WORRY-God Cares About You

Luke 12:22–33 NIV

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. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 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! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? “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. 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! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 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.

Worry is when we look to the wrong sources for the wrong answers

Dictionary defines worry as (verb) give way to anxiety or unease; allow one's mind to dwell  on difficulty or troubles

or (noun) a state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems.

So when Jesus says, ‘do not worry’, it’s not saying, ‘there won’t be troubles’. He’s saying

We can face our troubles without anxiety, unease, or dwelling on our difficulties

We worry when we focus ourselves on the wrong thing - our problems.

STORY - driving our civic through the snow (Snow piles are BIG and scary), vs our pilot (snow piles are fun!)

But we ALSO succumb to worry when we look for the wrong answers - our simple, temporary answers for our problems.

STORY - I burn through shoes like crazy. every good thing we get wears out eventually. Even if it’s a long time.

But the truth is - We CAN skip the ‘worry’ part of life.

Jesus has a three part response to our worries.

STORY - My kids seem to be the most desperate, the most on the edge of starvation, right before dinner

THEM: I need to eat or i’ll die(This is almost entirely never true - even in our own lives)! ME: I know. And an awesome meal is right around the corner here. Don’t gorge yourself on just crackers, this great meal is almost here.

FIRST

Our life is more than just the temporary

STORY - have you ever gotten something you’ve really wanted? It’s super exciting for a while. Then it’s useful. Then it falls out of use. Then it breaks. Then it’s gone.

How to live, how to have a good life, how to be secure- that’s a real concern.

But remember - worry is looking to the wrong thing for the wrong answer.

We look at this life, our stuff, and we worry about how to get food, or clothes.

This isn’t simply materialism. Sometimes, honestly, it is. But that’s not the whole thing.

These are real concerns. We can’t go long without food. We shouldn’t go long without clothes.

Even Jesus says,

Luke 12:30 NIV

For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.

The REAL issue here is security, and where our security comes from.

The problem Jesus was calling them out on was NOT ‘thinking they needed clothes or food’

it was ‘running to clothes and food to solve the problem of security, and ignoring the plan God already has for us’

Jesus says - your security is more than simply the clothes on your back. Your sustenance is more than simply the food on your table. Basically - we need more than those things to actually be safe.

Jesus redirects our focus and says, let’s focus on the right sources and the right answers.

God is pleased to give us this amazing, eternal kingdom

I’ve always taught this ‘do not worry’ verse to mean, ‘do God’s will rather than trying to focus on yourself’. And that’s true. But that’s not all.

Luke mentions one thing that Jesus says that matthew doesn’t mention. And that’s verse 32.

Luke 12:32 NIV

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Sometimes - we worry even when we know someone’s trying to take care of us. Because we either don’t trust them, don’t trust the rest of the world, or we doubt their ability to actually help.

So if we reorient our perspective towards God and His kingdom, life changes.

It is no longer about ‘how do I run fast and far and hard enough to get this next thing that I need?’

It becomes ‘God knows what I need HERE, and he has everything I could possibly need THERE. So...’

How can I follow God better from here to there?

Jesus actually HAS a kingdom. He’s bringing it into the world NOW - it’ll be fully realized in our eyes THEN. And when THEN comes - we will want for nothing at all.

But the stressful part of life, is getting from here to there.

STORY - I hate heights. But when I have the right supports - I am just fine with it.

You have the strongest set of supports in your life that you could ever possibly want or imagine

Romans 8:31 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

This doesn’t mean ‘God will give you everything that could ever possibly exist’.

What it means is - if you’re putting your lot in with God - who could possibly stop you?

Imagine if this was your actual, deep conviction about life. ‘I know I need food - but with God taking care of me, what could possibly make me go hungry?’ ‘I know i need clothes - but with God clothing me, I don’t have a thing to worry about’.

How can we make ourselves shift our emphasis onto what God has for us? How do we worry LESS about now?

Force yourself to rely on God rather than stuff

STORY - I’m bad with eating treats. I can read, plan, goal set - but at the end of the day, I need to be throwing out some cookies.

This is the best way to shift our worry from HERE (which is temporary, fleeting, and will eventually fade) to THERE (which is eternal, powerful, and is the perfect answer to our needs).

Jesus says - reject here. Sell your possessions and give to the poor.

That’s difficult, because here is what we can see.

But if we’re honest with ourselves - it’s also because we’re addicted to here.

Now, this doesn’t mean, give away every last possible thing and have nothing (tax collector gave away half of what he had, and promised to pay people back, and jesus was satisfied). It’s saying - take the position of ‘I don’t really need this stuff’ instead of ‘man do I ever really need this stuff’.

God is trustworthy - and he will take care of you

Jesus says - Look at the birds. They don’t have bank accounts or chest freezers. But God feeds them.

And you’re worth more than the birds!

A lot of the time, our worries have such a hold in our lives because we’re ignoring God or what He’s doing in our lives.

STORY - how many times my children have freaked out about something that i’m actively solving, they just aren’t listening.

We need to START from this position of trust, start from this position of assuming ‘he can take care of us’.

There’s a lot we can do to do this. A good start is - find and remind yourself about God’s promises for your life.

Further, get rid of all the stuff around us that tempts us to change our focus.

It’s like, if you struggle with an addiction, you have to get rid of the thing you’re addicted to.

This is part of the reason why Godly people are so ridiculously generous - because they know they don’t need it and they can’t take it with them anyways.

So practice bigger generosity, give away more, tithe more, sacrifice more.

God IS trustworthy. And he is more than powerful enough to take care of you.