Know Your Source

Know Your Source Luke 12:22-34 Before we get into today’s Scripture, we need to look back and see the reason behind Jesus’ teaching. In verses 13-21, we read that as Jesus was addressing the crowd, someone raised their voice to Jesus, and asked Him to tell his brother to divide the inheritance. To share the wealth. Jesus answered by saying, “guard yourself against greed, because life is more than possessions.” He then went on to tell the parable about the rich man who was great at business, farming to be exact. And the rich man decided to take all his profits, and gather his wealth, so he could retire and live the good life. The rich man spent his life working to accumulate wealth only to hear the words, “You fool, tonight your soul is demanded of you. Who will get what you have prepared for yourself .” The rich man prepared for himself that which was temporal, not eternal. Jesus then broadens His teaching and says that everyone who pursues treasure in life is poor toward God. Now Jesus knew that His disciples were listening to what He had just told the crowd. Jesus knew His disciples are thinking, “Now wait a minute. Let’s be practical here, Jesus. We have to live in this world. We have to go to work. We have to provide. We have to live. And you’re telling us to only concentrate on heaven and be rich toward God.” I know that all of us can relate to that because at face value it sounds like if all we ever think about is heaven, then how are we to survive on earth? Jesus knew that sometimes living for eternity just doesn’t seem to work in the present. Jesus knew what they were thinking, and He knew that you’ve thought that, and that’s why He taught this. We see in verse 22 that Jesus turns from the crowd and focuses on His disciples. Jesus turns His attention to His followers because He wants them, which includes you and me, to hear His message. It’s a simple message and one that Jesus continually repeated. Verse 22 says, “do not worry about your life.” In verse 25 He asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” Verse 26 says, “why do you worry?” In verse 29 Jesus says, “don’t worry about food nor drink.” And in verse 32 Jesus mentions worry’s little brother and says, “don’t be afraid.” In other words, Jesus is saying that if you live with a Kingdom mindset, Don’t Worry! A kingdom mindset is to live for God’s kingdom. It is to have an address up there, while you’re working down here. A kingdom mindset is to submit yourself to God’s authority and to make Him your source. So the remedy for worry is a kingdom mindset. If you’re rich toward God, you won’t have to worry down here. God’s cure for your worry is Himself, because as Jeremiah had said, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by the water and is not anxious even in a drought, because God will provide” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For the life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” You wake up and worry about what your gonna eat and when your gonna eat it. Instead of waking up and worrying about what your gonna eat, you better be thankful you first woke up. It doesn’t matter what you’re going to eat if you're not alive to eat it! The body is more than clothing. If your body’s not functioning properly, it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing what’s in style. Jesus is saying you have it backwards. He says you’re worried about the lesser thing. The body is more important than clothes, and your life is more important than worrying about your next meal. Clothes, food, the money to buy them, are all secondary because there not as important as your life. What Jesus is doing is He’s trying to change your vantage point. He’s saying that if you're going to worry, worry about something that really matters, but don’t worry about those secondary things. Jesus continues this teaching and says in verse 24, “Consider the ravens.” Now a raven is an unclean bird. In the Old Testament, the Jews wouldn’t touch or eat a raven because it was unclean. It wasn’t to be messed with. So when Jesus says, “Consider the ravens,” He’s saying consider a bird that you don’t want anything to do with. “They don’t sow or reap,” they don’t plant seeds or harvest crops, “they have no storeroom or barn,” like the rich man, “yet God feeds them.” They eat because God feeds them. So when Jesus says, “How much more valuable you are than birds,” He’s saying if I am willing to feed an unclean bird, how much more important do you think you are, being God’s child? Jesus then asks beginning in verse 25, “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?” Worry will not enhance the duration of your life; it’ll only shorten it. It’s like sitting in a rocking chair; you’re constantly going back and forth but not getting anywhere. It’ll give you something to do, but what’s it accomplish? Verse 27 Jesus says, “Consider the flowers. They neither labor nor spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” Now, when Father God made mother nature, He made her beautiful. He’s blessed us with colors and smells and fresh air. What Jesus is saying here is that you’ve got your source wrong. The flowers don’t work, they don’t labor, but yet they are nourished, and they grow. Jesus is saying I am your source. Far too often we get this backwards. We confuse a resource with the source. Clothes are a resource. Food is