed that? It turns you into being absorbed with your problems. Oh, there are some people who are most depressing. Every time you talk with them, it's their problems, their difficulties. Oh, it's always "me, my problems." They never seem to be aware that other people also have problems. They are the only most unfortunate people in the world. Have you ever noticed those people? They always get you down. And the way they talk, you would think that nobody else in the world ever existed, or if they did exist, they never have problems. These poor miserable people are the only ones with problems. All the problems of the world have somehow concentrated themselves upon these unfortunate souls.
And the funny thing is this: somehow it does happen — things go wrong with them. The more they are grumbling and murmuring, the more problems they seem to get. It's strange. Problems seem to have a way of focusing on those people who are always groaning and grumbling. Have you ever noticed that? And the people who are always happy — you say, "How come these guys never have problems?" The fact is, they have as many problems as anybody else. But they never let the problems get them down. It's not that they have no problems. But the very fact that they always seem to rejoice in problems, in fact, seems to result in a situation in which they don't really seem to have problems. That's very strange. It's almost as though problems run away from people who are not afraid of problems, and concentrate on people who are always groaning about their problems.
So the danger of anxiety is that it makes you self-centered. It concentrates you into yourself. And this we see in the Lord's teaching, in which He tells you to turn away from yourself. The first step in faith, if you want to have faith, is to turn away from yourself. Oh, the people who are always "self" — they are so self-destructive, exhausting people. And they exhaust themselves and everyone else. Faith is release from self. Freedom from the self at last.
And so look at what the Lord Jesus says. The first cue: He says, "Look away from yourself, will you please?" And look. He says, "Consider the lilies of the field," for example, in verse 28. Or, in verse 26, "Look at the birds." That's a good thing to do when you've got any problems. Look away from yourself. Look around you. First thing you may discover is this: as you look around you, you find there are other people also existing in the world. Might come to you as a bit of a shock, but there are also other people in the world who have problems. There are other people who have greater problems than yourself. When you take the trouble to find out about them, you say, "Hey, how come you've got so many problems?" And so we find that the first step we must do is to look away.
And having done that, look away to the things that God created. I find that when one is tired, weary, run down, the best thing you can do is go outside for a walk. Now, how are you going to look at the birds? I look here, I can't see any birds. I can't see any flowers in the field. A church in such circumstances is not a very good place to be able to do this. Go out into the open country. If you've got anxieties and problems, what you should be doing is get out into the country.
Like me — I've spent so many years in the city that, in God's wisdom, He put me out in the countryside now. First time in my life I've been out there in the countryside. I've always been a city man. And how good it is to be able really to look at the birds, to look at the flowers of the field. Turn away from yourself. It's so refreshing to be rid of yourself for a change and look around you. Open up your heart to the things that are outside. Stop closing in. So long as you do that, you can't have faith. Faith means looking away from yourself.
With William, that is, Reverend Yu, when he was here, we went out quite often to the countryside round about. And you know, many times what we did — the two of us, we squatted down in the grass. And what did we do? We saw those beautiful little flowers. Some of them so small that you would have to use a magnifying glass to see them very clearly. And you know, my breath was taken away with the beauty of those tiny flowers of the field that the Lord Jesus speaks about here. Have you ever looked carefully at one of those? If you haven't, it's time you did. Look at those little flowers in the field. So beautiful. Incredible. I never knew they were so beautiful. The two of us were sitting on the grass, admiring for a long time these flowers in the grass, as opposed to some people walking by. And I thought, they must think something is wrong with us — what were we looking at in the grass? But we saw the beauty of those flowers of the field. The colors. The delicate shades. The shape. The forms. Oh, so beautiful. And we just lifted up praise and worship to God.
The first step in faith, then, is to turn away from self. Look away to the things around you. And from there, you look up to God. If God so clothes that little grass, that little flower, and gives it such incredible beauty — Jesus says, will He not much more look after you? Are you not worth much more than this grass in the field? Have you no faith? Can you not trust the God who does such beautiful things?
So regarding anxiety, the last point is to see the danger of anxiety. The danger is that it turns a person inward. When you are anxious, you just keep thinking about your own problems. So all day long you think, "Oh, my back hurts, my feet hurt, my head hurts. My family has this problem, the children have that problem." These people are just full of problems. Talking with such people is very exhausting.
