Good morning, Trinity Bible Church. So thankful to be here with you. I know I’m jumping in. I'm kinda parachuting in. It's been the study you've been through in Luke, and we're at chapter 12 in Luke. If you can turn with me to chapter 12, and we're gonna be in verses 22 to 28. And in preparing for this, I listened to the message last week by Christian Mathis and his exposition of the word from verses 13 to 21 gives us that context. But let's read verses 22 to 28, Luke 12, 22 to 28.
“And He (that's Jesus), said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!”
[Prayer] Our Father, we come before you this morning. Lord, I'm humbled and I've been blessed and encouraged by your word in preparation to bring it this morning to my brothers and sisters. I ask Father that by your Spirit, You would move in the hearts of Your people. You would comfort those who need comfort this morning, Lord. You would bring conviction to those who need conviction this morning. Lord, to those who are faint-hearted, You would provide strength. Lord, to those who are confused, You would give clarity. Your word Oh, Lord, is truth. So, Lord, lead us in Your truth this morning. We ask by the power of Your Spirit, Lord, to do this work. Move in our hearts. Don't leave us unchanged. Minister to us, Lord. Lead us. Let us hear from You, our great shepherd. So, Father, we ask Your blessing. this morning, and we ask it in the power of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in His precious name, amen. [End]
I was here 20 years ago for the first time in Texas, and I left with an extreme sunburn, heat stroke, vomiting all night, and then got a ticket from a state trooper. So, so far this trip has been better than the first time to Texas. My wife has spent some years in Texas in Lake Travis. So, she loves Texas, she feels at home here. I'll tell you what, I think Californians are dumber, because every time I come to Texas, I get confused on the roads here. I don't know what it is or why it is. As I'm driving along, maybe that led to the reason why I got a ticket. Maybe I'm gonna have some compassion in my job, and some people might be confused in California.
You know, the Lord has given us His Word as a light, as a lamp to our feet, doesn't He? He gives us His Word as truth. Something that we can hang our hats on, that, this is what I'm baking all my chips in. What He has declared to us is reality. So many people live in their life in false reality, false hopes, false dreams, they live for the here and now. They cannot see anything beyond that. They have no eyes to see eternity. They are filled with the hopes and the cares and the worries and the dreams and the loves of this life. It controls them, it compels them, it drives them. Man's ambition drives them to be great; to have everyone look at their life, to have the praises and applauds of men. That's what they live for. And when they die, that's all they have. That's all they have on into eternity.
Praise be to God that if you are in Christ this morning, your hopes and your dreams and your direction has been radically changed from what God has opened your eyes to see in the truth, has led you to believe through his word, has brought that to your knees in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. And our Lord doesn't leave us here, does he? He saves us. He gives us a clear path forward. And along life's travels, He brings comfort. He brings hope. He gives assurance when there's doubt. Our God is so worthy of our praise, is he not? He is so worthy.
I was moved this morning singing here. Here I am with strangers and yet you're not. You're my brothers and sisters in Christ. Here I am on earth with you and one day we'll be in heaven forever. That kind of clarity in life has to be pinpointed. It's gotta be in the focal point of our minds and our hearts and our lives. So many temptations come in. So many things in life want to distract. This is our purpose of why we're here, to give God glory here and now, and to give God glory there and then, forever.
And so, in context here of these verses, Christian did a great job, but if you weren't here last week, I'll give a little recap. In verse 13, Jesus is in a very busy crowd. Flocks of people are coming and stepping on one another. He's talking to them, but then he is interrupted by the greedy man. He gets interrupted by a question that's solely focused on himself. Look at verse 13. “Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’” And so, there's the greedy request from the greedy interrupter. Tell my brother to give my inheritance.
And the Lord doesn't address that other than saying, “who made me the arbitrator or judge over you?” Look at verse 14. That's what He says. “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” In verse 15, “Then He said to them, ‘Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’” Even when you have a lot, your life doesn't consist in that. Even when you have obtained and amassed a fortune, your life doesn't consist with that fortune. And that can be seen in two ways. One, that doesn't give you life. That doesn't give you security. God gives you that. And in one sense, that possession can't give you anything other than things in this life. It gives you nothing for eternity. So even when you have an abundance, your life doesn't consist with your possessions.
