Don't Worry Luke 12:22-34

The Gospel of Luke  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  38:10
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Don't Worry Luke 12:22-34

Tue, Jan 14, 2025 8:34AM • 38:11

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

anxiety causes, trust in God, fear of unknown, media consumption, lack of focus, greed causes, God's provision, value in Christ, seek His kingdom, contentment in Christ, trust Jesus, divine treasure, inexhaustible joy, God's love, worry remedy

SPEAKERS

Josh Slater

The fact that we get to come into the Lord's presence because of what Christ has done on the cross, and we thank you so much, Lord for your mercy and grace and just help us to keep our eyes and hearts focused on the beauty of Jesus, and it's in his name we pray. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. I was thinking, as we were singing about last, last week, I encouraged you to have a New Year's resolution, right? One of those New Year's resolution was to continue to make it a point to come to worship service. And it's, it's funny, because last week I picked on Chuck, because Chuck last week decided to sit on this side. He's like, I'm trying to get a new perspective. And now he's back to his old self, right? And so yeah, there you go. Anyway. I just thought it was funny that that that happened. But anyway, I hope that you continue to stick with the the desire to grow in the knowledge of who Christ is, and, and, and just seek Him more and more throughout this new year. So this morning, we're going to look me in Luke, chapter 12, verses, 22, through 34 is to pick up from where we were last week. That's that's where we're going to go. But I want to talk it to you a little bit about anxiety. Now, God has a sense of humor and and this is what I mean. I don't know if your family's like this, but this is how my family is. God put two people together, one who seems to worry about everything, and one who doesn't seem to worry about anything, right? And the one in my family who worries the most is my beautiful bride, Corey. And just to kind of give you an example, when we were moving from North Texas to North Carolina, we were moving sight unseen. We didn't know we we knew where we were going to be. We had the address, and we had the, you know, the townhouse number that we were going to live in to we were moving to seminary housing. But one of the things Corey was so concerned about throughout this whole time, and kind of really worried about and anxious about, was, how are we going to put our furniture into this new place? Like, what can we leave behind? What do we need to get rid of? What do we need to take and so what she did was she ended up going onto the the school's website, and they had floor plans, and so she downloaded the floor plan, and she mapped out where everything was going to go. And she she meticulously did this, and she even did it when we moved from North Carolina to Georgia. This is kind of how her world works. She wants to make sure that everything is planned just right, that everything is placed just right, that we have enough room for for every little thing. But what was, she was so stressed out about this for for months, and what was so, I think funny. She did not think it funny. But what I thought was funny was when we got there the townhouse, it was, you know, it was a two story townhouse, and so she had everything mapped out on the front on the first floor. She had everything mapped out on the second floor. But what happened was, when we got there and we started to put stuff in the upstairs, the vents were on the floor, and she didn't anticipate that, and so we ended up having to rearrange everything anyway. And so all that anxiety and all that worry that she had built up to move to North Carolina, kind of just it was wasted, so to speak, because we had to rearrange everything anyway. And so I think about that, when I think about anxiety, it's like, what does anxiety do for us? It really doesn't do anything for us, right? That worry and that that concern, just kind of builds up in us. And one of the things I tell Corey, whenever she starts to get this way, I tell her, don't worry, it's going to be okay. And there's, from what I've learned in my 18 years of marriage to my beautiful bride, is that doesn't help the situation ever, right? Don't worry, it's going to be okay. She's like, but it's not okay right now, but it will be, I promise you. And so when we think about what Jesus is going to say in Luke chapter 12 this morning, is he's going to say the same thing I said, except he has more authority and he knows more than I do, right? He's going to say, Don't worry, it's going to be okay. I was reading through and studying for this, this sermon this week, and I came across this quote from Charles Spurgeon. And Charles Spurgeon was a much better preacher than I'll ever be. And I wish that I was able to say things the way that he says things. But he's he said it this way. He said, anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, only today of its strength. Let me repeat that just one more time to let it sink in. Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, only today of its strength. And that's really what anxiety does, is it? It paralyzes us. It causes us to think about what might happen, even if it won't, won't happen. And so then I started processing and thinking through what causes us to worry, what causes us to have anxiety? And the first thing I thought about was fear, fear of the unknown, fear of not how things are going to work out, fear of, you know, what the next step is going to be? Just fear is something that causes us to have anxiety because we are afraid of what we don't know, we are afraid of what we don't understand, and sometimes that can be paralyzing and cause us to have anxiety. Another thing that we probably don't think too often about that causes us to have anxiety is what we consume. And I'm not talking about physical food, but I'm talking about like what our eyes and our hearts and our mind consume. Assume, if we consume the news 24/7, then we're going to start being anxious about what's happening in the world around us, right? If we consume only social media, then we're going to be concerned about how other people feel about us, how other people see us. And we actually see this happening in the generation that's coming up that was born into the social media. So like my kids and a little bit older, we see that anxiety has risen in that age group, and most of it is because of what they're consuming through their phones and through the internet, through Instagram, and they don't do Facebook, but through Instagram and Tiktok and all these things. They they Oh, Snapchat is another one. They they think that these lives that they're witnessing through these little screens are the real thing, and they're like my life doesn't look like that, and because my life doesn't look like that, I'm broken inside, and it causes this anxiety and this depression and this this worry that they're not the people that they're supposed to be. All the while, they don't understand that what's curated on that screen is not real life, right? But that fear in that consumption of media causes us to have anxiety. It's also a lack of focus. We focus on the wrong things, which is something that Jesus is going to hit on in just a little while, that we tend to focus on the wrong things. And when we focus on the wrong things, we get anxious. We also have a lack of trust of God, we don't trust God that he's going to complete what he said he's going to complete that he's going to do what he said he's going to do. And so we start to worry about our lives and how that's going to play out. We start to worry about just how we're going to live this life. And we don't trust God that he's good. We don't trust God that He loves us. We don't trust God that he sees us rather we just become consumed with our own hearts and with our own lives, then the last thing I want us to think about is greed causes anxiety. This is where we're coming from. From last week, right? The rich man who had that bumper crop. And then what he wants to do is he wants to build his own kingdom on this earth, and what happens when you build your own kingdom on this earth, you build bigger barns, you get more stuff. You want to relax. What happens is anxiety starts to creep in, because you're afraid you're going to what lose it. You're afraid that it's going to go away. And so you start to worry, and you start to have anxiety. So greed is another thing that causes us to have anxiety. So we have our fear, we have a lack of focus, we have a lot lack of trust. We have the things that we consume cause us to have anxiety. And then we have greed that not wanting to lose what we have causes us anxiety. And so this anxiety is a real thing. Now what I want us to understand is, I want us to differentiate different differentiate between anxiety that the world thrust upon us or that we lean into, and then also like biological issues. When it comes to anxiety, there are some people who truly wrestle with and have biological mental issues that cause them to have anxiety. I'm not talking about that, okay. I want to make sure that we distinguish between the two what what I want us to be concerned about and what Jesus has us to wants us to be concerned about is our hearts and our souls and our minds like, what are we fixated on that causes us to worry, and that's really what Jesus is going to talk about this morning. So if you look with me at Luke, chapter 12, verse 22 it says this. Then he said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or about the body. What you will wear For life is more than food in the body, more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They don't sow or reap. They don't have store room or barn, Yet God feeds them. Aren't you worth much more than the birds? Consider the ravens interesting. So Jesus had just told this parable about this rich man who built up stuff for himself, right? And then God took his life away, calling him a fool because he had trusted more in his things on this earth and he had trusted in God. That's the parable that we can't come off of. And then he looks at his disciples, those who were following him, those probably those 12, but then there may have been other disciples there. And he says, Therefore, so he's, he's pointing back to the rich young man, or the rich man who got stuff. And he said that God took his life. He had no control over it. He really didn't have control over anything. Therefore, I don't want you to be consumed with the same kind of thing that this guy's consumed with. I want you to know that your life is worth more and is more valuable than the things of this man, this