Not to Worry.
Luke 12:22-34
In this section, Jesus again turns His attention from the crowds to His disciples and tells them they should be free from concern about worldly things. However, the warnings He gives them are closely linked with His previous warnings about greed. Because the best way to combat greed/covetousness is a strong desire to cling to this world’s goods is the development of true faith in the fatherly care of God. Leon Morris says: “greed can never get enough, worry is afraid it may not have enough.”
- Don’t worry.
What is worry?
Essentially worry is a concern about the future. It’s a concern about what you and I are powerless to prevent happening. Things over which we have no control, that’s why it tears us apart. A worrier is a person who projects their emotions, their thinking, their time and energy into the future. No one except God knows the future. But many of us worry about the future of the country, how we will provide education for our children and even if we can, will there be jobs for them? The post-modern world addresses worries we didn’t know we had! Our modern culture is neurotic about food, drink and clothing. TV ads feed our neuroses’ with alluring images of lithe legs in jeans and painted lips ecstatically consuming chips and cokes etc. Perhaps nothing does this better than the airline magazines with their sumptuous ads for champagne, antiques, carpets, watches and exoteric shopping in Rome or New York.
In stark contrast to all this, Jesus commands us not to worry about life. “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” Luke 12:23 We must reject the popular reductionist view of life that claims we are just bodies that need to be fed, watered, clothed, and serviced – putting us on the same level as plants and animals and reducing “God” to our needs. Life is more than a good meal and a new outfit. And it is certainly more than worrying about these things.
Don’t worry about food.
“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?” Luke `1:24-26.
(i) Consider the birds. The ravens and their little brothers, the crows, were and are everywhere – in every nation of the world. They are in fact scavengers and in biblical times were considered to be unclean. (Leviticus 11:15) They know nothing of the careful, prudential habits of a farmer. (Note the farm language in verse 24 →sow, reap, storeroom, barn.) And yet God feeds them. How much more therefore will He not provide for His disciples, for His children who are worth much more than the birds? Having said that, nowhere in the Bible does God encourage us to be lazy or careless, or to rely on or sponge off other people. Nor does it prohibit private possessions or discourage us from proper savings, or prevent us from enjoying the good gifts of God. Remember, our Father knows what we need. He wants s to trust Him to take care of our needs.
(ii) Consider yourself. Jesus says in effect, ‘consider the birds and then consider yourself – how much more valuable are you than the birds!’ “Said the Robin to the Sparrow ‘I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.’ Said the Sparrow to the Robin ‘Friend, I think that it must be They have no Heavenly Father, Such as cares for you and me.’” Author unknown, The actual truth is more compelling because birds in the full sense, do not have Heavenly Fathers, only we, His children can call Him Father because we bear His image. Genesis 1:26 How much more will God provide for us, who are worth much more than the birds, who are gifted with intelligence and all manner of other gifts? He is our Father – creator, so why should we worry?
(iii) Worry’s absurdity.
“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?” Luke 12:25-26
That’s the unanswerable question. Worry shortens life and desolates what is left. ‘Worriers feel every blow that never falls. And they cry over things they will never lose!’ Worriers fear, worriers suffer, worriers wither and twist and die. Worry takes a terrible toll, and we see it every day – the stammer in mid-sentence, the distractedness, the missed appointments, the wasted hour in front of the TV, the second pack of cigarettes. Worry is not a moral virtue in a disciple of Christ, worry is not something to be proud of. It is a desiccator, a shriveller.
Worry about clothing.
Jesus introduces a second focus. “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.” Luke 12:27 The lilies here are the various bright flowers that dot the Palestinian fields in the spring – the scarlet anemone, the Easter daisy, the autumn crocus, the poppies. All of them showing forth ravishing beauty and ornate textures and colours. Indeed Solomon’s robes were paupers’ rags in comparison. The flowers existed without concern or worry, though they were only passing ornaments of the field.
Consider yourself.
“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!” Luke 12:28.
So again, the logic of Jesus is inescapable If God makes the plants grow so wonderfully and endows them with such beauty, how much more will He care for His people, to whom He has given reason and intelligence and many other gifts? Luther quaintly said of the lesson of the flowers: “It seem….that the flowers stand there and make us blush and become our teachers. Thank you, flowers, you who are to be devoured by the cows! God has exalted you very highly, that you become our masters and teachers.” If we persist in worrying, it’s because we are ‘of little faith’, we are doubting God’s word. Disbelief is the midwife of worry!
