Freedom from Worry, Faithful Stewardship

Here in Luke 12, Jesus continues His teaching on stewardship by moving from stewardship with possessions to stewardship with perspective,

from worry to worship,

and from earthly treasure to eternal investment.

A man in a church just like this one years ago said to his pastor, “Pastor, I don’t mind work, I just hate uncertainty.”

He was a steady provider, faithful husband, dependable friend.

But when layoffs started at the plant, it wasn’t laziness that shook him, it was fear.

He didn’t just worry about money.

He worried about what money represented.

Security

Stability

Control

And if we’re honest, worry is often our attempt to take back control of what only God can hold.

In Luke 12 Jesus has been teaching about stewardship, and He has just warned about covetousness and told that story of the rich fool who planned for bigger barns but never planned to meet God.

Now He turns to His disciples and deals with the fear that often drives bad stewardship.

He teaches us that the answer to worry is not more stuff.

The answer to worry is a bigger God.

And when God is bigger, generosity becomes possible, contentment becomes sweet, and heaven becomes real.

I. Jesus Commands a Different Focus

22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

Jesus begins by aiming straight at the mental and spiritual battle where stewardship is often won or lost.

Before He talks about giving, He talks about thinking.

Before He deals with your wallet, He deals with your worry.

A. Refuse the Rule of Worry

Jesus says plainly, “Take no thought for your life.” (Luke 12:22)

He is not excusing irresponsibility.

He is confronting slavery.

This is not, “Don’t plan.”

This is, “Don’t panic.”

This is not, “Never think ahead.”

This is, “Don’t let fear become your master.”

And the reason He can say it so firmly is because He is speaking to disciples, people who have a Father.

Worry is what happens when the heart keeps rehearsing the “what ifs” until fear feels like wisdom.

It is the mind trying to sit on God’s throne and manage what only God can govern.

So this is a decision.

You stop giving worry permission to speak like a king in your soul.

You bring your thoughts back under Christ and say, “Father, You are real, You are good, and You are enough.”

You still work.

You still plan.

But you refuse panic.

You refuse that inward scrambling that assumes God will not come through.

B. Remember How Little Worry Accomplishes

Once Jesus refuses to let worry rule you, He exposes how powerless worry really is.

He asks, “Which of you… can add to his stature one cubit?” (Luke 12:25)

Worry feels productive because it keeps your mind busy.

But Jesus says worry is busy and barren at the same time.

It can steal your sleep, sour your spirit, shorten your patience, and strain your body, but it cannot add what you’re chasing.

Worry is like rocking in a chair.

A lot of motion.

No forward progress.

When Jesus unmasks worry, He does not leave you with a bare command and a guilty conscience.

He gives you something stronger than willpower.

He gives you a Father to trust.

So He turns your eyes away from your fears and back onto God’s faithful care.

II. Jesus Calls Us to Learn from God’s Care

This is Jesus’ medicine for the anxious heart.

He teaches us to look at life through the lens of providence.

He points to ordinary things, because God’s faithfulness is written all over ordinary life.

A. Consider the Ravens

Jesus begins above the fields with the birds of the air.

He points to ravens that do not sow or reap, and yet God feeds them. (Luke 12:24)

The ravens are not lazy.

They still fly.

They still search.

But they do not carry barns in their wings.

They do not live as though the world is held together by their effort.

And Jesus presses the point, “How much more are ye better than the fowls?”

If God feeds birds, will He forget His children?

If God sustains creatures, will He abandon covenant people?

B. Consider the Lilies

After the birds teach you about provision, Jesus brings you down to the flowers to teach you about tenderness.

He says, “Consider the lilies how they grow.” (Luke 12:27)

They do not spin wool into thread for clothes,

they do not toil and work,

and yet their beauty outshines Solomon’s wardrobe.

Jesus is not praising flowers for doing nothing.

He is reminding us that the same God who gives beauty gives bread.

The God who paints petals can surely provide for people.

28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you…

If God can clothe the grass of the field with these beautiful flowers, which has no depth or meaning of life, as we do..How much more will the Father take care of us!

And then He touches the real issue, “O ye of little faith.” (Luke 12:28)

Worry is not just emotional.

Worry is spiritual.

Worry is often a faith problem before it is a money problem.

Consider the lilies, they don't toil nor spin, But there's not a king with more splendor than them. Consider the sparrow, he doesn't plant nor sow. But he's fed by the Master who watches him grow. We have a heavenly Father above With eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love He really cares when your head is bowed low Consider the lilies and then you will know.

Once you see the Father’s care in creation, Jesus moves from observing God’s faithfulness to ordering your priorities.

Because if you truly believe God is a Father, then you don’t have to live like an orphan.

You can stop chasing what cannot satisfy and start seeking what cannot be taken.

