Luke 12:22-34. If an audio link exists it will be at the end of the post.
In today’s passage Jesus speaks to the issue of worry or anxiety. We often let stress build up in our lives to the point that we can even make ourselves sick. Here are some recent statistics on stress in America. 20% of Americans say they feel stressed out every day, 60% say they feel stressed out once a week. Research clearly shows that “stress deteriorates our immune systems; people under constant high stress show lower T-cell counts, which are essential for immune response.”
We use the term stress in two very different ways. First, we use stress to refer to the person, thing, or situation that is the “stressor.” This use focuses on the external thing that presents a challenge to us in some way. However, the second use of this word refers to an inner response to that challenge. Thus someone is “stressed out.” It is to this inner aspect that the words “worry” or “anxiety” refer. Now in some ways people can stress out about some of the silliest things. I don’t say that to put them down because I do it myself from time to time. That said, there is much in this world today about which we could reasonably worry. In fact, the Bible describes the last days as, “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth,” Luke 21:26 (NKJV).
In our passage today we see that God intends His people to have peace in their hearts about the things in their lives, especially when the world is falling apart. Paul describes the Christian life in Romans 14:17 this way, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Worry is one of the main ways that we miss out on the peace and joy that God wants us to experience. In fact, verse 22 starts out with the Lord’s command to not worry about things in our life. So let’s look at eight reasons why we should not worry as followers of Christ.
Look at verses 22-23. The word “life” here refers both to the living force within us (staying alive) and the internal soul and its will, emotions, desires, etc. Whether the concern is physical survival or simply the desires of our heart, we fear the things that can affect both. Here Jesus uses the issues of food and clothing. In Matthew’s account of this sermon he adds shelter. Notice that all three of these issues can be issues of survival or simply issues of what we desire. I want better food or even yummier food! Or, I want nicer clothes! Perhaps I want the best clothes so that I will be noticed? Most people shoot way past survival when it comes to picking out shelter. In fact, no one calls a house their “shelter.” So we could add to this list that Jesus starts: entertainments, wealth, investments, vacations, holidays, boyfriends and girlfriends, spouses, and the list goes on and on. Jesus is not discounting the necessity that exists within these things. However, he tells us that our life is greater than those things. The things that make four our being physically alive and our soul prospering are not fulfilled by such things alone. In fact, the case could be made that they play the smaller part. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father.” Thus if I have bread, but not the Father, I am in severe trouble. Yet, if I have no bread, but have the care of the Father, then I have nothing to worry about. And, that is the problem with worry, it shrinks our life down into small trivial things and we become a small trivial person swimming in a sea of problems.
In verse 24 Jesus turns to the birds and teaches us a lesson. The raven is a bird of little value. He doesn’t use the peacock or some other rare, expensive bird, but simply a raven. He reminds us that God cares for them. In fact, they don’t build barns and plant crops. They simply live off of what is provided for them every day. How much more will God carry us through who are more valuable to Him than a raven? This rhetorical question is clearly intended to be answered with a resounding, “much more!” But it is purposefully left hanging for us to meditate and chew on.
When we think about how God did not spare His own Son, but asked Him to come down to earth and become a man, and then to be put to death on a cross for a mankind that had rebelled against him, we ought to be amazed at the price God has paid for us. When we think about the Son, without coercion, agreeing whole-heartedly to such a plan, we ought to be amazed at the value he places on us. The value of each person is more to God than perhaps we can imagine. Many times at the root of our worry is the fear that God cares for others, but not for us. Some may challenge this premise that the birds owe their thanks for food to God. But, they would be those who are not in relationship with God. If He is your Father, then can you not see that He has made provision for you as well?
In verses 25-26 Jesus points out the futility of worry. Whether it is a foot to your stature or a million dollars to your bank account, worrying doesn’t do anything to help. In fact, it does quite the opposite. Worrying will always make the situation worse. It ruins our attitude and hampers the response that we can make. It can affect the people around us. Like the Peanuts character “Pigpen” our attitude of fear and worry surrounds us like a cloud and sends those around us either fleeing or catches them up in our cloud. Worry blurs the lines between what we can change and what we can’t. It has negative affects upon us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In fact, I don’t believe that anyone worries because they think it will help. They worry because they think they have no choice and no power over their situation. Now let’s be clear. Analyzing a problem and choosing a response is not equivalent to worrying. It is a proper response to any stress to figure out if there is anything we can do to mitigate it. However, we often run into situations where there is little we can do. It is at this point that we can slide into anxiety and worry. We cycle around and around about a problem with no solution and underline our powerlessness in our mind, until we are paralyzed and depressed. It can become habitual like a rut in the road that, no matter how many times you pop out of it, it quickly sucks you back down into itself. Worrying really is a foolish response when we think about it this way. Why would I want to make a bad situation worse? I know that no one does it for that reason. But perhaps we can stop for that reason?
In verses 27-28 Jesus draws from another nature analogy. As ravens are to food, so flowers are compared to clothing. You might think that Jesus is really stretching it for this analogy, but go with Him for a little bit. Clothing can be about warmth, but in most cases we want to make a social statement with how we dress. It is a big part of who we are. Jesus says that the lily is clothed with greater spendor than King Solomon ever was. Notice that a lily cannot lay claim to why it is so beautiful. Of course we could point out many beautiful flowers throughout creation. All of them have been given a unique beauty and glory from God. Will not God so clothe you with unique beauty and glory? Our problem is that we often look to clothes to do what they really cannot do. Clothes can only impress the superficial. The things that make for our true “social statement” are not our clothes. Again Jesus hammers home the point of our value to God. Flowers are frailer than even mankind. Yet, Jesus asks how much more will God clothe us? I won’t take time to go into it, but there appears to be an implication that reaches forward to the Resurrection, in which we will be “clothed with glory” and “this mortal will put on immortality.”