# Be Not Anxious (Part 2)
Anyone who is a pastor inevitably has to deal with such people frequently. If they are brothers and sisters, it is even more heartbreaking, because these individuals are full of problems day in and day out. You help them solve one problem today, and what happens? Tomorrow they have another problem. The day after, yet another problem. They call all day long — today it's this problem, tomorrow it's that problem. Why? Because their thoughts are constantly focused on themselves.
We must understand that the first step in the secret of faith is to be set free — set free from self. We must not be locked inside ourselves, only seeing our own problems all day, never thinking that others around us also have problems. Look at their difficulties. Consider their situation. The first step is to turn your gaze elsewhere. No matter where you look, the first step is to stop looking at yourself. Look at anything else — it's always better than looking at yourself. Look at others. But from there, look further out — as the Lord Jesus says, look at the birds of the air, the wild flowers of the field. This is very helpful.
Have you seen the birds of the air? If not, or if you have many worries, I advise you to take a walk in the park. On one hand, the fresh air helps clear your mind. On the other hand, there you can see the birds and flowers. The key is to look carefully. It's not just a casual glance — look carefully. The Lord Jesus uses a word here that means not just to glance at the sky, but to observe closely. The original meaning is to look carefully. Have you ever looked carefully at a flower? If you haven't, next time, please look carefully at a flower. I think the more carefully you look, the more you will be filled with praise and admiration, saying, "How beautiful!" So in the summer, when Pastor Yu and I were walking outside in the grass, we saw some flowers in the grass — they were so tiny. If you didn't get down on the ground and look closely, you couldn't even see them clearly. You might think it was just grass. But when you bend down and look closely — wow, these little flowers are incredibly beautiful.
So often, because we are so focused on our own problems, we miss seeing God's power, God's wisdom, His works. We don't see them. So today, look carefully at a flower. Look at its beauty, its structure, its colors. The more you think about it, the more wonderful it becomes — God's handiwork, His creation — how truly wonderful! So the danger of anxiety is that it blinds our eyes, making us unable to see God's works. Once we see clearly, once we are freed from self and look outward, and then see God's handiwork, we look up and say, "Wow, God, Your works are truly wonderful!"
It says here, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," in verse 33. "But seek first the kingdom of God." In Luke, it just says, "But seek instead." Instead of looking for those things — the anxiety about food and clothing and money and future and security — you put your concern upon the things of God.
God's first. Either God is first, or He is nowhere in your life. Please get this thing clear. Is He first in your life? If you call yourself a Christian and God is not first and foremost and paramount — is He the first that you think about every day? When you get up in the morning, is your first thought God? How many Christians' first thought is God? First thought is, "Hey, it's time to get to college. I got no time for my quiet time." The first thought is, "Hmm, I got no time to pray today." It all comes last. When I have finished with everything I can do, then God gets my spare time. God comes last in your life. He is a spare-time God for you. First, indeed!
We find in the church today many Christians who call themselves Christians because, you know why? Because they even managed to honor God by giving Him any space in their timetable at all. Never mind first. They think they are doing God a favor that they gave Him five minutes today. Let me tell you this: if you are that kind of Christian, it's little wonder that God is not real to you. God will never be real to you. You treat Him as a spare-time God, and He's going to be real to you? You think you've honored Him, you've done Him a favor? He doesn't want your favor, my friend. He doesn't want your favor. God is either Lord, or He is nothing in your life.
Notice in the Bible, it always says not "Savior and Lord," but always in that order: "Lord and Savior." He is not going to be your Savior until He is your Lord. You don't think you can have Him as Savior just by having Him as Savior. He is nobody's Savior until He is your Lord.
So faith — if you have faith at all, and you wonder whether you have faith or not — ask yourself this simple question. First of all, have you been anxious? I see many have been anxious. And secondly, have you put Him first? Is He first? I find, though, that He comes, as we saw already, last. How do we see it? Look at it. When you have exams, does God come first? God comes when you have finished your exams, not before. When you have your exams, exams first. Whatever else comes second, and God comes somewhere later on. And you say you have faith?
Now I am not scolding you, brothers and sisters. I am not here to scold you. I beg you to understand, because whether you come to church or not is not my loss. It is not God's loss. It's your loss. The other brothers and sisters, they will miss your company and your presence. But it's not a spiritual loss to them that you haven't come. As far as that goes, it's your own loss. And so it is not my business to rebuke you or to reprimand you. I am not concerned with that. My concern is to show you the way of God. If you put everything else first, or anything else first, you don't know what it means to be a Christian yet. You don't know what it means to have faith in God.
