February 4 Sermon: Added to You

Consider these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Luke 12:22-34:

1. How has the prevalence of technology and constant connectivity contributed to the rise of anxiety in our society, as mentioned in the passage?

2. What does the passage suggest about the relationship between anxiety and one's focus on worldly concerns versus seeking the kingdom of God?

3. In what ways can individuals practically embrace God's provision, prioritize the kingdom of God, and invest in the eternal, as advised in the passage, to alleviate their anxiety and find peace?

Transcript:

Anxiety is a topic that is talked about in abundance in our time. In a hyper busy, information soaked age, it seems as though we actually have an anxiety epidemic, and this really shouldn't surprise us. It's always been a concern and anytime people have been anxious I mean, obviously Jesus is talking about it here and of course, things are different in different times. What we worry about what we face in life is going to be different depending on where we are, what we're experiencing, but in a fallen world, there are always going to be times where we are put in positions where our heart rate increases and we get that way too familiar feeling that we don't like in the pit of our stomach. That is going to happen in a fallen, sinful world and, like I said, this shouldn't surprise us that this is on the rise.

In our modern times. Most of us carry around with us a device that literally can go off at any time, and it could be about pretty much anything. It could be a friendly message from a friend sharing a meme with you that will make you laugh, or it could be an email to let you know that you forgot to turn in something important or forgot to make a payment, or whatever it would be. Could be something as innocuous as a short beep to remind you to track your meals in your calorie counter, or it could be that very alarming tone that can throw you out of bed when there's a severe storm warning. This is the range of things that we can experience, and technology has rewired our brains to be on alert and that can greatly contribute to the feelings that we have of unease and apprehension things that we would normally have living in a world of uncertainty. But it seems to be ratcheted up. It seems to be more of a concern for us in this time, whether the anxiety that you experience is nominal or whether it's something that you're really struggling with.

The words of Jesus from Luke 12 today ring true for us, don't they? They really land. These are words that we need to hear and the perspective of Jesus as the sovereign of history. It rings true, and these are statements that you and I really need to take to heart. So let's set the stage for this passage today by looking at the three main points that I'm going to emphasize. So the first thing that we're going to look at is how we need to embrace God's provisions. The words of Jesus we are looking at today are familiar to us. We know these words and they remind us of the truth that God is sovereign and that he provides for His creation. And then we're going to move on to thinking about taking an assessment of our priorities. So often when we stop and we consider the things that we have anxiety about, we discover that what we're worrying about really isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. It really doesn't matter so much in the scope of eternity. And so Jesus calls us to prioritize the kingdom of God. And finally, we'll be led to our third consideration today, where we're going to talk about inventing and investing in the internal. And this rings back to the passage that we looked at last week. The call on us last week was to not concern ourselves with being rich in the eyes of the world, but to instead focus on being rich towards God. And the same thoughts echo through our passage this morning, as Jesus calls you and I to pursue that which lasts beyond our current earthly existence. And so we come to Luke 12-22 today, and we come to these words without the context, but that's always an important consideration for us to have Remember.

Back to what I just mentioned we saw last week. We had the parable of that rich man who kept the abundance of his harvest for himself. But despite his plotting to keep the harvest and to use it for good or for helping others, he decided he wanted a life of leisure. Right, he was going to keep it, he was going to retire early and eat, drink and be merry. But what did the parable say? That his soul was required of him and his life ended, and we were reminded that there is no guarantee of tomorrow. And so Jesus implored his followers to be rich toward God instead of laying up treasures for themselves. And so this statement here that we see in verse 22 is a continuation of that idea.

Jesus is not just spouting off some proverbial statement here out of nowhere. He is saying, in light of the fact that your soul will be required of you, do not be anxious. Now, I don't know about you, but somebody telling me my soul is going to be required of me would probably make me more anxious. Right, that's the type of thing that I would be worried about. They tell me my soul is required of me and I'm probably going to look three times at the stop sign instead of two. That is something that would probably give us anxiety, but this is what Jesus is saying here. He is making a clear point about God being in control, and so, instead of living a life of anxiety, we should put our trust in the provision of God for his people and take note here of the things that were called not to be anxious about. These are all pretty important things. These are a big deal. These are things that truly matter, aren't they? What you eat, your body, what you'll wear but think about it.

