Luke 12:22-34

We’re entering the second half of Luke’s gospel.

In the first half, we saw that Jesus is the promised Saviour who will reign forever on David’s throne. Jesus has revealed his divine power (4-5), and taught about the kingdom (6-9). Then then disciples recognised Jesus as the message in chapter 10, which is when Jesus began to predict his death. And then we read...

Luke 9:51 NIVUK

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

That’s the setting for all that follows until Jesus arrives in Jerusalem and what he predicted unfolds.

Along the way Jesus is equipping his disciples, teaching the crowds, confronting the religious leaders and continuing the demonstrate his divine power through miracles.

The section we’re in now (Luke 12-13) includes teaching about the kingdom, where Jesus is especially helping his disciples to fix their eyes on what is unseen. Preparing them for their ministry in the world of preparing people for the world to come. He’s getting them Kingdom Ready.

Last time in Luke, he told a parable in response to someone’s request...

Luke 12:13–14 NIVUK

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’

Arbitrator = lit. a “divider.” Not come to ‘divide’ stuff, or decide material matters. His concern was far higher than that. In fact, in the next few chapters he will be dividing people along the lines of what matters in light of eternity.

Parable of rich fool building bigger barns illustrated this point...

Luke 12:15 NIVUK

Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’

Which flows into vv22-34, where Jesus is saying to his disciples, “Don’t worry about life in this world,” but instead, “Live for what lasts.”

Don’t Worry About Life

Or rather, don’t worry about things that you were never meant to worry about. Don’t get anxious about what you can’t control. And don’t be consumed by things that don’t last forever.

Luke 12:22–23 NIVUK

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.

He’s talking about physical necessities - food, water, clothing. It’s understandable that humans are concerned about these things. They are what we need to stay alive, survive and thrive.

So, of course we think about what we will eat to feed and nourish our bodies. We think about what we will wear to keep ourselves warm or protected from the elements.

Jesus spoke these words to people who would think about food and drink and clothing far more urgently than most people in 21st century Britain do.

We have come to expect that there will be food in our fridges and cupboards, or at least on the supermarket shelves (regardless of the size of the harvest).

We know we can go to the tap and pour ourselves glass after glass of cold, clean water (no matter how much rainfall we’ve had).

We have wardrobes of clothes that are chosen not simply for the sake of keeping us warm but so they will look good, with matching accessories! And someone else has made them for us. If your jumper gets a hole in it you can probably buy a new one.

But back then it wasn’t so easy. Things weren’t so easy to come by.

In any case, Jesus isn’t saying “don’t ever think about what you will eat or wear.” He’s not suggesting that they’re not important. In fact...

Luke 12:30 NIVUK

your Father knows that you need them.

But he is saying that we shouldn’t be consumed by worry over these things. The concern for basic necessities shouldn’t become something that rules our lives.

Of course, that’s easy enough to say! But worries and anxieties don’t go away that easily.

Jesus knows that. And so he gives three good reasons why we shouldn’t worry about our lives - our basic needs.

Worrying doesn’t help!

Luke 12:25–26 NIVUK

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?

Worrying takes a lot of out of us but doesn’t give anything back!

It eats up precious time, emotional energy, brain power, but actually doesn’t achieve anything at all.

Worrying can’t give us more time, it can’t extend our lives. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that the opposite is true!

So, that’s a good reason to not be consumed by worry over our basic needs. It doesn’t help!

God promises provision

He has promised to give us everything we truly need, most fully in himself.

Luke 12:29–30 NIVUK

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.

Those who don’t have God, who haven’t experienced his loving grace in Christ, they worry. They get anxious. And that makes sense, right? They can’t have any confidence that it will all be ok, because they don’t yet know the hope that is found in Christ.

Maybe that’s you this morning. Maybe you’re here because your life is full of worry, and you don’t know where else to turn.

God doesn’t promise that if we believe in him then everything will always ok and we will always have our basic physical needs met. But he does promise that if our faith is in Jesus, who died and is alive for us, then we already have everything we truly need.

So, there’s another good reason not to worry. God has given and promised everything we truly need in Christ.

God loves us

Luke 12:24 NIVUK

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!

Luke 12:27–28 NIVUK

‘Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour 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!

This is an argument from the lesser to the greater (something Jesus does a lot!).

In other words, if God cares about birds enough to feed them, and flowers enough to clothe them, then he must care infinitely more about us!

He’s made us in his image. We are especially precious to him. Precious enough that he gave his only son that we might not perish but have everlasting life.

That took more than putting food on the table and clothes on our backs. It took putting our sins on the back of drinking. It took Jesus draining the cup of God’s wrath at the cross that we might be forgiven.

