Sermon text: Luke 12:22–34
(Luke 12:22–34) 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
In Christ Jesus, who came that we might have life and have it abundantly, dear fellow redeemed,
For the past couple of months, we’ve been considering some of the mindsets and attitudes that can so easily distract us Christians as we travel through this life on our way to the next. All such distractions pose a danger to our spiritual well-being, but perhaps none more so than the one before us today, the distraction caused by worry. Believe me when I tell you I know what I’m talking about. I come from a long line of worriers – not warriors – worriers. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you have been known to worry now and then. Maybe you’ve even brought some worries with you to God’s House today. If so, you’ve carried them to the right place and to the right person – Our Savior Jesus who says to you and me both: Christian, You Have Nothing to Worry About! 1) Don’t be heavy-hearted; 2) Be heavenly-hearted.
Jesus gets right to the point: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. (Luke 12:22-23). In early 1997, a book hit the shelves entitled, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” (subtitled, “and It’s All Small Stuff.”) Isn’t Jesus saying something similar? Worry reveals how shallow we can be, fixating on one tiny aspect of the life our Creator has in mind for us.
God didn’t make us so that we could spend all our time trying to figure out where our next meal is coming from or what we should wear tomorrow. He created us to have life to the full with him. Had we remained perfect beings, our relationship with God would be all that would matter to us. We would know that we could count on God for everything. As it is, sin destroyed our relationship with God. Sin spoils the way we think about him and the way we think about ourselves, even to the point where we imagine that we can pick up a self-help book, make a few internal adjustments, and suddenly stop sweating the small stuff. We might wish it were that simple, but it isn’t. We sinners can’t fix our broken selves. Jesus knows it. Instead of directing us to work on ourselves, he points us to the works of God: “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? (Luke 12:24-26).
Sin ruined us human beings and our world, but it did not ruin God. The Creator remains committed to his creatures. The raven (a rather disgusting bird in my opinion) doesn’t spend one minute fretting about his next meal. He doesn’t have to. God provides! We see and acknowledge this, but still, we fail to consider what it all means for us. So, Jesus tells us: “God cares for you, more than anything else in his creation! If he provides for the birds, think of what he’s going to do for you!” Then, almost as an aside, Jesus asks: “What has your worry ever gotten you? By worrying, do you suppose you’ve managed to add a single hour to your life?” Add an hour? It’s more likely that the stress and hypertension brought on by my worry has shortened my life.
So why do I continue to worry? Maybe because I don’t think the Creator will live up to my expectations. I don’t want to just get by. I don’t want to live “hand to mouth.” I’d like a little comfort and security. Ok, a lot of comfort and security. Once again Jesus points me to God and his works: “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! (Luke 12:27-28).
Solomon was the wisest man to ever live. He may well have been the richest man too. But wisdom and wealth didn’t afford him the comfort and security he was looking for, nor did they keep him from worrying. Read through Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes. There you’ll find a man who spoke of his life’s work as meaningless – a chasing after the wind. He spent his days and nights worrying about the fact that he’d have to leave all his money to someone who may prove lazy and unworthy. It tore him up inside. If the richest man in the world didn’t find security in his wealth, we won’t either. Our net worth isn’t the issue.
Jesus puts his finger on our real problem when he addresses us who worry as “you of little faith.” In other words, insecurity isn’t caused by a lack of money, but by a lack of faith. Oh great! As if we didn’t have enough to worry about! Now we have to worry about our faith? Worry? No, but it is important to acknowledge the truth of Jesus’ words. I don’t know about you, but I tend to think of worry as a bad habit, an annoyance that keeps me up at night. Jesus calls it what it is – sin. In fact, he says in Luke 21: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day [Judgement Day] will close on you suddenly like a trap.” (Luke 21:34). Worry comes from doubt. It is the result of failing to trust in God above all things. When we are heavy-hearted with worry, we are distracted from the life-giving promises of God. Worry and doubt are dangerous. Left unchecked, they breed and multiply until all that’s left is unbelief.