But you say, "Look, look, look, come on. Let's be practical, eh? I got the exam coming up. And look, God can wait, right? He's not going away. He's eternal, right? My exam — my exam is on Monday. The exam can't wait. God can wait." I see. So that's how it is. But that's the way we think. I mean, God is not going to run away. But my exam doesn't come back again — I hope it doesn't. I don't want to take it a second time. And so we excuse ourselves. But the result is, as I say, you lose. You lose because you did not see what God could have done for you. And then don't come and complain later on. "Ah, I failed the exam," or "I didn't do too well. Why didn't God help me?" You put God last, and you want Him to help you as well? You want to have everything? Everything is going to be yours when you put God first, and everything comes into order.
I have tried it. Look, I've been a student too. I have taken probably more exams in all my six years of study. I've taken an awful lot of exams. So don't worry too much about that. I'm not talking through my hat, as the English say. I speak from solid experience. And the Lord has never failed me. I have found that every time I have put the Lord first — sometimes I have had to choose either to speak at a conference (and I was already invited to speak at conferences when I was a student) or take the exam. What would you do? I go and speak at a conference and risk my academic future. And the Lord brings me through all the things. Not because I don't want to study, not because I'm lazy. God never encourages laziness. But because I am determined that He must come first, even if I have to fail my exam. Did I fail? No, I didn't fail. The Lord brought me through every time. Such is His wisdom and graciousness.
Now, we said we must not be anxious, but none of this is meant to say that we must not work. The Christian is the most hard-working person, but he always puts God first. So the definition of faith, then, is God comes first. "Seek first God, His kingdom, His righteousness."
When do we think of God? Maybe in the evening when we have free time, when we're tired, when we have no energy left for studying, then we squeeze out two or three minutes to look at God's word and pray. That's the only time God can find a little space in our day. So the thing I hate hearing most is when people are invited to some meeting and they say, "I'll come when I have time." Forget it — don't come. What do you mean, "when I have time"? God only exists when you have time? Forget it. If a Christian speaks like that, such a Christian is better off not coming. If a non-Christian says that, I can understand — after all, they don't know God. But a Christian saying "I'll come when I have time" — what kind of talk is that?
Many Christians think this way: "One day when I have time, I'll do some work for the Lord. One day, when I'm unemployed, then I'll do the Lord's work. If I'm not unemployed, then I don't have time for the Lord's work." Many people wait to serve the Lord until they lose their jobs and have no livelihood — then they can preach. When they have a livelihood, they can't preach. No wonder in the Chinese church there are so many pastors who are "rice-bowl pastors" — they come because they can't find work anywhere else, so they come to find a meal ticket here. If our churches are full of such people, do you think they put God first? How could they? The poor Chinese church has come to this state. But it's not just the Chinese church — many churches everywhere are like this, whether Catholic or Protestant. Among Catholics, many priests are "rice-bowl priests." I know this myself — priests have told me so. They became priests to find a secure living. "Why be a priest? It's very good. You have insurance. If you're sick, the church pays. When you're old, the church provides for you. You'll never be unemployed. In the Catholic Church, where is there unemployment? When you finish here, they send you somewhere else. All the time. You want to study, they pay for your studies. You want to go to university, they help you through. That's very good." So being a priest is quite useful.
But at least in the Catholic Church, sometimes you can find people of a higher caliber, because their requirements are sometimes higher. In the Protestant churches, because the pay is so low, unless you are truly desperate and can't find a meal ticket anywhere else, you don't go into the church. Or some people want both a meal ticket and status — that's not bad either. So God is not put first.
Why do I serve the Lord? Many people say to me, "You serve the Lord full-time?" I say, "Wait, wait. You serve the Lord full-time — what is your purpose? Get that clear first." If you want to serve the Lord full-time to escape your own difficulties — whether financial or spiritual — then don't do it. Don't use serving the Lord as a way to solve your problems. You should serve the Lord for only one reason: because God is first. If God truly reigns as king in your life, then you can go and serve the Lord. Otherwise, don't. That is a fundamental principle.
So now we see that to have faith, first and foremost, is that we put God first in all that we do. And what does it mean to put God first? The Lord Jesus tells us to seek His kingdom. What does it mean to seek His kingdom? What is the kingdom? The kingdom of God is God's government. God has a great government. God is King of kings, Lord of lords. It is to seek His government. But where do we seek that government? It is to seek His government in my life — that God is king in my life. That's why I said right from the start: either God is king and Lord in your life, or He's not going to be your Savior. Don't think you can make use of God to get salvation, to keep yourself out of hell. It doesn't work like this. God is not going to save anybody who doesn't live under His lordship in this world, here and now.