man had there. Don't worry about your life. What you will eat or what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. I want us to think about what happened earlier in Luke's gospel. In Luke's gospel, chapter nine, Jesus sends out his disciples, and when he sends out His disciples, He tells them not to take with them anything. Basically, take the shirt on their back and the the Well, I think wouldn't wear a short but. Tunic that they're wearing and the shoes on their feet, and don't take anything else. I'm going to take care of you. Just keep walking. So he's already given them a practical example of how to live this life, right? That we live this life trusting in God, that we live this life, not concerned with the cares of this world, but we walk in faith, following after Jesus. So he's already given him a practical and and a real world, example of him providing for them. In fact, in verse three of chapter nine, he says this, take nothing for the road. He told them, no staff, no traveling bag, no bread, no money, and don't take an extra shirt. So these disciples have already experienced God's provision as they were out, telling people about Jesus, as they were out, healing people as they were out, casting demons. This is something that they were doing, and they had to trust in the Lord in that moment, and God Jesus, then later at what is this chapter 12? So three chapters later, he tells them, don't worry about the things of this world. Well, they've already gone through this process of loving Jesus and following Jesus and listening to Jesus. So why would he then go ahead and tell them not to worry about the things of this world? Because sometimes we can get distracted, right if we have our focus on the wrong things, if we want to lean into money and possessions. And we can get distracted even if we know that God did something good back here, that he already took care of us, sometimes what we want to do is we want to hold on to what we have now rather than trusting God. But the good news is, is that we can look back on what God has done and see that he has been faithful every single time, right? We see that he has been faithful every single time. And I, I love that he says this, your life is more than food and the body more than clothing. What is he saying there? He's saying don't minimize your life. Don't minimize your importance. Don't minimize your value. Don't minimize who you are based upon what you eat or what you wear. I think about it this way. I was watching a YouTube video this morning or not this morning, earlier this week, and it's a cool YouTube channel called tasting history. And basically what this guy does is he goes through and he just takes different recipes and he gives a little historical lesson about it. It's a pretty cool YouTube channel, but this week, the video I watched was talking about gout and what caused gout, and they used to call it the king's disease, because only kings would get it. Why? Because they're eating the foods that cause gout. The peasants weren't getting and so they were, they were, they were indulging in those things that caused them to get fat and hurt, really, with the with the gout. And I just thought about that, and I was like, sometimes what we do is we take the markers of our life, whether it be the clothes that we wear, right? We say, Oh, I wear polo or I wear, you know, what's, what's the popular brand? I don't even know. Most of my stuff comes from the thrift store. You know, we take what we wear and we say, this causes me to be valuable. Or we take what we eat and we say, this causes me to be valuable, that I go out to eat at these five star restaurants, and I enjoy these delicacies of of you know, like, what is that Caviar in Champagne? I've never had Caviar in my life, right? But what we do is we take those things, just like the the guy in the story earlier, and we take that, that that harvest, and we say that this is the stuff that makes me valuable, this is the stuff that makes me important. And the problem with that is, is that then we minimize our value as those made in the image of God, like we are valuable because we have been made in the image of God. We are valuable because Christ died on the cross for our sins, so that we could come into relationship with Christ, so we can't minimize our lives, thinking that my life is most important by the things that I eat or by the things that I wear. Things do not give us value. God has granted us value and to just instill in us that understanding Jesus says, Consider the ravens. Now, why is this important? Because in the old testament, ravens were dirty scavengers, unworthy to be taught or to be touched. They couldn't they were unclean. So if you touch them, then you would become unclean. And he takes the the dirtiest bird, and he says, Consider them those that have no value that can't be offered up as sacrifices, that can't be offered up as as food, consider them. They don't sow and they don't reap, and yet God takes care of them. They are unclean, and yet God takes care of them. He provides for them. Verse Psalm, chapter 147, verse nine says, as he provides the animals with their food, the young ravens what they cry for job. 3841 says this, who who provides the Ravens food, when his young cry out to God and wonder about the lack of food, who provides the food you. God feeds the Ravens. Consider the ravens, those that