Jesus says that, notice he says that to them. He is addressed by the man, he speaks to him directly, and then he addresses the crowd. Verse 16, “And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul…” Soul, now you know you got a problem when you're talking to yourself in the third person, and speaking specifically as a soul, to your soul, right? “And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ Verse 20, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” He tells this parable to get to that point. So is the man that stores up everything for this life, the greediness that wants more, more, more, not satisfied, not content. I need more. I need more security. I need to have more in my 401k. I look to the future, I'm finding my security in the future, in amassing and stockpiling the things for the future. That's what I need. And so, He works this parable, this rich man, and he stores up and he thinks, I've got years, I've got years. Look at all I have, that'll sustain me for years. And then that very night, his soul is demanded by his creator. And now who's gonna get all that? Not him. And he had no room for God in his heart and he's not going there with God either. He was rich in his life; he's bankrupt in heaven. That's the context, okay?
And Jesus doesn't deviate from this topic. He moves into speaking, now he turns from the crowd to his disciples. I've got something to tell you, my disciples, about this very topic. And that's where he jumps in, verse 22, “And He said to His disciples, for this reason,” you heard me when I said to this greedy man, you've just heard my parable. “And for this reason, I say to you, do not worry about your life.” What does that look like? Worry for our life, the future. I'm worried about the future. I'm concerned about my life, the here and the now. And Jesus says, don't worry about your life.
Through this passage, the Lord gives us clearly four things that we have to consider. We have to carry with us through life. The worries of life that contempt us all, those things vanish when we consider life from God's perspective. And that's the first consideration that we need to focus on. “Worry vanishes when we consider life from God's perspective.” That's verses 22 and 23.
So, God's perspective, through the mouth of our Christ, comes with a command. “Do not worry.” In the Greek, it is a command. Don't worry. Don't do it. Don't be anxious. And the grammar here can show that the disciples themselves were worrying. It was a present thing that they were doing. And so, He says, it can be translated too, stop worrying. Stop doing that. And that makes sense when he says then later, “you men of little faith,” your worry is built about and built upon all these uncertainties of life. Your faith is little and your worries are great. And He says in this passage multiple times, “don't worry.” Verse 25, “which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his span of life? 26, “if you can't do a little thing, why do you worry about other matters?” Three times he repeats Himself to not worry.
You know, the English word for worry comes from the German word that literally means to strangle. That's what it was, it was to strangle something. And then it became, later, the one who worries is seized by the throat. You're anxious, you're worried, it catches your breath because you're so filled with anxiety about the future. It's like weight crushing down on you. And then it moved in the English to eventually mean a sense of a feeling of anxiety. It's a mental thing and it produces physical manifestations in our bodies. Worry and anxiety in America today is a huge problem.
Jesus' audience was a primary agricultural audience, an agrarian, right? They were dependent upon the seasonal rains. They would work and they would labor hard, but drought would come, heavy winds and rains could come, it could destroy their crops. They had concern for where are they gonna get food today, and how am I gonna get food tomorrow? That consumed most of people's life in this day and age. It was what controlled them, is what was constantly on their minds, that how am I gonna feed my children? In this audience, the Jewish audience, it probably brought up memories from the times past in Israel, when they were so hungry, wracked with hunger, wasting away during times of pestilence and during sieges, to the point of, especially during sieges, they went to the lengths where they lost their minds and their morality, and they ate their own children. That's a part of Israel's history. They know that hunger is a serious thing. They know that food is something that they need and that it was what they worked for and they focused on and they thought about.
The same with clothing. It wasn't a fashionable thing that we could have. What am I gonna wear today in my plethora of garments in my closet? It was how am I going to protect myself from the elements when I don't have the funds for another cloak? How am I going to clothe my children? These things were real worries that they had. So in one sense, it makes sense when that's the fear. The fear is death. The fear is not being alive.
In America, we don't have really that fear, do we? We have so many options, so many luxuries, more food, more clothing than any people group in history. You think that we would have no cause for concern. We'd be the least worried people. But data shows that's the exact opposite. 50% of Americans last year had anxiety issues. Anxiety attacks, panic attacks. It's pretty much unprecedented that half of the population of the entire country would be filled with anxiety and worries.
Jesus knew that the disciples feared losing their life. Even Peter, remember when he said, even if I have to die with you, I will never leave you. But for fear of death, he left the Lord. For the unbeliever, it says in the Word that they are controlled for their whole life by their fear of death. That controls them. They will either push it out, because they don't want to think about it, or they invent something to alleviate the fears and the worries that are gonna come at the end of their life. Worry is really rooted in that, in fear, and not faith. And for that reason, it's a sin. Romans 14:23, “whatever is not from faith is sin.” So, worrying, when Jesus says, don't do it, but we do it, it is sinful. Yeah, but we say, but it's so easy and built in my nature to think about the future, to be concerned about the future, to worry about the future.