Now Jesus ends this with the phrase, “O you of little faith.” Here he points us to our lack of faith in a God who has proven Himself faithful many times over. God is asking His people to trust Him, not just in a blind faith. He is faithful everyday to his creation. He even causes it to rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. God’s provision is spread throughout the cosmos. In fact, we might even call it wasteful as an immeasurable amount of energy, that we will never be able to harness, is cast into the void of space. But it is not wasteful for God because He is infinite and it is He who has made provision for us. How greatly do we trust God? Many Christians have been stripped of their clothing, houses, lands, freedom, and even their lives. They could have completely despaired God’s care and concern for them. They could have “cursed God and died.” Yet, they testified, over and over again, that God was faithful to them through it all. Our life is greater than things that can be taken away from us in this life. Jesus promises that anyone who loses anything for His sake will be paid back in this life and in the Age to come. Imagine the great glory we will have in the Resurrection ruling in power with Jesus Himself when He returns. The small losses of this life are trivial in light of the great glory that is coming to us.
In verses 29 and 30 there are actually a couple of reasons not to worry. The first is in the reference to the nations. The Bible reveals that the nations of the world had walked away from God. Thus they were separated from Him and in darkness to their true condition. They had been given over to the “god” of this world. However, Israel was a unique thing. God created a nation who would not only belong to Him, but also be a light to the darkened gentiles. In fact the term “nations” was a Jewish idiom for all other nations who were outside God's kingdom. Jesus challenges his disciples with the recognition that we can be guilty of acting like the lost. Now it makes sense for those who are lost and in darkness to worry. God is not their Father and the “gods” (actually demons) that do rule over them are heavy taskmasters. On top of this they are enemies of the One True God. In that sense they have every reason to worry. Such should not be for those who are the Children of God. Why would His people worry? Perhaps we are not confident in our relationship with Him. In fact many trials test our ability to keep our confidence in God’s faithfulness. Too often we let these small issues define whether God loves us or not. However, when He was hanging on the cross, what did Jesus have that would enable Him to be confident in God’s promises to Him? Everything that we could use to comfort ourselves was stripped from Him, except the very Word of God itself. Thus He says to us, "pick up your cross and follow me."
The second thing in verses 29 and 30 is the phrase, “Your Father in Heaven knows you need these things.” It is not just that He knows, it is He who designed us with these needs in the first place. Yes, our desires and wants often sprint on past our needs. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that God knows exactly what our needs are, even better than ourselves. Therein lies part of the problem. God always provides but not always at the levels we desire and seek after. God always meets our greatest needs, but His list and our list are generally not the same. We often seek fulfillment in the things that should be at the bottom of the list at the expense of the things that should be at the top. God loves us too much to satisfy our every wish. He has greater plans for us.
In verses 31 and 32, Jesus points us towards what we should be seeking after, the Kingdom of God. Worry focuses our life on exactly the wrong things. So what does it mean to seek the Kingdom of God? We seek to have Him ruling in our hearts and our life by reading His Word and prayerfully incorporating it into our life. We seek to understand the reasons behind his commands and designs. We seek to fulfill the commission that He has given us by sharing His act of love with those who are lost and in the dark to these things. In short we choose His way over the top of our way, or even the way of the latest self-help guru we may admire.
Jesus uses a term “little flock.” This term is intended to be an extremely tender term. In fact the word flock is a diminutive form. To coin a term it is like him calling them a “little flocklet,”- my apologies to the English language. They are few and little, not even a full “flock.” These are the very kind of things that cause us to worry. Yet, here we see it is precisely what makes them dear to our Lord. Have you ever thought that the very things you fret over are exactly what make you precious and dear to the heart of God? The tenderness of Jesus here is the tenderness of the Father towards all who suffer things in this life for His sake. Even in seeking His kingdom we must bear in mind that we receive it not because of our ability, but simply because it pleases Him to give it to those who are the “weak” and the “poor” of this life. We are often guilty of striving to obtain in this life what we cannot at the expense of even greater things in the life to come. As Jim Elliot wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” This was written by a man who would die at the hands of an unreached tribe in the jungles of Equador. Was it a tragic loss? On the natural plane it was. But in the spiritual plane of the Kingdom of God it was a nuclear bomb that brought an entire village out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Jesus.
In the last verse Jesus seals the deal. Where is your heart? Our worries and anxieties are like carbon cords tying us to the “stone” of this world. This world and the cares of it are passing away. If we allow our hearts to be lashed to the mast of a ship that is going down, then we will perish with it. Thus, Jesus has brought his disciples full circle to the Rich Young Fool in verses “12-21.” This man’s heart was tied to this world without thought for the things of God. When his judgment came he was found lacking and judged as a fool. Worry is a foolish thing because it jeopardizes our soul. Yet, it is easy to give into it because of the frailty of our flesh. Even though this is a clear command from Christ, it is given in a far more tender way. This is not the command of a master, but the tender heart of a Father who doesn’t want to see us fret when He has pledged Himself to us. May God help us this year to do much less worrying and much more trusting so that we can focus on what really matters in this life!