And so it means, to seek His kingdom, a number of things that we can say very briefly. It means first and foremost that we strive to enter into the kingdom. Notice the word "strive." The Lord Jesus uses that word in Luke chapter 13, verse 24. It means I put my energy, my time, my strength to enter into God's kingdom, to enter into the way of life that He wants me to live. That is my concern. My concern is not whether I have enough food tomorrow, and my clothing tomorrow, and so forth. I am concerned whether to this day I can live the kind of life that God has called me to live. I strive to enter into His kingdom, to live under His government, to be His citizen.
Oh, citizenship is something wonderful, you know. How wonderful it is to be a citizen of God's kingdom. I know in Hong Kong there was a fashion at one time — I don't know whether it's still the fashion today — to become British citizens. Everybody runs for British citizenship. If you already have British citizenship, that's not good enough, because the UK citizenship is very different from a British passport. If you have a British passport, you can't even get into England very easily. If you get into England, they won't even allow you to stay. Your British passport isn't worth very much. You can't live in England with a British passport these days. Very hard to get into England and to live there. They might allow you to visit for one or two weeks, but you cannot live in England. So people desire to have the UK passport — that's special. Then you are one cut above the Hong Kong passport. Citizenship is very important. But how much more wonderful to be under God's government, as God's citizen. As Paul says in Philippians, "Our citizenship is in heaven." My passport is the best of all — citizen of God's kingdom.
And so the first thing: we strive to enter into God's kingdom. When we seek His kingdom, it means we've got to get in there. We seek to enter. The second thing is, once we have entered into His kingdom, once we have become a new person, to seek His kingdom now means, for us who have entered, that we are concerned with the interest of that kingdom, of that government. And that means we are concerned that other people may have that eternal life too. And thirdly, it also means, as we have seen, that our Lord — His lordship is to be effective not only in my life, but in the whole church. When I seek His kingdom in this church, it means I am seeking God's sovereignty in all our lives, that God will be first and foremost in all our lives. What I am doing right now is seeking His kingdom, to establish His kingdom in our midst.
And then it says here, to seek His righteousness. What does that mean? You see, His kingdom is defined by His righteousness. There must be no sin in the church. Where there is sin, there is not righteousness. Where there is not righteousness, there is not faith. And secondly, to seek His righteousness means living this life that is godly. It is receiving His righteousness and living His righteousness. It is also imparting His righteousness to others, making other people righteous, bringing others into salvation. Are you doing all these things?
When you say you put God first, what does it mean? It means all of these things. It means that every day you are pressing on in the spiritual race. It means every day you are living under His lordship. Every day you live in the confidence of being God's child. It means that you are showing forth in your own life His righteousness and bringing others into that righteousness. All this we can see then is the richness of His teaching here.
We are to do His Father's things. Today we are to do His Father's things. The church has been concerned about His Father's things. God reigns as king in my life, and I am also concerned about His righteousness. What does that mean? It means I must receive His righteousness — without His righteousness, how can I be saved? I have no righteousness of my own, so I need to receive His righteousness. Once I have received His righteousness, am I satisfied? No. A true Christian is concerned not only about receiving God's righteousness for himself, but that others may also receive God's righteousness. To receive righteousness is to be saved; without righteousness, there is no salvation. So we can see what it means to put God first.
We must put God first then in all these ways and show by our concern for His kingdom, for all the people in His kingdom, that God really is first. And so we can close on this point, on the fact that God cares. With that I must close for today.
Did you realize that God cares? You see, the reason that our faith is so weak is often that we don't understand that God cares for us. We think we care, but we don't think that God cares. Why are you so worried about your exam? Because you are concerned about your exam. You think God doesn't care about your exam, don't you? Come on, be honest. You don't think that God cares whether you pass your exam, right? Next time you take an exam, ask yourself, "Does God care whether I pass this exam or not?" I would like to know your answer. Next time before exam time, I'm going to ask all of you who have exams: "Do you believe that God cares that you pass this exam or not?" I wonder how many of you would say honestly from the heart, "Yeah, God cares." Or maybe you think, "Well, who cares? God doesn't care about such matters. Whether I pass an exam or not is no concern to God." And because you don't think He cares, you don't pray for it, do you? What's the use of praying to God, "Help me to pass my exam"? He doesn't care whether you pass your exam or not. So because you don't think He cares, you're anxious.