In an affluent society, we tend to be anxious about different things, don't we? We're not really thinking about these things. We don't worry too much about this stuff Because, generally, we either have it locked down, we're confident about those things, or we know that we have family and friends who, if life gets hard, they've got our backs, that, no matter what happens, chances are we will have a roof over our heads, we will have clothes on our back, we will have a meal to set before us, or our family. We just don't think about these things, and so we end up being anxious about other things. But aren't these really the things that should be the cause of anxiety?

If they're in question, these are the things that are really required for life, but Jesus tells us that life is more than food and needing clothes, and this is a really well-known passage, whether it's from here or from another part of one of the Gospels. We know this basic idea very well. We know these words when we know, we know that Jesus is right here, don't we? We know this to be true. We see the animals around us and they do just fine in surviving without worrying about where their next meal is going to come from. We know God provides for them.

And now we could pick this apart a little bit, couldn't we? We could ask irrational questions about the text and we could try to make Jesus imply things that Jesus is not suggesting with this statement. For example, is Jesus just telling us not to plan and not be proactive in our lives for providing for ourselves? As that's what he's saying, are we supposed to just abandon our jobs and our homes and just say, oh well, god provides, I don't need to do anything, he'll provide for me. Well, of course, that's not what Jesus is saying, because the things that we have, those are the provisions from God. It's how God works. He works through means. When a raven sees grain in a field, does it fly over it and say, uh, god's going to provide, and open its mouth to the skies? No, that is the provision, that is what is given by God, and so the point here is not to give everything up, but not to be anxious, because God cares for his people, and he does this through the people around us and the opportunities that God provides. And Jesus. He makes this clear for us as he continues and lets us know that we're more valuable than birds. If God is looking after the birds, then he is most assuredly caring for us.

And as if this wasn't convicting enough for us about anxiety, maybe the most convicting part of this whole passage that we read today is in this next sentence in Luke 25. And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? Don't we naturally gravitate towards thinking the exact opposite? Don't we think we're adding to our life by being anxious, by us taking a stranglehold on the things around us, that we're preserving ourselves, we're being cautious, we're planning, we're getting things straightened out. If we think on it and we think about all this stuff, if we're anxious, you know what? Then we can keep this bad stuff from happening to us. By being anxious, by having a stranglehold on this stuff, we are preserving our lives. We can keep the negative from happening.

And really, as I sat and I think about this, as I meditated on this passage and particularly this statement during the week, isn't what we end up doing by doing this, a violation of the First Commandment? Isn't what we're doing when we are anxious, when we grab hold of these things and we have to control them? Aren't we trying to usurp the throne of God? Aren't we trying to be sovereign over our lives and we refuse to trust God's sovereign control over us and we put ourselves in his place. Naturally, as fallen sinful creatures, we desperately desire to be sovereign, we desire to be autonomous from God. That's what sin is right. And, I would argue, the number one way that we do this is with our worry and with our anxiety. You know, we know we aren't in control, we know it, but we obsess over being in control and we try to put ourselves on God's throne. We try to control everything.

And so Jesus takes this sin that each and every last one of us struggles with it's a substantial part of our lives and he exposes just how futile our worry is here because we don't add a single hour to our lives in doing this. In fact, we know that our worry, that our stress, is actually subtracting from our lives. He says we can't even add one single hour. But in our stranglehold of trying to be sovereign over our stranglehold of things, trying to be sovereign, we're actually shortening our lives, and I don't think we like to hear this very much. We would rather think that our worry, that our anxiety, that our taking control of this stuff is doing some good. We adamantly think we can make our lives better, but we can't and we don't. In fact, we make it worse. You know, it's true, and Jesus continues to remind us here that God provides. He continues his point and drives it home. He points to the lilies and the grass and how they're beautiful and they're provided for. How much more will God provide and clothe you? And in this restatement of what his big point is here, he really gets us to understand how this works.

