Harvest ... a bumper crop

Matthew 6. 25-34

“Consider  the lilies…how they grow, how they are clothed, how beautiful.” This is what we are invited to do in our Gospel reading today.

 In other words, “Marvel at them, see what a wonderful and glorious Creator there must have been in the making of them.

Consider the perfect formation and the attention to detail in something as insignificant as one small flower.”

How much more has God done with us. We,  who are so wonderfully made…. and we, who are surrounded by so many good things.

We’re not being asked to worship flowers here, but to appreciate our Creator God, who has provided for everything and everyone he has made.

I was looking at a flower last week,  a rose,  like this one, and marvelling to myself how wonderfully it had been made.

The colour, the perfect folding of the petals….. but that was all… because this particular rose had no fragrance, no velvety touch to its petals, no moisture upon it, apart from dewdrops made out of resin, because it was artificial.

We can so easily be fooled can’t we today?

Take these vegetables and some fruit for example: They are not all what they seem.(show a selection of real and artificial fruit) Can you tell the difference between them?

 They all look like the real thing,  but some are the work of human hands. Quite false, artificial!

It’s hard to tell the difference today, between what is real and false.

Take for example the rich man in our gospel. God blesses his crops, and prospers him, and he so easily turns away to the worship of false gods without even realising it.

He had achieved a bumper crop, but became consumed by his achievements, putting all of his energy into his rebuilding programme, so that he would know security in the years to come, and much pleasure in the present. Nowhere do we hear of his gratitude to God, for what he has provided.

Very quickly he becomes very selfish and possessive with his wealth, with no thought of sharing any of his good fortune or being generous to anyone else.

He has fallen down before false gods , and does not realise it…gods with names such as Progress, Pride, Advancement, Wealth, Possessiveness, Selfishness, these can sometimes take over our lives, and become our false gods.

Anything which prevents us from acknowledging and appreciating the One true God,  OR which leads us to  ignore all the good things that He has given us, OR which wraps us up in our own interests rather than consider others….

has become a false god in our lives.

It has crept in silently unnoticed, and needs to be identified as such.

Let me put our Old Testament reading into words we can more easily understand, for the advice it gives, outlines the trap our world has fallen into, and perhaps we ourselves, if we’re truthful.

It has this to say:-

‘When you have eaten and been satisfied, and you have received every good thing from God’s hand, then don’t forget the part God has played in it all, praise Him. Observe his commandments and live by his rules, otherwise success and achievement will make your heart proud, and you will forget God.

He has delivered you, he has sheltered you, he has provided for you. You may think it is by your hand, your power, your strength, that all this has been achieved, but it is God who has given you your ability. It is God  who has given us good gifts and talents. Be thankful, and acknowledge Him.

Surely this has been the theme of Harvest, and the thinking behind it for centuries: that of thankfulness and praise to our Creator.

Yet, it’s the sign of our times, that the celebration of harvest is not what it used to be, not in our churches, our homes or our schools.

Our half empty churches point to our forgetfulness of God.

We can reverse that this morning in our worship and in our praise of a truly wonderful God, who has made all things, who has given us so much…..

red sunsets, fields full of corn, mountain top experiences, stars in a mighty universe, leafy woods, our families etc.,

But before we continue to praise God, let us too ask ourselves if there are any false gods before us, which need to be put behind us.

Amen.