III. Jesus Directs Our Seeking and Our Security

Jesus now deals with the target of your life.

What are you after.

What are you living for.

Because worry often reveals that we are seeking the wrong kind of kingdom.

A. Don’t Chase What the World Chases

Jesus says, “Seek not ye what ye shall eat… neither be ye of doubtful mind.” (Luke 12:29)

The nations of the world live like orphans.

They live like no Father exists.

They live like everything depends on their hustle, their savings, their plans, their insurance, their investments.

Jesus says the disciple life is different.

We do not live as if God is absent.

We do not make food and clothing the throne of our hearts.

Why because we are God’s children!

We are not of this orphaned world!

30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

We need to do better!

So what does He say we ought to do instead?

B. Seek the Kingdom First

After Jesus forbids wrong seeking, He offers the better pursuit that puts everything else in its proper place.

“But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Luke 12:31)

The kingdom is the rule of God in your life.

It is His priorities becoming your priorities.

It is His glory becoming your ambition.

It is His will becoming your delight.

When the kingdom is first, money becomes a tool, not a god.

When the kingdom is first, your schedule, your purchases, your plans, your generosity, and your peace start lining up behind the King.

C. Rest in the Father’s Pleasure

And because kingdom-seeking can feel risky, Jesus softens His voice and strengthens your heart.

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

Notice the tenderness.

Little flock.

That is how Jesus speaks to worried disciples.

He does not crush bruised reeds.

He reminds them that the Father is not reluctant.

God is not trying to keep good from you.

It is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So the disciple can release fear because the Father’s heart is good.

When the heart is settled in the Father’s goodness, something changes.

You stop clutching.

You start trusting.

And when you trust the Father, your stewardship becomes generous, not forced, and eternal, not temporary.

IV. Jesus Teaches a Generous, Eternal Stewardship

This is where Jesus lands the plane.

Peace is not an end in itself.

Peace becomes power to live differently.

A heart freed from worry becomes a heart freed to give.

A. Loosen Your Grip on Earthly Treasure

Jesus says, “Sell that ye have, and give alms.” (Luke 12:33)

Jesus is not giving a universal command that every believer must liquidate everything at once.

He is commanding a universal posture, hold possessions loosely and hold people lovingly.

Generosity is the opposite of hoarding.

Generosity is stewardship that says, “God provided this, so I can use it for His purposes.”

And sometimes the most spiritual thing a Christian can do is to give, because giving breaks the spell money tries to cast over the heart.

B. Invest in a Treasure That Cannot Be Stolen

Once your grip loosens on earth, your eyes can lift toward heaven.

“…provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” (Luke 12:33)

Earthly treasure is fragile.

Moths eat.

Rust corrodes.

Thieves steal.

Markets change.

Health shifts.

Jobs disappear.

But Jesus says heaven’s treasure is secure.

When you invest in what God loves, souls, truth, the gospel, the needy, the local church, eternal work, you are putting treasure where thieves cannot reach.

C. Follow Your Treasure to Your Heart

And Jesus ends by showing the root issue beneath every budgeting decision.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:34)

Your heart follows what you value.

If your treasure is comfort, your heart will cling to ease.

If your treasure is control, your heart will live tense and tight.

If your treasure is Christ and His kingdom, your heart will find rest and courage.

Stewardship is not first about giving more.

Stewardship is about loving rightly.

Because when the heart is right, the hands will follow.

Conclusion

I once watched a little boy at a Chuck E. Cheese clutching a fistful of tickets.

He had counted them over and over, like they were his life.

Then his dad knelt down and said, “Buddy, I’ve got more tickets than you can carry, and I’ve already paid for the games.”

The boy still stared at his tickets like they were his security.

So the dad gently pried those little fingers open, not to take joy away, but to give him something better.

He told him, “Let me hold them for you…my hands are bigger.”

That is what Jesus is doing in this passage.

He is not trying to rob you.

He is trying to rescue you.

He is prying open the clenched fist of worry.

He is calling you out of the orphan life and into the child’s peace.

He is saying, “You have a Father.”

He is saying, “Seek My kingdom.”

He is saying, “Trust Me enough to be generous.”

And He is asking the question every disciple must answer, not just tonight, but every day.

Where is your treasure.

Because your heart is already following it.

Some of us need to repent of worry, not just manage it.

Some of us need to confess that we have been seeking the wrong kingdom.

Some of us need to obey the Lord in generosity, not to earn favor, but because we already have a Father who delights to give the kingdom.

And some may need to come to Christ for the first time, because peace like this only belongs to those who can truly call God “Father.”

If the Lord has put His finger on your heart tonight, do not stiffen.

Open your hands.

Open your plans.

Open your heart.

And follow His steps into the freedom of trusting the Father.