When we're worried about these things, the root thing is, as we lack faith, we fail to trust God and his provision for us. And as we conclude this first point that we're considering today with verse 30, there's an interesting statement by Jesus here. He says all the nations of the world seek this, and there's an idea that comes out at this. As we look at it, this is more than the idea of Jesus saying this nation over here, they worry, and this nation over here they worry, or that people everywhere worry. When he says the nations of the world, he's driving home the idea that the Gentiles seek these things and that you're the people of God. You're the ones who should be trusting in the protection and sovereignty of God. Everyone else seeks after these things. As the children of God, you should trust him, and these are convicting words for us.

On this idea of anxiety On every front, here we should know better, shouldn't we? We should know that God provides. We should know that he will provide for us because he has provided for us in the past. We understand that God is faithful. We also know that he has provided us the gift of salvation, and so the greatest worry that we can have in our lives death and hell. That's not a concern for us as the people of God. We should not be stressed and have anxiety like the world. And these are convicting words for us, and we'll see where our focus should be. As we move on to our second point, as we look at verses 31 and 32, here, jesus tells us to seek the kingdom.

Now, as I contemplated these words, I really realized something. When I am anxious, what's my focus? It's my kingdom. Like I said before, it's me seeking to be on the throne. The point here is that if we're seeking the kingdom of God, we won't be seeking the things that make us anxious, and this is quite easy to understand, and we know that this is true. So I want you to think about something that makes you anxious. Take a hold of it, think about it for a minute Now. Consider this for just a moment. Whatever it is that makes you anxious, is that thing a kingdom priority? Is it something that is important for the advancement of the kingdom of God, or is it something that's important for the advancement of the self? And I don't need to pull the audience. I'm not going to make you raise your hands. I know the answers. I'm pretty confident in these results. The thing that is eating a hole in your stomach, the thing that makes you toss and turn at night, it's not a kingdom priority. It's not something that you would prioritize if you were seeking the kingdom of God, and Jesus lets us know that if we seek the kingdom of God, then these things will be added to us. Now, this is not a magic formula. Here Jesus isn't saying whatever it is that you're anxious about. If you would just drop that and worry about the kingdom of God, then I'll give you it. This isn't a formula for that.

Remember what Jesus is telling the disciples not to worry about here. Remember the context. It's important. He's talking about food, he's talking about clothing and their body. And so if we go back to the beginning of the chapter and what we looked at many, many weeks ago, we looked at Jesus as preparing the disciples for persecution. That's the context here. Remember when Jesus talked about the leaven of the Pharisees. Jesus is telling the disciples and us that, in the face of anything that we might face, continue to seek the kingdom. If you're persecuted as you're seeking the kingdom, continue to seek the kingdom, because God will provide for you, when all these other things are taken away from you, the rest of whatever hardships you might face.

That's what this is about. That's the context here, and we get the idea of this as the next words that Jesus says are fear, not little flock. It's God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You get the idea that they're going to be facing something here, right? Or he wouldn't say fear not. The disciples are being prepared by Jesus for this persecution, and if they seek the kingdom of God, they're going to receive it. It is God's good pleasure to give it to them, and that's an amazing promise, isn't it?

Think about the contrast in what Jesus has said. By worrying, you can't add. You can't add even an hour to your life. Now compare that to fear not, it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That's a great contrast in words. You can't do anything, but God desires and it's his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You can't even extend your life by 60 minutes, but you receive the kingdom as a gift from a gracious God. And so we're called to seek that, to seek the kingdom, pursue the things of God, and with that pursuit comes a promise. You will receive it, because God gives it abundantly. When you seek that, you will receive it. And when we do this, we see here our third point for the day that we're to invest in the eternal and not the temporary.

And Jesus makes a very strong statement to his disciples. Here, they're to sell their possessions and give to the needy, and so, once again, it's important that we remember the context. As we read this. Jesus is urging his disciples to do this. It's in the context of the ministry that he's preparing them to do after he ascends to heaven. Right, they are going to go out into the world to proclaim the gospel. They are called to sell their possessions and give to the needy and set out to do the work of the kingdom. That's who they're to be, as the disciples. And after Jesus has risen and they have witnessed him, they are the disciples. And the answer is not that every Christian, everywhere and every time, should sell everything they have and give it up to live in absolute poverty. That's not the point here. The disciples were heading out on a mission and they were going to need to trust that they had the ministry of the kingdom to proclaim and that God was going to provide. They needed to not hold on to the things of this earth because they were going to face persecution. That's the point of what Jesus says here.

