Trust Our Loving Father

0:55Gallup's latest annual update on the world's emotional state shows Americans were more likely to be stressed and worried than much of the world. In fact, the 55% of Americans who experienced stress was one of the highest rates out of the 143 countries studied, and it beat the global average, 35%, by a full 20 percentage points. The U.S. even ties statistically with Greece, which has led the world on this measure every year since 2012. Greece is bankrupt, y'all.

1:34They have no money. They've been in trouble for years and years, and yet Americans who live in the most prosperous country in the world, at the most prosperous time in history, are more worried, more stressed out, angrier than even people from that country. And the thing that stresses us out and worries us and causes us the most anxiety, or at any rate, more anxiety than anything else, is finances. It's money. No one, no matter where you live, no one is exempt from worry and anxiety, and that's especially true when it comes to finances.

2:11And so, as we continue on in this series, Generous God, Generous People, today we're looking at Luke 12, 22 through 34. We're picking up where we left off last week after the parable that we covered in the earlier part of the chapter. And it's my hope today that we're going to be challenged, that we're going to see from this particular passage that because God is our loving Father, we can trust Him to care for us. If you take a look at verse 22 at the outset of this section, Jesus begins with the word therefore.

2:42And anytime in Scripture we see the word therefore, we always want to ask, what is it there for? That is a connecting word that links what is about to be written or what is about to be said with the things that were just previously said or previously written. So, what came right before this section? Well, it's what we covered last week. It's the parable of the rich fool in verses 13 through 21 who is anxious about what to do with his huge crop.

3:10If you were here last week, or if you've read that parable before, you know that he had this huge crop. He grew anxious because his barns were too small, so he resolved to tear those down and build bigger ones so that he could relax, he could eat, drink, and be merry because he was set for life now that all of that had happened. He did not realize, of course, that all of his efforts were for nothing because he was going to die, and somebody else was going to enjoy all of the things that he had stored up for himself. And so Jesus concludes with this warning not to store up treasure for ourselves here on earth, but instead to store up treasure in heaven, to become, as he says, rich toward God.

3:53Now, when we hear Jesus commanding us to become rich toward God, to store up treasure in heaven, that can cause some feelings of anxiety to rise up in us. We're tempted to think, well, if I store up treasure in heaven, maybe I won't have all that I need now on this earth. Maybe I won't have all I need in this life. But Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, and yet was without sin. So Jesus also was tempted to worry about these kinds of things, and that's why. He immediately follows the parable of the rich fool with the things that we find here in verses 22 through 34, the rest of this section.

4:38So let's take a look now at what Jesus says in verses 22 and 23 again. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Jesus tells us, do not be anxious. It's a command, it's not a suggestion. Do not be anxious. Commands require obedience, friends. And Christians, including you and I, are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the commands of Christ, including this one: do not be anxious.

5:30And I remind you of that fact that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the commands of Christ because I think that modern personality tests, helpful as they are in many ways, have convinced a lot of us that we just are the way that we are. That there's no way to change that because I am this disc assessment, I am this Myers-Briggs, I am this Enneagram number. That is who I am, and there is no changing me.

6:01So, any Christian might be tempted to read Jesus' command here, do not be anxious and say, Well, I'm just an anxious person. That's how God made me, and there's no way around that. Now, in fact, there are people, many people, in fact, who are chemically predisposed toward anxiety. That's a fact. But, friends, what that is, is a partial explanation for why we get anxious. It's not an excuse for disobeying a command of Christ. Amen? It's a partial explanation. So, that goes into what makes some people more anxious than others, but it doesn't give anybody a pass to disobey this command. And so, what I want to do is define this term. When we use the term anxiety, what exactly are we talking about? Well, take a look at this definition. Anxiety is being overly concerned about possible danger or misfortune. Being overly concerned about possible danger or misfortune. The key word in that definition is overly.

7:16Being concerned about possible danger or misfortune means that your brain is functioning rightly. If you are teaching your teenagers to drive, And you are not concerned about possible danger or misfortune, something is wrong with you. And in the next couple of years, I can tell you, when I start teaching my kids to drive, I'm going to be dressed like a member of the bomb squad. I am going to be concerned about possible danger or misfortune entering my life.