No wonder Jesus wants us to stop doubting. He wants us to stop being heavy-hearted with the worries and anxieties of life. He says: “…do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.” (Luke 12:29). For us, this is easier said than done. But not for God. His words are packed with the power we need to put our worries behind us. Jesus says: “For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.” (Luke 12:30). The pagans, the unbelievers of this world, need food and clothing too. God daily and richly supplies their needs, but because they don’t know God, they’re convinced they must spend every waking moment chasing after life’s essentials.
By God’s grace, we do know him, not just as Creator, but as our loving heavenly Father. Do you know what’s even better? The fact that God knows us. He knows what we need before we do, and he supplies our needs at the time and in the measure that is best for us. God the Father always has our greatest good in mind. And what is our greatest good? Being part of his family, subjects of his kingdom. Jesus says: “But seek his kingdom, and these things [the essentials of life] will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12:31). Right here, right now, in this age, God’s kingdom isn’t so much a place as it is an activity. It’s God’s act of expelling Satan from human hearts and graciously ruling there in the devil’s place.
But doesn’t this present us with a whole new worry? How do sinners seek the kingdom of God? Do we compete for his favor? Do we enter a lottery? No. Listen to the Savior’s good news: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). Christian, you have nothing to worry about! Don’t be heavy hearted. Don’t be weighed down by the fears and anxieties of life. Why? Because despite our sin and rebellion, our God never walked away from us. Instead, he pledged to restore for us the life we were meant for, the life he created us to have with him forever. There’s nothing to work for. There’s nothing to win. Because, in love too big to measure or even imagine, God was pleased to meet our greatest need. Our Father was thrilled to give us his Son in the flesh to stand in for us and take on life in this sinful world without fear or worry. In our name, to our credit, so that we might be dressed in his holiness, Jesus put his perfect life in God’s hands, trusting God to supply his every need. And then when the time came, he carried all our fears, our doubts, our worries, he carried all our sin to the altar of the cross where he sacrificed himself as our perfect sin payment. With his sufferings and death, he declared the price of our sin-debt “finished” – paid in full. Then, in perfect trust, he commended his spirit to his Father’s care and keeping until his triumphant resurrection on Easter.
Jesus has risen. He lives to rule human hearts with the good news of his blood-bought forgiveness. He conquered your heart and mine with his gospel and by its power he gives us faith to believe that we are the children of God. He gives us faith to believe that God, who has already given us his greatest treasure, his own Son, will, in keeping with such amazing love, graciously supply all our needs even to the point of making every setback and sorrow of life serve our good – our heavenly good, because after all, thanks to Jesus, that’s where we are headed – to heaven.
Knowing this, believing this, changes everything. It gives us a whole new perspective on the life we’re now living. This life is not the be-all and end-all of our existence. Thanks to Jesus, heaven is our home. That’s where our real, lasting treasure is, and as Jesus says: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34) – Heaven is what’s really important! That’s the way it is with treasure. As I may have mentioned once or twice, we have two grandchildren – treasures from God. They live in Green Bay. So, when severe weather threatens our area, before I think about Appleton, I check the weather alerts to make sure our Green Bay treasure is safe because that’s where my heart is. And once I know my treasure is safe, well then, all is right with the world.
This is the way it is with us Christians – on a much greater scale! You and I have nothing to worry about. We can be heavenly-hearted! Because, thanks to Jesus, our treasure is safe and sound in heaven, where, as Jesus says, “no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” (Luke 12:33). Do you see what this means for our earthly worries? They find their end, not in some self-help book but on every page of Scripture where our faith is fed with the news of God’s unfailing love for us. God counts us as his treasure in Christ. He is always thinking of us, always acting on our behalf to see to it that nothing that happens to us here can separate us from his love and the treasure that is waiting for us in heaven. In keeping with God’s plan to bring us safely to himself, we will never have too much or too little of anything. It will always be just the right amount to accomplish God’s perfect will for us.
What a liberating truth – one that frees us not only from our worries, but from the thought that we have to spend all our time and effort on making enough and saving enough to feel secure. We are always secure in Christ. And because we are, now we can afford to spend our time, our energy, and, yes, our dollars caring for others. Jesus talks about this in our text, not as a test of loyalty, but as a way we can gratefully acknowledge his grace to us and, in turn, shine his saving love into the lives of the people around us. After all, when it comes to heavenly treasure, there’s plenty for everyone—for Jesus’ sake. Amen.