But here's God's perspective. Let's get back to verse 22, it says this, “for this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life as to what you will eat, nor the body, what you will put on,” verse 23, “for life is more than food and the body is more than clothing.” So what is Jesus saying here? “The body is more than food, or life is more than food, the body is more than clothing.” I think two truths are really presented here. There's a practical reality and there's a spiritual reality.
In a practical sense, what He's saying is this. You could store up an entire barn full of food that could last you years and years and years. Like I said earlier, you could have your retirement dialed into a T. Everything is in place, but two things can happen. One, if you're trusting in the uncertainty of riches, that's the reality there, uncertain. Those can be stripped away from us, right? The other reality, practical reality, is that we can be stripped away from them. Our death comes, or the financial crisis comes. So in that sense, life itself, you're still alive, right? If your stuff is taken away, you still have your life. You're a pauper no longer sitting on the lap of luxury, you still have your life. Isn't that more important than the stuff? And with that perspective, you can say, “hey, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
I've stored up, and there's wisdom in this. I'm not saying, oh, storing up and having a 401k and things set up that way is wrong. The Lord tells us that the grandparents should store away for their grandchildren. We're told that this is a good, the difference is this, it's perspective, the focus of my life. I put my hopes in the future because I’ve amassed this wealth. Well, no, don't put your hope in that. Put your hope in God. who gives us everything that we need for life and for Godliness. Everything is rooted in Him. So that's a practical reality. And in this way, we should heed the Lord's commandment to do this. When he said, the disciples said, hey, “how do we pray? Lord, teach us to pray.” One of the things that He says is,” Lord, give us today our daily bread.” We ask the Lord not for tomorrow's bread, we ask the Lord for today's bread. So His listeners were hearing this and being challenged in their thinking to turn your eyes from this world and this life and the worries of it. Pray to your God who gives these things to you.
And the second is a spiritual reality, that life ends and eternity begins. And so, life is more than food, the body is more than clothing, because the Lord's gonna bring the body to nothing in corruption, but our spiritual life, who we are, our soul, will live for eternity. And you could have everything. Mark 8:36-37 says this, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
One man was listening to Jesus' words who was there, who was intimately acquainted with all of His ways. This man was sitting there listening to Jesus. In his mind he's saying, that doesn't sound like a fool to me. The rich fool in this parable. Sounds pretty wise. Is God really going to take care of my needs? I don't know if He will. I need my needs for tomorrow, so I'm going to go ahead and take some of that money from the box. I'm talking about Judas. He carried the money box and he took, he was a thief, John tells us, and he pilfered from the money box. He cared nothing for the poor, John says. He cared nothing when he said, hey, this perfume was wasted on your feet, Jesus. This woman should have sold this for what is effectively a whole year's wage at the time. 300 denarii, that would be, if you have a salary of 50,000 a year, 100,000 a year, it's a year's wage. And it says, it should have been sold, given to the poor. He cared nothing about the poor. He was consumed in his own heart and mind with the here and now. He had ears, but they didn't hear. He was listening, but he didn't comprehend. And so, Judas was there amongst him. And he says, I have a lot to worry about my life.
Here's a principle in this, you are not defined by your possessions, you do not have true security in your possessions, and you do not have life, true life, from your possessions. So since that's the case, Jesus says, “don't worry.” Simply put, it’s this, you and I exist for a higher reason than simply staying alive. That's gonna come to an end. The Lord knows when that day will be, but that will come to an end. We exist for more than just this life. So don't fear lesser things than God himself. Don't be worried about lesser things than eternity itself. Bring your view off of yourself and elevate it to the spiritual realities, to the heavenlies where our God is seated on His throne, that we will see Him one day in glory, that one day that time will come when our timestamp is punched and we leave and we're brought to the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to see our God in person on that day. That thought being captured and captivated in our minds will help us to keep and maintain God's perspective. That worry vanishes when you keep God's perspective on your life as your focal point. And that's what the Lord says here. True life is eternal, nothing in this world is secure or worth chasing after.
And it leads us into this next consideration. And this is where Jesus gives really three examples. of keeping God's perspective. In the first example, we can summarize this. “Worry vanishes when we consider life through God's provision.” Worry about this life is gone when you keep God's provision in focus. Look at verse 24. “Consider the ravens. For they neither sow nor reap yet, or they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds.”