a resource. Money is a resource. But God is the Source. If God feeds the birds with worms and nourishes the flowers with rain, how much more will He care for you? Remember, “not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these,” because who provided the means to make Solomon wealthy? Who provided the needed resources so Solomon could build the temple and live in luxury? God did because God is the Source. Remember, life is short. We’re here today, gone tomorrow. Time flies, and we can’t get it back. That’s why all the resources this world has to offer shouldn’t be your main focus. When you place the world above heaven. When you place the physical above the spiritual. When you live with an earthly mindset instead of a kingdom mindset, you’re placing a higher value on the temporal instead of the eternal. It’s placing God’s resources higher above God, who is the Source of all your resources. Life is short, and we’re just passing through. We don’t own anything here on earth because we are stewards of God’s creation. God owns everything. And if you come to the end of your earthly journey how sad that day will be if you hear Jesus say, in verse 28, “you of little faith.” Don’t put your faith in the wrong source. Your faith is only as good as the object of your faith, and if the object of your faith is what’s “here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,” what good is that faith? That’s why Jesus says in verse 28&29, “Don’t set your heart on food or drink. Don’t worry about it. For the pagan world (the unbelievers) runs after such things, and your Father knows you need them.” Notice this verse says, “your Father.” If you are a believer, God is your Father, and He knows what you need. It doesn’t say want you want, but what you need. The pagans, the unbelievers, pursue significance, wealth, any means in which to achieve success. Jesus is saying do the reverse. Pursue Me. Run after Me. I know what you need because I know what’s important. Receive Me as your Source, and I’ll provide you with all the resources you need. This means that if God is your Source, then you have a kingdom mindset, and you’ll have confidence down here. But if you see only the worldly. If you only rely upon the resource, then when times get tough down here, you won’t have confidence up there to ease your worry down here. But how are we to do this? Jesus has the answer in verse 31, “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” The word kingdom means “rule” and “authority.” You are to seek first Christ’s rule and authority for your life. In other words, go to the Source first, and all your resources will be given as well. Verse 32 always makes me laugh. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock.” The little flock is sheep. Now sheep are the dumbest animal God ever made. One sheep will be walking around in a circle and the other sheep will follow thinking he’s going somewhere. Sheep are dumb. And what does God call you and me? Sheep. Verse 32 also says, “God is pleased to give you the kingdom,” which is why if you wander from the Shepherd you're dumb. The Shepherd guides and guards His sheep, because outside of the little flock are wolves. A sheep can think it knows best, that it can be its own shepherd, but a sheep gets easily lost. A sheep cannot protect itself. A sheep lost outside of the flock won’t know it’s lost, but it’ll eventually get eaten by the wolves. You are sheep in an unbelieving world of wolves. But Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid.” Now, for our last two verses, I don’t want you to leave here confused. Verse 33 says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor,” and many people pause in a panic right there. But I want to teach you that verse 34 explains verse 33. What I mean by that is when verse 34 says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be,” Jesus is teaching that when you value what’s eternal, you’re depositing treasure in your heavenly bank account. When your heart is to love and serve people as Jesus did, you're building up treasure in heaven which never wears out or grows old. When your Source is the eternal riches of heaven, every temporary earthly resource loses its value. A kingdom mindset is live as Jesus did, with a servants heart. “Jesus came to serve, not be served.” You are to serve and give to others. That’s why Jesus says in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you.” Every time you “give, it will be given back to you” in the form of “treasure in heaven that’ll never fail.” When you put Christ first and make Him your Source, He becomes your priority. That’s why with a kingdom mindset, you place Christ first in everything; your work, your tithe, your time. And when you do this, you build your heavenly bank account with treasure in heaven “that’ll never fail and where no moth destroys.” There are times in life where it’s ok to worry. God knows that. Someone you love gets in a car wreck, a person gets sick. Life is full of things to worry about. What I’m saying, what God is saying, is don’t worry about the small stuff. Re-shift your focus and see life from a heavenly perspective because a kingdom mindset allows you to worry less and live more. Remember, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. So if you’re lost, scared, live with worry, follow Jesus, and make Him your Source, not just your resource. Amen.