7:51But anxiety is being overly concerned about possible danger or misfortune. And Scripture teaches that planning for the future is godly. Think about the book of Proverbs. Both the ant who stores up food for the winter and the godly righteous woman of Proverbs 31, they're both commended because they plan for the future. They think about things that could befall them, that could lead to danger or misfortune, and they plan ahead. They're commended in Scripture for doing so.

8:23That's not a problem, but being overly concerned is a problem. Now, I want you to notice what Jesus says here in the text. He says, do not be anxious. Do not be anxious. He does not say, do not feel anxious. He says, do not be anxious. And that's because we can't control the way that we feel. When we feel anxious, there are symptoms of anxiety. Our heart rate increases. Our breathing rate increases. We might start sweating. We might have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. We can't control any of those things. We are feeling anxious. Jesus doesn't say, do not feel anxious. He says, do not be anxious.

9:14We can't control feeling anxious, but we can control the way that we respond to our anxious feelings. We're tempted to respond to our anxious feelings in ungodly ways. I want you to think about three ways that we respond to anxious feelings in ungodly ways. First, we respond to them by complaining to family members and friends about our circumstances. Second, we cope, sometimes by turning to alcohol or drugs, sometimes by binging television shows or video games, sometimes by searching for illicit material online. We cope.

9:59We can also comb the internet for information, for solutions, for answers to our problems. These are ungodly responses to feeling anxious, complaining, coping, or combing the internet, all ungodly solutions because they're all faithless. They all act as though we live in a world where God does not exist. And what Jesus tells us in this section is that those kinds of responses are not just faithful. Faithless, but that they're actually a complete waste of time. Look at what he says here in verse 25.

10:38And which of you, by being anxious, there's that word again, being, and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Friends, complaining to our family members, complaining to other friends or coworkers, that won't solve our problems. It's just a sinful waste of our time and theirs. Coping mechanisms will not solve our problems. Numbing ourselves with drugs or alcohol or with television or entertainment or anything else, they won't make our problems disappear.

11:16And combing the internet will not solve our problems. Reading the collective ignorance of the masses is not going to help your heart and your mind rest at ease in the Lord. So to illustrate his teaching, Jesus encourages us to slow down and to consider. He uses that word, consider, meditate upon these two illustrations. He invites us to consider the ravens and consider the lilies. First, he invites us to consider the ravens in verse 24. And what the ravens are doing is they're serving as an illustration for his teaching: do not be anxious about your life, what you Eat.

12:02He observes that the ravens neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn. Remember the parable of the rich fool? He tore down his small barns to build bigger ones. He says, look, they don't have storehouses, they don't have barns, and yet, he says, God feeds them. Now, I think it's important to note that ravens, like all birds, like all animals, work really hard to gather food for themselves and for their young. They're not just sitting around waiting for food to fall from heaven. They work hard all day, every day to feed themselves and to feed their young. But they don't require a storehouse or a barn because their heavenly Father feeds them. And Jesus reminds us that we, men and women who are created in God's image and likeness, are much more valuable to him than birds. And so we don't have to worry. His point is that we don't have to be anxious about what we're going to eat or drink in any given day. We don't have to worry about that, be anxious about that, because God is going to meet our needs.

13:07And then, second, Jesus invites us to consider the lilies down in verse 27. And the lilies serve as an illustration for do not be anxious about your body, what you're going to put on. He observes that they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his splendor was not arrayed like one of These. Now, think about this. Solomon was one of the richest men who ever lived, who ever walked the face of the earth. He could have any article of clothing made for him that he wanted. He could have any article of clothing tailored to his specific tastes, his needs, anything that he wanted. And yet, Jesus tells us that God carefully and beautifully clothes the flowers of the field every single day, plants that aren't even going to make it till tomorrow.

14:00And his point is that if flowers don't have to worry about what they're going to wear, we don't have to either. God will certainly clothe us if he dresses the flowers. And through these two illustrations, what Jesus is calling us to is faith. He's calling us to faith in God, and that's why he ends verse 28 the way that he does. Look at what he says at the end of that verse. He calls the disciples and those listening to him. Remember, thousands of people are gathered, O you of little faith.

14:35You see, responding to feelings of anxiety in ungodly ways, whether complaining or coping or combing the internet or anything else, responding to feelings of anxiety in ungodly ways is faithless. That's what Jesus wants us to understand. He wants us to connect the dots, these dots that we often have trouble connecting in our own lives between our responses and our faith. Because, friends, our responses are great teachers. They're great teachers. The way that we respond to our circumstances, the way that we respond to other people, is teaching us something about what we believe about God.