So, Jesus gave us a command, that first word where He said, “don't worry, don't do it.” That first word, don't worry. It's interesting, you know Jesus said, the more times than any other command, in a negative command, meaning don't do something, it wasn't do not steal. That's not the one that Jesus said the most. It was not do not murder or do not commit adultery. The number one most repeated do not do something by Jesus was “do not fear. Fear not.” That hits at the heart of every human. We have a propensity to fear, a propensity towards worry. And in Jesus's command, there is also a comfort. There is a heartbeat behind his command that says, I know that you have the temptation to fear and worry, but I'm telling you, don't. And in one way, you have no cause for worry. You have no cause for fear. If God is for you, who in the world could be against you? No man, no angel, no demon, everything you have from God is secure, eternally. So have no fear. That's His first command.
Here is his second command. We don't see it as a command in English, but the first word in verse 24 he says is consider. That's a command. And the word consider doesn't mean, hey, just think about this for a moment. The word itself in the Greek is to observe carefully, to think about repeatedly, to meditate on, and to have it fill your mind. So he says that, and in a brief moment he moves on, but he says, consider. I want you to consider this. Meditate on this. You're gonna hear it fast, but think about it later. And what he says is consider, and what I want you to think about is consider the ravens. These black birds that fly around. I want you to think about those.
This is interesting because the reason why Jesus wants us to think about the birds and the ravens is this. The birds have no worries. The birds have no anxieties, no concern, no forethought, no consideration for tomorrow, no planning, no plotting, no planting, no plowing. The birds don't do any of that. I want you to think about, deeply, the birds. Now, in the disciples' minds, maybe these passages would come up in their minds. Job 38:41 asks this question. “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment when it's young, cry to God, and wander about without food?” Well, the answer is God does, right? Maybe their minds went back to this, that God even provides for the ravens. And so Jesus says, “I want you to think about these ravens, these birds that are flying in the sky.” What does He want us to think about? Look at verse 24. “For they neither sow nor reap, they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them.”
Have you ever looked out your back window and seen a raven and been like, oh, this is weird, this raven's got a plow in its hand and a rake. It's using its beak; it's making some troughs in the ground. He's planted seeds, this raven's planting, what is this raven doing? Oh, now he's picking up a hammer, and he's starting to bang away and build a barn. This bird's building a barn. Like, this is only in cartoons, right? This only happens in, and it's kind of interesting that the Lord kind of uses an example that would be a little bit lighthearted, a little bit humorous, like, hey, the birds aren't doing this. The birds aren't out building things. You teach a bird to do that, you can probably make a lot of money, actually. These birds don't do this. But now here's the interesting thing too. The birds don't build and work and do all these things and plan and store, but it presupposes the fact that men do this, right? Men and women, we do this. We work; we plan. But the ravens do actually work. You know, God provides for the ravens, but they work. You see these birds, they go around flying, hunting, and all over the place. They're constantly looking, constantly working, constantly having to try to find their food. So, the ravens are not a picture of laziness or idleness by the Lord, but a picture of freedom from worry by a dependence upon a gracious and generous provider. That's what they are for us. That's what Jesus wants us to think about.
One commentator wrote, “what is prohibited is worry, not work.” That's what we're prohibited from, worry, not work. We're gonna work, we're gonna work hard. We're commanded in the New Testament to work heartily as unto the Lord. Multiple times we're commanded to work. We're gonna be working, but we're not to be worrying. And look how the Lord finishes up His statement here in verse 24. This statement, I love it. “How much more valuable you are than the birds?” It's an argument from the lesser to the greater, right? If this lesser thing is true, God provides for the ravens, then the greater thing is certainly true, God will provide for you. So, the difference between us and the ravens, they don't worry about it. They're not anxious. So, like the ravens, God's children should work without worry, should plan without anxiety, casting all of your cares upon him because He cares for you. If He cares for those birds in your backyard, He cares for you. He's gonna supply your stuff that you need for this life. He knows what you need. He says that even later. I don't wanna step on the next verses for next week and the sermons, but we're told that, that the Father knows that we need these things. In verse 30, He knows you need food. He knows you need water. He knows you need clothes. God knows this and He provides this.
I think we can say this, when the Lord commands us to consider, it's encapsulated in this principle. Contemplative thought on truth drives out worry, which is based on lies. Contemplative thought on truth, meditating on the truth, drives out worry, because worry is based in lies. And what lies here are we tempted to believe? God won't provide. God doesn't care, and God will leave me hanging. So, we know those are not true, so we have to meditate on the truth, consider. And the Lord has said that we are more valuable than birds. I think that is kind of the easiest statement. We're made in the image of God. He's created every other living thing as a blessing that man is supposed to rule over, have dominion over. So, in one sense, of course, we're the pinnacle of God's creation, of course. We have souls that are eternal, of course you are more valuable. And the value of your soul was demonstrated by our God not withholding His only Son for you. For you, for you. If you're in Christ, for you. That's your value. How does God estimate you? He would give His Son for you, the righteous for the sinner. So of course, we are much more valuable to our God than the birds.