A Don’t and a Do.
“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.” Luke 12:29-30
Don’t.
Jesus again reiterates to his command not to worry but with a slight variation. Worry is intrinsically useless and especially so for believers because God knows what we need. Worry always projects the worst. Worry loads the present with the weight of the future. When you load the troubles you’re anticipating upon the troubles you are presently experiencing, you give yourself an impossible burden.
George MacDonald wisely put it: “No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today, that the weight is more than a man can bear.” Mickey Rivers, at the time an outfielder for the Texas Rangers professional baseball team, stated his philosophy of life: “Ain’t no sense worrying about things you got control over, because if you got control over them, ain’t no sense worrying. And there ain’t no sense worrying about things you got no control over either, because if you got not control over them, ain’t no sense worrying.” Dallas Morning News, May 20, 1984.
Jesus said that in His summary statement of the parallel passage in Matthew.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
Do.
The power to live above worry is found in the famous command Jesus gave next. “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” Luke 12:31
Sadly the meaning of this clear command and promise of Jesus has been badly twisted by certain evangelical Christians and churches in our day. It’s been wrenched out of its context and used to justify and support an over emphasis on material luxury. Like the license plate on the large luxury car parked in a church lot, which read:
“I give to God, and God has given this to me. If you gave like I do, you would have one too!”
The context of Jesus’ promise both here and in Matthew is not about ‘luxuries’ but life’s essentials – food and clothing! The point that Jesus is making when He tells us to seek His kingdom and all these things will be added to you as well is that one of liberation from worry about the things of life comes from ‘seeking His kingdom’ Those who make the kingdom of God their foremost aim have no need to worry about life’s essentials. If we seek/pursue the development of His rule in our lives and the lives of others through the gospel, we need not worry. One’s commitment to the kingdom is the key to a life liberated from worry and anxiety. In point of fact,
Jesus’ followers already have the kingdom:
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom”
The benefits are ours already, and they ought to liberate us from fear and worry about material things – and will loosen the grip of possessions upon is too.
J.C.Ryle wrote: “The kingdom of God is the only kingdom worth labouring for. All other kingdoms shall, sooner or later, decay and pass away. So…happy are those who belong to it, love it, live for it, pray for it, and labour for its increase and prosperity. Their labour shall not be in vain.”
Give.
“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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:33-34
Jesus concludes His teaching by exhorting His followers to a life of giving, which is a further way to over come worry.
Divest.
The disciples were on the road with Jesus and like Jesus Himself, had no place to lay their heads. Jesus had left His trade behind, as had the disciples. They were ex-fishermen and craftsmen for the most part. Their giving away of virtually everything they had, had liberated them to go anywhere Jesus went. We may not be called to do that but, all of us are called to divest ourselves. For a few of us it may mean like the disciples, on the road with Jesus. For others, it may be to loosen your grip on your possessions, to hold everything loosely, to share what you have, to use your possessions to serve others, to give! We are to be generous with everything – our money, our homes, our possessions, our time, our lives. Everything we have must be committed to Christ.
Invest.
Jesus concluded with this impeccable logic. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” verse 34.
Francis Schaefer said: “People are very interested in and think about their treasures. If you have bought investments, lands, houses, you have an interest in that particular part of the world, whatever it may be. If you have given money to people from the Lord’s work, those people and that work take up part of your interest, your ‘heart’ and then, because it is also a treasure in heaven, your thoughts are concerned more about the things the Lord tells us of heaven, than if everything has been ‘invested’ here on earth. You can’t grow spiritually if your thought are always on earthly investments. It makes a difference to your spiritual growth when you are laying up treasure in heaven. It makes heaven more like a home you are preparing to move into.”
Where is your heart?
- In your barns and storehouses,
- In a Swiss bank,
- On the golf course
- In your kitchen
- In your wardrobe
- In your car
- Or is it in heaven
- In your church
- In missions
- In the poor……If this is your passion, you have no worries.
Peter Wessels, Minister.
St Olav Church