15:17Most all of us in the room today, we could sit down and we could take a theological examination and we would get the answers right because we know what we're supposed to believe. But it's our responses in the moment as we reflect back on those things that really tell us the truth about what we're believing about God. And so our responses reveal those things. So for example, we might believe that God is all-powerful, but he's not good.

15:49In other words, our response might tell us that we really think that God is strong enough and powerful enough to do something about our problems. He just doesn't care enough to intervene. Or we might believe that God is all good, but we don't really believe he's all-powerful. In other words, God is kind. He wants to intervene in our lives. He wants to help us. He wants to meet us where we are in our circumstances, but he's just not powerful enough to do anything about it. His hands are tied.

16:24We might even believe that God is both good and powerful, but he's not wise. So he wants to help. He has the power to help. It's just that our circumstances are too complicated for him. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to help us. So, friends, when we feel anxiousness rising up inside of us, then we have to do what Pastor Martin Lloyd-Jones counseled his congregation to do so many years ago, and that was stop listening to yourself and start preaching to yourself. Start reminding yourself of what is really true. We have to remember and preach to ourselves that God is good, perfectly good. He is all-powerful, and he is all-wise. He feeds the birds of the air, he clothes the grass of the field, so we don't have to worry, we don't have to be anxious because we are more valuable to him than anything else in creation.

17:25And, friends, the reason that we are more valuable to him comes out in this passage: it's because he is our heavenly father. Pick up in verse 29 with me. And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom and these things. Will be added to you. Why don't we have to worry about what we're going to eat or drink or what we're going to wear any given day?

18:12The answer, according to Jesus, in this passage, is simple. It's because, unlike all of the other nations who worship false gods who don't really exist, we have a heavenly Father who loves us and who cares for us. Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and he will provide for us just like any good earthly father. I want you to imagine finding your child awake and frightened in the middle of the night. And when you ask your child what's wrong, she says that she can't sleep because she's so worried about what she's going to eat the next day or what she's going to do when her clothes wear out.

19:01As a parent, that would break your heart. You would tell her, honey, you don't have to worry about those things. I have plans to make sure that you eat tomorrow and the next day, and at least until we can get to the grocery store again, right? And I have saved money so that we can buy you clothes when yours wear out. You don't have to worry about those things because I love you, I care for you, I know what you need, and I promise that I will provide for you.

19:30See, that would be such a heartbreaking thing for a parent because your child is living like an orphan. And when we respond to anxious feelings in ungodly ways, what we are doing is we're living like spiritual orphans. As though there is no one, no heavenly father watching out for us, no heavenly father who knows what our needs are, no heavenly father who is powerful enough to provide for everything, who is good and all-powerful and wise. That's what we're doing. We're living like spiritual orphans.

20:06So Jesus wraps up this portion of his teaching by saying, look, seek his kingdom. Seek his kingdom, and all these other things are going to be added unto you. You don't have to worry about them. We seek his kingdom by preaching Christ and looking for his second coming. This is what we're celebrating at Christmas, his first coming. We seek God's kingdom by preaching Christ and that he's coming again. He's coming again to inaugurate fully this new and beautiful and wonderful kingdom where all sin is removed, where there's no more crying or mourning or pain any longer. We should be doing that. We don't have to worry about what we're going to eat or what we're going to drink or what we're going to wear.

20:47So I think at this point it's natural to ask, but what if I spend my whole life doing what Jesus says? What if I spend my whole life seeking his kingdom? And I never find it. Or I spend my whole life seeking his kingdom, and God doesn't let me in. That's why Jesus and what he says in verse 32 is so important. Look there. He says, Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

21:36You see, whether we're talking about material needs or spiritual needs, our good and gracious Father is generous. He is not stingy. He is generous, and he gladly gives what we need, both materially on a day-to-day basis and spiritually. If we seek Jesus' promises, we will find. He says in the Gospel of John that anyone who comes to him, he will by no means cast out. And so we have these great promises that if we seek, we will find. And so seek his kingdom. Seek his kingdom, and all these things are going to be added to you as well.

22:24And we have to understand all of those first verses in this section before we get to verse 33. That has to be at the front. Forefront of our minds when we read this verse. Look at what verse 33 tells us to do. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. There's no qualifications given here, there's no loopholes offered. So if you're fairly poor, what are you supposed to do with this? I mean, you may be poor, but somebody is always needier than you.