you would never come close to, those that you would never touch. Consider them and how much God cares for them. And then he says this, aren't you worth more? Much more than the birds, when we value our our lives based upon what we wear, what we eat, what we own. We've minimized ourselves. And God is saying you're worth so much more than the cotton on your shirt. You're so much more than the food on your belly. And I want to show you that Jesus is making an argument here, from the lesser to the greater, if God takes care of those creatures that are cast aside, that are put off to the side, that that don't have any value or merit. If he cares for those, how much more does he care for you? So I want to tell you church family, that God cares for you, that he loves you, and that he sees you, and that he wants you to know that even in the midst of your problems, even in the midst of your circumstances, whether they be good or they be bad, God cares for you. I don't think I've ever done this before, but I I saw this poem like a good old Baptist. I saw this poem and I wanted to read it to you real quick. And it says this said the Robin to the sparrow. I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry? So said the sparrow to the robin friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me. We lose perspective, and that's what Jesus is saying. If we can care more about what we wear and what we eat than who we are. In Christ, then we start worrying about those things more than we pursue the goodness and the glory of the Father. We have to understand that God loves us, that He cares about us, that He sees us in our weakest moments, and that we should not worry or have anxiety, because God is going to take care of us. In fact, Jesus says so right here. He says in verse 25 Can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying if then you're not able to do even a little thing? Why worry about the rest? Consider how the Wildflower grows. They don't labor or spin thread. Yet, I tell you, not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was adorned like one of these, if that's how God closed the Grasp which is in the field today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow. How much more will he do for you? You of little faith. So the question Jesus poses after he talks about considering the raisins, is that the raisins the Ravens is he says, Can you add one moment to your lifespan by worrying? When I picture worrying, I think about the guy. I don't know if you ever seen him, but he's spinning plates. He's got these little sticks and he's got plates on him. He's trying to spin em and spin em, and he's holding them and he's trying to keep em all spin I think that's how worry is, right? Where we're trying, we're focusing so much on the spinning plates and not dropping any, not breaking any, that we are consumed with that, and we start worrying about, you know, all these issues and all these things. What if that plate falls? What if I can't balance this one? What if, when we start consuming ourselves with that, and when we consume ourselves with the worry, then what do we actually doing? We're actually doing more harm to our bodies. We're doing more harms to our soul. We're doing more harm to our lives than we are. If we just trust God, can we? Let me ask you, can you add anything to your life by worrying? I I've never been able to add anything to my life by worrying, huh? You can take Well, I mean, I guess you could add a heart attack, right? You can add stress. I think I've added some weight one time by by worrying, right? So we can add things to our lives, right? But it's not. We're not actually adding value to our life. We're not lengthening our life. We're not making our life longer. And I think that that one is the thing that worry does is it causes us to want to do stuff that we can't do. In fact, worry doesn't add to our lives. It takes away from them. What does worry do? Worry is a thief. Okay? It steals our time. It steals our rest, it steals our health. It steals our obedience to God, and it steals our hope as we worry about the future, worry, all it does is take from us. Is a thief that just wants to consume everything that we have rather than actually give us life. So where do we find life? Where do we add to our life? We add to our life by submitting to Christ, by trusting him, by following after him. Why worry? Why do we worry? Because we. It's going to add value, because we think that we can figure it all out. I heard this, this example one time, is that one of the reasons we worry is because we think we can control everything. We can we can play guardian. We can make sure that we're fitting things into the box, and we can keep all these things. It's kind of like hurting kids or cats. I've tried to herd cats before. It's not fun, right? But we're sitting here and we're we're trying to keep all these things in here, and all this done doing is occupying our time, occupying our heart, occupying our mind, and it's not giving us the freedom that we have in Christ. So we sit here and we worry about these things, and it just steals from us, and it takes from us, and the most freeing thing we can do is we can just stop worrying. And I know that sounds much easier than it is, right? I know that it's it's so much easier to say, Don't worry, it's going to be okay, like I tell Cory, and she looks at me, and I can