Ever doubt God’s love? Look at the cross! That’s all the evidence we ever need to know with absolute certainty that he loves us.

So, there’s another excellent reason to not worry. God loves us far more than we could ever possibly conceive, and nothing will ever be able to separate us from his love for us Christ.

Not hunger. Not thirst. Not nakedness. Not famine. Not drought. Not global market crashes. Not pandemics. His love is fixed, secure, steadfast, unmoveable, unshakeable, unstoppable, eternal.

So don’t worry about the things of life that belong to this life and that ultimately don’t satisfy and don’t remain.

Instead...

Live For What Lasts

Jesus is “dividing” between people who are consumed with worry about the needs of the immediate future, and those who see that our ultimate eternal future is what is most important.

So Jesus is saying “don’t worry about what doesn’t last.” Instead...

Luke 12:31 NIVUK

But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Instead of fretting about our physical wellbeing on earth, we should be most concerned about our spiritual wellbeing in heaven.

Instead of being fixated with things that are only temporary, we should give our best attention to what is eternal.

Which is why Jesus says...

Luke 12:32 NIVUK

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

There is so much packed into this short verse!

First, the exhortation, “Do not be afraid.” Spoken so many times in Scripture! Because the Lord knows that life in this fallen world gives many reasons to be afraid.

For the disciples, there would have been the fear that they were just a tiny band of followers with very little to their name. Their work with Jesus involved going without so much (“the Son of Man has no where to lay his head”).

But Jesus say, don’t be afraid.

And he calls them his little flock. A beautifully tender way to address them! Only here in Luke 12.

But it would have reminded them of their frailty, vulnerability, weakness and small size. Yet, he says, don’t be afraid.

And the reason they and we need not be afraid of going without, losing out, missing out, or of feeling our weakness and frailty, is because “your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

Wow. Let that sink in for a moment.

YOUR father! Not “my father”. Yours. That is an astounding thing for Jesus to say. Not just to his disciples, but to us as well.

If your faith is in Jesus, God’s Son, who died and is alive for us today, if you hope in and follow him, then his Father is your Father too!

And what’s more, he’s been pleased to give us the kingdom!! Lit. it’s his “good pleasure.”

The kingdom speaks of all that belongs to God - all that he rules over, all that he takes delight in, all that he is. It’s his good pleasure that we inherit that kingdom along with him.

We can’t buy it from him. No amount of treasure stored up on earth could possibly come close to being able to afford it! Rather, he has paid for it with his own Son. It is his gift of grace to us in Jesus.

If we come to believe in Jesus, God’s kingdom is already ours! But there is a day coming when we will inhabit it fully (or rather, it will fully inhabit us!).

See why we need not fear?!

We could never eat again in this life, or go about naked and cold; we could be the poorest on earth with not a penny to our names; we could be robbed of everything we own and die homeless; and STILL we would be the richer than the richest billionaire!!

Ours is a treasure that surpasses all treasures.

So, we can live for what lasts, and not be consumed with worry about what won’t.

And we can give ourselves, indeed pour ourselves out, for eternal treasures, investing our money, our time, our energies, our affections, our ambitions for the kingdom of God.

Luke 12:33 NIVUK

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.

Jesus wasn’t saying that we must put everything we own on eBay and give it all away! He was saying we should invest what we do have in an account that will bear that most interest - in eternity! Why?

Luke 12:34 NIVUK

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What are you living for? Are you living for what can’t satisfy, for what perishes, fades and wears out, for what will one day disappear entirely? Does your heart crave and therefore worry about what cannot ever give you what you truly need?

If you don’t yet trust in Jesus, He is today offering you his father’s kingdom - all you could ever dream of or desire! He’s bought it for you with his own blood. It won’t cost you a thing! Come on. Stop worrying about your earthly life and start enjoying the blessings of the father’s eternal kingdom.

Brothers and sisters, we must be especially careful to not love what this world loves, and to not live for what won’t last. The pull of the world is so strong, we cannot hope to resist it unless we are alert to its dangers.

Instead, we are invited to join in the work of the kingdom - investing in gospel work with our lives and our resources, labouring to make Christ known and make disciples in MK and beyond, serving the lost so they might be saved, and serving one another so that we might reach maturity in Christ.

Yes, go to work, build a career! Yes, enjoy your possessions! Yes, plant gardens, paint walls, and cook delicious food!

But do it all to be rich towards God and his kingdom - being radically generous with all you have and all you are for the sake of Christ and his glory.

CT Studd, one-time cricketer and later a missionary in China alongside Hudson Taylor, wrote:

Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score; When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn; Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say, “Thy will be done”; And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.