The message here is: God cares. You understand? God cares for you. Does He care whether you have no food to eat? You believe that He cares for you? Then why are you anxious? You believe that God cares whether you have something to wear or not? Or do you think that God doesn't care if you're shivering out in the cold? Of course He cares. But if you believe that He cares, why do you worry?
My little daughter doesn't worry whether she's going to have supper tonight. Why isn't she shivering out there and wondering, "I can't earn, I can't get a job, I'm only six years old, I'm going to be unemployed, I'm going to starve"? I don't see her worry. Why doesn't she worry? She should be worried. No, she doesn't worry, because she knows that I care, that we care for her. And why isn't she worrying that Canada is so cold and she'd be shivering out in the cold? I don't see her worrying. Why doesn't she worry? Because she knows that we care, that she won't shiver. So she doesn't have to worry.
You say you have faith? So let it be seen — seen in exam time, seen when it comes to food, clothing, employment, the future. But if you know that God cares, why are you so afraid to serve Him? I find many people don't dare to serve God because they think that they can't maintain their family, their future is uncertain, they don't know whether they can get employment, they don't know whether they can get a job. I've just been talking to people. They say, "I don't know whether I can serve God. I don't know what job I can do. Maybe the church is not going to employ me. I'm going to be jobless." Is it the church, or is it God who cares for you? If God cares, why do you worry? Do you not see that your worry proves your lack of faith?
Oh, how wonderful to live in this world as God's children, when non-Christians can look at us and say, "Why are you so peaceful? Why do you have this kind of a joy?" And you can answer, "Because He cares. My Father cares for me. He can solve my every problem." You see, my daughter doesn't worry about problems. She knows I'm there to solve them. She has a wonderful life. Daddy solves the problem. Mommy solves the problem. And she can get on with living the kind of life that is so full of joy.
Now, some Christians have a guilt complex about enjoying things. They never read the words that Paul wrote when he said, "God has given us all things richly to enjoy." Why should we be so guilty about enjoying things? But you are guilty if you enjoy the things that you know God didn't give. But you can rejoice and enjoy the things that God did give. So we find that it's so good to live in this world the life of trusting in God, and how God provides our needs in practical ways. I have already shared with you before: I know that God cares. I have proved it. Have you? God can never become real to you until you have tested His care and found that He does care. Have you proved it to yourself? Some people say to me, "How do I know that God is real?" How else? How else can He ever become real to you until you have staked your life on Him and found that He doesn't fail? How else? Until you have proved it and seen that He upholds you, then you can rejoice in God.
God cares, this you say. But I can tell from your tone of voice that you are not speaking from experience. A Christian who does not have this kind of experience, who sits around worrying all day, demonstrates that he fundamentally does not know and does not believe that God cares for him. My little girl — she doesn't worry. She doesn't say, "Will I be able to eat dinner tonight?" She doesn't worry. She knows she will have food. How does she know? She knows I care for her. My child doesn't worry about whether she'll have clothes to wear tomorrow. Canada is very cold — will she be cold? She doesn't worry. Why not? Because she knows I won't let her be cold. So she is not afraid.
But you — do you not believe that God cares about your tomorrow? Do you not believe God cares for you? And so you carry this anxiety with you, and therefore you have no faith, no joy, no peace. Where is your witness? You cannot serve the Lord. Why can't you serve the Lord? Because you simply do not have this kind of faith in the Lord. Without faith, how can you serve the Lord? Without faith, how can you put God first?
So the Lord Jesus, in this passage of Scripture, touches our spiritual weak point. What is our spiritual weak point? Fundamentally, our eyes are fixed on our own problems, and we are anxious. We do not see God's care for us. We do not see God's love for us.
You dare not serve God because you are afraid. You are a coward. You dare not serve God because you do not know whether you can live and have all that you need in the way of food and clothing. You are afraid. Therefore, we are told it's so good to serve God part-time, when the real reason is that they are too scared to go out and serve God full-time. Now, I'm not saying that all Christians should be full-time, provided, of course, that the reason for your not serving God full-time is not because you are afraid that God will not meet your needs. Let God search our hearts to see whether each one of us is being hindered in our spiritual life because of our fear of the future, our attachment to the world, as though the world solves our problems better, as though mammon cares for me more than God does, so I'll serve mammon rather than God. Oh, may God show us that our Savior is the one who solves every problem.