tell by that look in her eyes that she wants to smack me and she wants to say, stop. But I'm telling you, if Jesus says don't worry, then we can say, Don't worry, and we're going to talk about in just a minute how we remedy this worry in our lives. But I want us to think and know that chasing those cats and and trying to keep everything isolated and trying to keep all these things in perfect order causes more strain and more stress on our hearts and in our lives than we can even imagine. So we have to let go, trust God. And he gives an example about the clothing, right? He talks about the wildflowers. Now, I know they're big here in Texas, and I just don't get em, but those blue bonnets that pop up, people love blue bonnets. They're not even a flower, right? They're a weed, alright, but they're is that? Right? I don't know. I heard that one time. But anyway, people love Blue Bonnet. Blue Bonnet season in the spring, man driving down, especially when we lived in in the Dallas area, like we would just drive down, and people would be parked on the side of I 30 or on the side of 121 just taking pictures in the blue bonnets. And to me, that just sounds crazy, but they are pretty, I will say they are pretty, especially there's a spot right out here off of off of 1160 I think it is that there's a bunch of Indian paint brushes and blue and blue bonnets that grow up altogether. And it's a pretty little section of grass. And you think about that, and you go, those things are beautiful. God created those with with his with his creativity and with his beauty and mind, and he crafted each one of those. And I think they're pretty. And then we go, God takes care of those, and what happens to them? They die every year. They're gathered up and they're thrown into the fire. And he cares for those just like He cares for those ravens that have no value to us. He cares for that grass that is going to wither away, and yet we think that God's not caring about us. And Jesus is saying, It's silly for us to think that God doesn't care for us when he cares about these things that, in all reality, don't matter that much. They add beauty, yes, they add noise through the ravens, right? These things add things to this world. And God created them for a reason, but in all actuality, they don't add anything to this world. And he and he's saying, if you if you see this stuff, if you see this beauty, if you see what Jesus created with his hands, right? If we think about it, God, Jesus created the ravens, and he created these flowers. And he says, they're beautiful and they're good, but they're not as beautiful, and they're not as good as you are. They're not as lovely as you are, they're not as valuable as you are. I care about them because they are my creation, but I love you so much because you are an imager of Christ. Don't worry about the things that you can't have control over. Don't worry about the things that you don't have the capacity to have control over. I think that's one of the silliest things for us, is that we think we have control over things that we don't have control over. So Jesus has set up a problem because we're like Jesus, it's easy for you to say, don't worry. You're the Son of God. You can say, Don't worry, that's fine. But how do I not worry? Right? That's the question that we ask ourselves. How do I not worry? How do I not have anxiety about this world and the things going on? How do I stop and he gives an answer here in verses 29 through 32 don't strive for what you should eat and what you should drink. Don't and don't be anxious for the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them, but seek His kingdom and these things will be provided for you. Don't be afraid, little flock, because your father delights to give you the kingdom. Jesus says, Don't worry about food. Don't worry about clothing. Don't be anxious. No. That your father sees you, and because your father sees you, seek His kingdom. So Jesus has drawn a line here, and he says that there are two paths for us to be on. There is the path of seeking after the things of this world and worrying about the things of this world, or there is the path of seeking after his kingdom. We cannot be seeking after his kingdom and seeking after the things of this world. Those things do not coexist. We either belong to Him and we're following after him and we're loving Him, and we're pursuing him and we're seeking Him, or we're consumed with the things of the world, whether it be food or drink. What does it mean to seek His kingdom? It means to live as a representative of him, as members and citizens of his community. When we think about a kingdom, a kingdom has a couple things, right? The Kingdom has a king, right? And we have a king. His name is what Jesus king. Jesus Kingdom has subjects, right? And who are his subjects? His subjects are those who have submitted to him, right? Believers. And then a kingdom has rules, and the rules are that we are to love God and love people, right? Those are the things that we're supposed to do. That's what we think about. When we think about the kingdom, when Jesus tells us that we need to seek after the kingdom. It means that we need to do good, we need to obey His rules, and that we need to follow after him. That's what it means to seek His kingdom. Now how do we do that? There's a multiplicity of ways that we can do that. We can just be good to one