But there's an important principle for us in our time and in our context what are we holding on to, what are we valuing? What do we not want to get rid of? What do we hold on to in our lives and place above God and the ministry of the kingdom? The statement here that we should invest in things that are eternal rings true for every believer in every time. We should invest in things that don't age, in things that don't fail, in things that no moth can destroy or thief take away from us or whatever, as I always say, is going to be rotting in a landfill before we know it.

And we know the value of these words. We intellectually embrace them, we understand them, and we may even embrace them emotionally as well. We understand this, we know these words are true, but it's an entirely different thing to live this way, isn't it? The things of this life are tangible to us. We can hold them and see them. It's easy to pursue the things of this world. They're things we possess, things we can see.

The value in Storing up treasure in heaven is not tangible. It's something that we can so quickly lose sight of. Having money bags that grow old and fade and a treasure that fails is a bad thing. We understand these words from Jesus, but when we have them, we have them, we see them and we put far too much value in them, don't we? In fact, they provide us with comfort in the midst of our anxiety. Those things that we possess are what help us get rid of the anxiety, instead of what Jesus is saying, to put our trust in God. Those things that fade, that maus destroy, those are the things that help make us feel better in the face of our anxiety.

So this is why we need to be gospel centered. This is why we need to be kingdom focused, because the natural tendency is to find refuge in the things that maus destroy. But when our focus is on what God has done, what Christ has done to save us, we're gonna be mindful of the futility of all of these earthly pursuits. Because the gospel changes how we see the world around us. Because when we see that we were dead in our sin, that we were hopeless in our unbelief and that Christ resurrected us to newness of life and saved us from sin, death and hell, that will change our value system. We will always be drawn to the economy of the world because we can see it, because we can touch it. But the truth of the gospel pulls us back towards the economy of God, the economy of heaven, because that gift of salvation is a possession that no thief can steal and no maus can destroy. God gives it and he gives it abundantly, and that is where our hope should be found, and it causes us to understand this wisdom that Jesus gives us at the end of this passage here, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Again, words that ring true. If we treasure the things of this world, our hearts will be pulled to those things that failed. If we treasure the gospel, our heart will be directed towards the kingdom, and so the call to the disciples and the call to you and I today is to seek the kingdom and treasure it, that our hearts would be directed towards God and that we would labor for his kingdom. And the application of this passage is clear, as clear as it can get Seek the kingdom, and all these things will be added. But what does it mean to seek the kingdom? How do we focus on that which lasts in a world where we're filled with anxiety about the things of this life that are soon going to fail us? If only there was a magic formula or a three step plan that I could give you and automatically your anxieties would fade away and we would be kingdom minded people. But there isn't one. There isn't a checklist for this.

It requires a change of mind, it requires a work of the word and the Holy Spirit in us, and we need to place ourselves in such a place that we're hearing the word and that we're learning to trust it, to trust its sufficiency and its authority more each and every day. It's knowing that we need the word of the gospel that tells us of the rescue that we've received in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's daily taking up our cross and denying ourselves and allowing our hearts to be directed toward the things of God and so the temporal things of the world. It's a difficult thing to do, because it's always so much easier For us to seek after the tangible, those things that we can see, those things that we can touch. It is hard to pursue the eternal.

So may we be persistent in our pursuit of God's word. Maybe we be persistent in hearing his gospel, maybe we be persistent in a pursuit of the kingdom that Christ might be glorified, and may we find peace in the truth that the kingdom is freely given by the grace of God. By the grace of God. That is a pursuit that is guaranteed to bear fruit, because God has promised to give you the kingdom, and he keeps his promises. So may God grant us the desire for the kingdom that we might treasure it, and our hearts will be directed towards him alone. Amen.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God. We are filled with anxiety about many things, and in your word you say these convicting things, most of all, that we can't even add an hour to our lives by our own stranglehold of the things of this life. And so we pray, oh Lord, that we would be a people that would desire your word, for your word points us to your kingdom. May we seek your kingdom and trust that the things of this life will be added, because you are a good God. And may we, most of all, have a deep confidence that you give your people the kingdom that we have this inheritance, and so may we not only treasure that inheritance and seek it. May we be speaking of it that others might hear and seek your kingdom as well. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.