Luke 12:22-34 There
was an occasion in Jesus’ earthly ministry when his disciples were arguing about who was
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and he called a little boy into their circle
and said that unless we become like little children we will never even enter
the kingdom of heaven to say nothing of being the greatest.
What did Jesus mean by that? Let me illustrate from our own little circle
here. When Avery McIntosh wakes up in
the morning she is not worried about breakfast being on the table. She is not anxious about whether or not she
will have something to wear. She is not
afraid that she will not have a place to live.
She has parents who take care of that and she never gives it a
second thought—she trusts that the parents who love her will provide for her. That is the kind of trust that only a child
can have and Jesus says that is the kind of child-like trust we are to have in
our heavenly Father.
And yet that child-like trust in God is the very thing that we find
so difficult to do. The words that we
hear from Jesus in our lesson today address that trust-problem that each of us has
that shows itself in fears and worries and anxiety.
What Jesus wants us to know and believe and take to heart is that we
don’t have to live our lives anxious, worried, and afraid. We CAN HAVE that kind of child-like faith and
trust in our heavenly Father because he is worthy of that trust. Jesus says:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious
about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put
on. For
life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
The first thing that we are going to
have to come to terms with is that anxiety, fear, and worry are sin. When Jesus says “Do not be anxious”—“Do not
worry”—Do not be afraid”—that is exactly what he means and when we disobey him—we
have sinned. In fact, we have sinned
against the First Commandment that calls us to fear, love, and trust in God
above all else.
Now,
I can hear what you’re thinking because I’ve heard it before: But pastor, everybody worries—everybody is
afraid--everybody is anxious at times. How
can that be a sin when everyone does it?
But that these thoughts are universal does not prove that they are not a
sin but instead shows that we are sinners just like everyone else for we are
part of the same broken family of mankind and we have the same fallen flesh.
We
can deny that—and many people do to their eternal spiritual harm—OR—we can
confess it to Jesus for the sin it is, receive his forgiveness, and the help he
wants to give us today by replacing our anxiety, fear, and worry with the fear,
love, and trust in God that he wants to give.
Jesus says:
Consider the ravens: they neither
sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of
how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single
hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as
small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, 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.
If we are thoughtful about what
causes us to fret and fuss and fear—isn’t it usually something to do with our
earthly life? Maybe it’s a health
concern. Maybe it’s an economic
hardship. And we toss and turn and talk
to ourselves about it until we’re frantic.
Jesus
wants to deliver us from anxiety, fear, and worry and so he begins by helping
us to see just how foolish and unproductive these kinds of thoughts are. He says:
consider the ravens—consider the
lilies. In other words, get out of
your own head and those worries you are chasing around and open your eyes to a
Creator who continues to care for his creatures are not concerned in the least
about their Maker’s provision.
The
material needs of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field are met
gloriously and abundantly by the One who created them and gave them life. The psalmist caught the beauty of this
wonderful, comforting truth when he wrote:
the eyes of all look to you O
Lord and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of
every living thing.
The
Creator who brought this world into existence and has been wisely ordering its
affairs for thousands of years knows his creatures and their needs better than
they know themselves and he wants us to have the same kind of freedom that the
birds of the air and the flowers of the field have when it comes to not
worrying about having our needs met.
Second
of all, Jesus wants us to understand just how powerless we are to change our
situation by worrying about it or being afraid of it. Worry and anxiety and fear are exhausting—but
they will not change a thing. Jesus
gives an example: just try to add an
extra hour to your life by worrying. Of
course we know that we can’t do that—God is the One who gives us life and he
can be trusted with all of our life.
Jesus says:
If God so clothes the grass, which is alive
in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he
clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat
and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the
nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Because Jesus wants to deliver us
from anxiety, fear, and worry he points out just how foolish and unproductive
these thoughts are and he reminds us that God cares for his creatures without
their fussing and fretting about it. But Jesus wants us to know even more—that
we are not just creatures of a Creator—but that we are children of a heavenly Father.
You see, the foolishness of worry is
a lesson for everyone—whether they are believers or not. That there is a Creator who wisely orders the
natural order ought to be evident to all.
And so even the unbeliever is left without an excuse when it comes to
the sinfulness of their worries, fears, and anxieties.
But
there is something more for us who believe in Jesus: we are part of God’s family—children of the
heavenly Father—members of the household of God. Jesus’ death on the cross has paid for all our
sins of thought, word, and deed—including our failure to fear, love and trust
in God as we should. His resurrection is
the promise of our reconciliation to God and our restoration to his family
where death has no part.
God
certainly cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field but we
are much, much more than that: we are
his children- and his care for us goes beyond that of a Creator for his
creation. His care for us is formed and
shaped by the love of a Father for his children.
When
we believe this and when we build our live upon it then we are then set free to
receive from God something infinitely more than merely the basic necessities of
life. Jesus says that instead of
worrying about material, earthly things:
Seek his kingdom, and these things
will be added to you. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
We don’t have to fuss and fret about
the things of this life. It doesn’t do
any good. Our heavenly Father can be
trusted to meet our needs. And besides,
the cares and concerns of this life are nothing compared to our eternal
life—and that ought to be our first priority—that ought to garner our care and
concern.
When we are focused on the things of
this world, what truly matters (our life with God) gets pushed to the
side. What is pressing and present gets
the priority. That is why Jesus not only
wants to forgive our sins of worry and anxiety—but to give us a brand new way
of thinking and a brand new way of living and a brand new set of priorities that puts our life with God first.
That’s
what it means to seek God’s kingdom—to confess our sin and receive Christ’s
blood-bought forgiveness, and ask for the Spirit’s help to lead holy lives, and
to hope for heaven and to order the rest our life so that it supports our life
with God. This is what God wants for us
and he has promised to give it. He has promised to give it!
We
don’t have to worry about our earthly life and we certainly don’t have to worry
about eternal life because our heavenly Father has gracious promised to give us
what we need for each: food and clothing
for this life and the merits of Jesus Christ for eternal life—and so—whether we
talking about our life today or our life to come there is no need for worry or
fear in the life of a child of God.
Not
only does that free us to enjoy our life with God—it frees us to care for
others because we know our own needs are met.
Jesus says:
Sell your possessions, and give to the
needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a
treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no
moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
When
we are fussing and fretting about what about what’s going on in our lives
rather than trusting God to meet our needs, it not only affects our life with
God, it affects our life with others. We’re
so focused on getting what we want that it blinds us to our neighbor’s need.
But when we
understand that God can be trusted to meet our needs it frees us from the
self-centeredness of worry and anxiety to serve others. No longer are we afraid of having “enough”—we
know that our provision earth and in eternity comes from God and so we can give
generously and freely to help those around us.
Last week we heard
about a rich fool who had nothing waiting for him in heaven because his
treasure was what he could hold in his hand.
Jesus does not want that to happen to us. God knows we need material things to support
this earthly life but he wants us to trust
him to meet those needs so that we are free to love him and our neighbor—which
is the real treasure of this life and the life to come. Amen.