23:01And if you're wealthy, what are you supposed to do with this? Are you supposed to sell all your stuff and become poor as well? I mean, if everybody did this, there's nobody left to sell their stuff and give to those who are needy. I think at this point, it's really important to consider the context of Luke and some of the big themes in his gospel. And one of the primary themes in the Gospel of Luke, which is why you have this extended teaching in the middle of Jesus' ministry recorded here in Luke, but really nowhere else, is because one of the key themes of the Gospel of Luke is the danger of riches. The danger of riches. No fewer than one out of every four chapters, 25% of the chapters in Luke mention the danger of riches, warnings about the love of money.

23:55Now, also we find in the Gospel of Luke and elsewhere in the New Testament, Money itself is not the problem, right? Owning things is not the problem. Loving money, loving things, having our hearts captured by money and things, that's the problem. It's when those things become an idol for us. And so Luke is filled with all of these warnings about the danger of riches and about the love of money and how we need to watch out for it. And friends, we ignore those warnings at great risk to our own souls. Many of you probably remember that Jesus taught that the deceitfulness of riches, remember the parable of the four soils? The deceitfulness of riches is one reason that people reject the word of God.

24:45And you see, the nature of deception, the very nature of it, means that you don't know that you're deceived. If you know that you're deceived, you're not deceived. You can perceive the situation rightly. When you are truly deceived, you don't see it. It requires external intervention. Somebody from the outside has to come and tell you that you have been deceived. So Jesus says, beware, beware of the deceitfulness of riches. And so we need to hear that warning.

25:19One of my favorite books from one of my favorite authors is Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. I highly recommend. If you're looking for something to read over the holidays, it's a great book. Take a look at. What he says in this chapter. He's addressing greed. Nobody thinks they are greedy. As a pastor, I've had people come to me and confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, I spend too much money on myself. I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me. Greed hides itself from the victim. The money God's modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart.

26:11Modus operandi is a fancy Italian, a Latin term. It means the way that it works. Every time I read that phrase, I'm like, what does that mean again? Why can't you just say the money God's way of operating includes blindness to your own heart? But Keller is super smart, and he probably doesn't even think anything of it, you know, when he writes that. Keller is right, though. I have never met any single person who has come and said, I am greedy, and that includes me. I've confessed a lot of sin to my wife, to my kids, to my fellow pastors, to people in my life group. I've confessed a lot of sin. I don't know that I've ever once confessed that I am struggling with greed, that I'm spending too much on myself. And I think the reason that we all struggle so much with recognizing greed in our lives. Is because there's always someone who is wealthier than we are. Somebody's got more houses, somebody's got a nicer car, somebody's got a bigger salary, somebody's got nicer clothes. There's always someone that we can point to and say, See, I'm not greedy because I'm not as wealthy as they are.

27:19But, friends, greed is not dependent on how big your salary is, it's not dependent on how many homes you own, or how nice your car is, or how nice your clothes are. You can be greedy with a little, you can be generous with a lot. You can be greedy with a lot and generous with a little. So, we have to interpret verse 33 in light of the context of Luke with all of its warnings about the deceitfulness of riches, all of its warnings about what the love of money can do to us. So, selling possessions and generously giving away the proceeds not only ensures that the poor are properly fed and clothed, but it also ensures that we are being guarded against the deceitfulness of riches. When we sell, when we give away, when we're generous, that's the very thing that the fool in the parable that we read last week didn't do. He didn't do any of that. When we give generously, we're storing up treasure in heaven for ourselves. One of the things that's very interesting about this passage and many others that Jesus teaches on money is that you see, God is not against investing, he's not against saving. And investing, he's against saving and investing in this life and in this world only.

28:39God wants us to save, he wants us to invest, he just wants us to do it with eternity in mind. He wants us to do it with storing up treasure in heaven, he wants us to become rich toward God. Earthly treasures will fail us one way or another. That's how he ends this passage. He says, Look, if they don't wear out, they can be taken from us, they can be stolen. Kendra and I were robbed five times in two years. Can you beat that? Ain't nobody been robbed more than us. We had both of our cars broken into in front of my parents' house in Plano. My car was robbed in front of our apartment in Charlotte. Kendra's car was robbed at a restaurant near downtown Charlotte. And while I was at work and Kendra was away for the weekend, our house was broken into and robbed. The thieves took almost every single thing of value, including some irreplaceable jewelry that was passed down in Kendra's family from one generation to the next.