another. We can be good in the world. We can be shining lights of of God's grace and goodness in the world around us. There's a multiplicities of ways that we can seek His kingdom, but we have to make sure that we're not double hearted. We have to make sure that we're not trying to seek His kingdom while grasping onto the things of this world, while holding on to worry, while holding on to to anxiety. We cannot seek God's kingdom if we are anxious, we cannot seek God's kingdom if we are worrying, we have to seek His kingdom wholeheartedly. So to seek really here means to just have it be our solitary focus, as subjects, as as citizens of the kingdom. We are no longer citizens of the world. So we can't be encapsulated by or or consumed by the things of this world. And again, I know that it's easier said than done, but when I said earlier that one of the things that causes us to worry is a lack of focus. This is what I'm talking about. If we're not focused on the Lord, if we're not focused on what he's called us to do, if we're not focused on what he's called us to be, then we will be consumed by the things of this world. If we're not pursuing holiness, if we're not pursuing knowledge, if we're not pursuing wisdom, then we will pursue the things of this world. We will be distinct from those who live in the kingdom, and we will be called those who seek after the world. And if we seek after the world, do we really love the Lord? That's a question we have to ask ourselves if I am more concerned with clothing and food, money, where I live, if I'm more concerned with those things than I am God's love for me and my love for others, am I actually a part of the kingdom that I claim to serve? We have to reflect. We have to think about that. Now I want to be careful here, because what this doesn't do. Jesus isn't saying, just sit back and think about the kingdom. Right? He's not saying, sit on our hands. Because what some people would say when, whenever we talk about not being anxious, not worrying, what some people will say is, oh, then don't work. Just kind of wait. That's not what Jesus saying. Look, we have to have a good biblical theology, and that means that we take all of what is said throughout the scriptures and we work them together. I said this last week that we were made to work. We were created to work. We are good. It is good for us to work. So we're not just going to, oh, if I, if I just sit on my hands, God's going to provide everything for us. That's not what he's saying. Okay, so we have to make sure that we understand that God has given us a job to do, not just for the kingdom, but also in this life. So we can't just say, Oh, well, we're not going to invest or we're not going to plan for the future, right? But our hope isn't in those things. When we seek His kingdom, then our hope is in the kingdom, not in the things of this world. That doesn't mean that we don't participate in this world, right? That doesn't mean that we don't move forward in this world. It just means that our values are of the kingdom and not of the world. A lack of worry does not absolve us from our responsibilities as creation here today. The lack of worry is not a lack of activity, okay? So make sure that we understand that, that we still have an obligation as God's people to that are citizens of the kingdom, to be good citizens here on the earth as well in the world and in the country that we live in. But we have to have a focus that focus on the good things we. Of God, and this is how we do this verse 33 sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make Money Bags for yourselves that won't grow old, and inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys, For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. I titled this last point, this divest, to invest Jesus is, is not necessarily saying here to us that we need to take everything we have and sell it. What he's really pointing at is the heart. Where is your treasure? Because where your treasure is there, your heart will be also so if your treasure is money, then your heart is going to be focused on money. If your treasure is safety and security, then your heart is going to be focused on safety and security. If your treasure is the kingdom, then your heart is going to be focused on the kingdom where your treasure is there, your heart is also now, for sure, there were believers in the first century who sold everything and gave it to the poor. We remember in Acts chapter five, I think it is. There's this guy named Barnabas who goes and sells everything he has and gives it away. And he says, I give it away to the church. To do with what you know, to do with it, what you think is the most important. And God may be calling you to do that, most likely he's not, but he may be. But here's the question I want us to think about when we hear this, divest to investors, sell your possessions and give it to the poor. If Jesus came up to you and he asked you this question, or he asked you for something I don't know. It may be. It could be anything. So like for all my kids, if Jesus came up to them and said, Hey, will you give your plate? Will you sell your Playstation and give the money to the poor? If they say no, then their heart's in the wrong place. If Jesus came up to you and he said, Hey, will you sell this car and give that money to the poor, and you said, No, then you value that car more