29:47Maybe you've never been robbed, and maybe you'll never be robbed. I hope that you won't be. But here's the fact of the matter: your stuff could become someone else's stuff. In an instant. And even if it never becomes someone else's stuff while you're alive, it is definitely going to become someone else's stuff as soon as you die. That's the way of it. So, on its own, that's a good incentive to generously give, but Jesus also teaches us that when we do, we're storing up treasure in heaven. And that means that our hearts are going to reside in heaven too. Look at verse 34.

30:27He says, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. See, if you believe what Scripture teaches about the reality of heaven and hell, about the reality of the fact that all of us spend eternity somewhere, then you're going to want your heart to reside in heaven. You're not going to want your heart trapped in this world, in this temporary life. You want your heart in heaven. But for that to be the case, we have to store up our treasure there because that's what Jesus says is the natural thing that happened. Your heart goes where your treasure is, and your treasure goes wherever your heart is. Those two things are inseparably linked.

31:19Friends, two weeks ago we covered Luke chapter 1 and 2, and we talked about two great barriers to generosity: worldliness and fear. And ultimately, it's fear that leads us to respond to our anxious feelings in ungodly ways, to become overly concerned about possible danger or misfortune. As the studies have shown, Americans are more fearful and anxious about money than almost any other thing. Most of us don't have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, what we're going to wear next day or next week, but we're worried about how we're going to pay for our mortgages. We're worried about how we're going to pay for vehicles and the maintenance of them. We're worried about tuition costs. We're worried about our kids and their expenses that they carry. We're worried about the retirement and our future. We're worried about all these different things.

32:18And friends, as long as we're anxious about money, it is very difficult to become the generous people that God has called us to be. A worried, anxious person focuses on self and circumstances rather than God and others. But the gospel of grace releases us from the slavery that we have to fear and the fear that leads to worry and anxiety and misplaced focus. We could say that in the Garden of Eden, our first parents fell prey to fear.

33:01Worry and anxiety, fear, told them that God and His Word could not be trusted. And that led to a misplaced focus on themselves, where they determined that Satan was right. God and His Word could not be trusted. God was not going to care for them, so they had to take matters into their own hands. They had to watch out for themselves, and so they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as God had forbidden. And their sinful rebellion meant that all of their children, including you and me today, would also be born with fearful hearts that do not trust God or his word.

33:41As a result, we hold our money and our possessions very tightly. We anxiously worry about the future. But you see, the gospel tells us that God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to prove once and for all that God does love us and that he will provide for us in every way, both materially and especially spiritually. In our place, Jesus trusted God the Father and submitted perfectly to his word. He offered himself in our place for our sins on the cross for our failure to trust and obey God and his word. And then he rose from the dead, proving once and for all that God accepted his perfect sacrifice on our behalf.

34:30Friends, because of the work of Jesus, you and I no longer have to live in fear. We don't have to live any longer dominated by worry and anxiety because God has proven that He's going to provide for us in every single way. He is generous toward us, He is gracious towards us, and it's His grace and generosity that free us up to be the generous people that He's called us to be. People who seek His kingdom, not the kingdom of this world. People who are content to possess or to sell for God's glory and for the good of others around us.

35:12We are not orphans, and so we don't have to live like orphans. We can be generous because we have a loving Father that we can trust to care for us. We have a loving Father who is glad to give us His kingdom. Let's pray, Father. I will be the first to confess the anxiety that I feel on a regular basis, the doubts that crop up in my mind that maybe you won't provide for me and my family, our church, people that. We love and care about very deeply.

36:05I'll be the first to admit all of that. And I know I'm not alone. I know that there are so many of us who struggle at a deep level with worry and anxiety. And I think for every one of us, that's a part of our life. But, Father, you have reminded us again today through your word that we do not have to worry. And not only that we don't have to worry, you command us do not be anxious.

36:34And so, God, we pray today and we ask for faith to trust in you, to trust in your word, and to, by the power of your Holy Spirit, walk in freedom from fear and worry and anxiety that tells us that you can't be trusted, so we have to hold on to our money and possessions very tightly. God, I pray that you would make us into a generous people who hold our money and our things with open hands because we believe that you love us, that you care for us, and that you are a good father to us.

37:19In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information, Or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.