than you value Jesus. Jesus came up to you and said, Hey, would you cash out your 401, K and give it to the poor? And you said, No, then you would value that 401, K more than you do Jesus. So the thing is, is not what do we have? It's what has us, has us, what is so important to us that I will not let it go. If Jesus asked for it, if he came up and he said, Will you do this? And you say, no, then you aren't living for Him. You don't have a kingdom mindset. What are you investing in? When it says For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also remember the heart is the seed of joy, where your joy is. And if the things of this world give us joy, then that joy can fly away. When those things go away, if your joy is in your bank account, if that bank account goes away, then your joy goes away. If your joy is in your children. Then when their children go away, then your joy goes away. If your joy is in the things of this world, when those things go away, then your joy will go away. However, if your joy is in the Lord, if your joy is in the kingdom, if your treasure is in the kingdom, guess what, it never goes away. It'll never fade away. Your joy will always be with you, because you will have it for all eternity, if you belong to Jesus, right? And so that's something that is an inexhaustible treasure. It's inexhaustible riches. It is like he said in verse 33 it is money bags that will never grow old. They will never disintegrate. So how do we combat anxiety and worry? If anxiety comes from the things that we consume, then we need to consume more Jesus. We need to consume more of His Word. We need to consume more of His goodness and His glory, and we see that apparent in the scriptures. If our joy or if our anxiety comes from fear, then we need to trust God. We trust God because we know who he is, we see who he is, and we know that we can trust him. And how can we know that we can trust him? We can trust Him, because He loved us enough to give his only son, because he sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life with Him. So how can we trust him? Because he made a promise, and he kept a promise, and he continues to keep his promises, that he is with us, and He will not forsake us, that He loves us. And he cares about us, and He loves us more than the ravens, and he loves us more than the wildflowers, and he loves us more than than than any of his creation. He loves us, and he demonstrated that love through Christ's sacrifice. So if we have fear, we trust Him, if we if we have if we're consuming the things that give us fear, then we or anxiety, then we consume better things. If we trust in our gifts more than we trust in Him, then we need to let go of something. Every one of us may have something in our that that immediately pops into our head of something that we don't want to let go of, something that you're grabbing on. Hold up. Maybe you don't maybe you're way holier than I am. But I want you to think about that and say, what is it that I'm held onto so tightly that even if the Lord Himself came to me, I even for a moment hesitate, cuz if you hesitate for a moment, then that means that you're holding on to it way too tightly. You gotta be open handed with it. So how do we do that? We do that with being grateful for everything that he's done for us, everything that he's given to us, all the life that he has shown us. We're grateful for who he is, we're grateful for what he's done. We're grateful for how he has blessed us. And that earlier, when we read in Philippians, or when Levi read in Philippians chapter four, we all love that verse. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. We all love that verse. It's like just the the football players put it on their eye black. Basketball players put it on their shoes. People get it tattooed on their bodies. We love that verse. But do we understand what contentment in Christ actually looks like? Cuz that's what that verse is about. It's not about can I bowl a better game? It's not about can I hit the Baseball, baseball farther and harder? It's not about if I can make that three point. It's not about that touchdown. It's not about me being able to to just live this life and and be blessed and overflowed with God's blessing. That's not what that verse is about. That verse is about finding contentment in Christ. So are you satisfied? Does Christ satisfy your every desire? Does Christ satisfy your every need? Do you trust him? Do you love him? Do you chase after him? That's the question we have to ask ourself this morning, because if we're not fully trusting in God, then there's going to be things of this world that consume us and that we're worried about. So the question at hand is, have you trusted Jesus? Have you given your life to Him so that He is the most important thing in your life? And if you haven't, I want to invite you to do that this morning. I want to invite you to say, Lord, I don't know everything. I haven't I don't have all the answers to every question, but I do know that you love me. I do know that you sent Jesus to die on us, on the cross for our sins. I do know that I am a sinner, and I need to be forgiven, and the only way to get forgiveness is through Christ, Jesus. I trust you. I love you. I'm grateful for you. Let's pray real quick, and then we'll have a song, Father God, thank you.

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