So, worry vanishes. We consider life from God's perspective, that true life is eternal, nothing in this world is secure or worth chasing after. Worry vanishes when we consider life from God's provision. He takes care of the birds, He's gonna take care of you. And that's kind of the first example that the Lord gives, and the Lord leads into another example of why you shouldn't worry.
That's the third, “Worry vanishes when we consider life from God's providence.” Verses 25 and 26. Worry goes away when you look at life through the lens of God's providence. Read with me, verse 25. “Which of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life's span?” Verse 26, “If you then cannot do a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?”
You know, modern studies show this. Worry and anxiety, and we all know this is kind of common sense, it seems like, has the opposite effect of lengthening your life. It brings in all sorts of issues that lead to strokes and heart attacks. Worry and anxiety, fretting about the future, things that you cannot control, won't add to your life, it will subtract from your life. You will actually do damage to your own body. It's harmful and harsh on our bodies to worry, which is really an interesting thought. Your mind and what you dwell on can have impact on your physical body. It's an interesting thing to think about. Whatever you're meditating on and dwelling on, you keep coming back to, and you can't get it out of your mind, and it's nagging you, it's bothering you, and you keep having to worry about it, and you're feeling anxious, and sometimes you might even get to the point of a panic attack. All of that's just manifestation of what you're just thinking on and dwelling on.
But the ancients knew this too. Even in the Apocrypha, it's not inspired, but it is a history of the Jews. And Sirach 30:24 says this, it's a proverb. “Jealousy and anger shorten life, and anxiety brings on premature old age.” I feel like I feel a lot older than I am, and it might be because the job that I do adds some stress in my life. I have to try to mitigate stress. I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, this passage was perfect for me to study these last two weeks. I needed this. I need this. I'll need this in the future. We have so much things that can cause anxiety. And it was interesting, even the word for worry in the Greek can have a meaning of a distracting anxiety and a distracting worry. It makes you focus on things distracting you from the important things. I've experienced this in my life, maybe you have.
But it's inevitable. We're all getting old, right? We're all headed to the same place, but our culture is obsessed. Obsessed with staying young. Of looking youthful and of extending out your life. To the point where it's reaching to the sciences, right? Cryogenics. You guys heard or are familiar with cryogenics? I'm gonna be frozen now in time so that in 2730, I don't know, I'm going to be able to be brought back to life. They're gonna freeze me and I'll be able to be brought back to life. I always thought it's an interesting concept because somebody's gotta foot that bill. And if you're great, great, great grandkids, like why are we still paying for this guy? This is a lot of money. The technology's not here, it's far away. Let's just go ahead and just call it done, right? The reality is, it's already done. That person who's frozen has already been judged. It is done.
That whole desire for eternity, to live forever. Ponce de Leon, the fifth grade, I learned about Ponce de Leon. The only thing I remember from fifth grade, Ponce de Leon is searching for the Fountain of Youth in Florida. He's dead. As far as I know. He's gone, didn't find it. People have been clamoring, desiring, wanting the fountain of youth, stay young. They're obsessed with it, avoiding the inevitable.
And Jesus asks this question, and He's expecting your answer and my answer to be no one, none of us. This is the question. “Which of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his lifespan? No one, not one.” It does the opposite. He used the word can. “Which of you can add a single hour?” That word can is a Greek word dunamai, where we get dynamite and we get the idea of power. So, you could literally say, which of you by worrying has the power, the ability to add one hour to your lifespan? You know, Moses 3400 years ago wrote Psalm 90, and verse 10 says this, “As for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to strength, 80 years. Yet their pride is only trouble and tragedy, for it quickly passes and we disappear.”
So, 70, and if you're really strong, 80 years. Maybe we got some real strong ones in here. Maybe longer than 80 years, right? The average lifespan in the world today, 73.3 years. That hasn't changed much in 3,400 years. Most saying, look, you make it a 70, maybe even 80. Well, that's the average lifespan right there. If you take 80 years, how many hours are filled up in an 80-year-old's life? You've got 702,265.6. If I'm really worrying, if I'm wringing my hands and biting my nails and thinking, I'm so anxious about my death. I'm so anxious about the future. I'm so anxious about these things. I'm gonna think about... Jesus is saying, can you do that? Can you worry in that way and extend your life by one hour? Well, the answer is obviously no.
And why? Not just the health effects, I've known smokers and drinkers that live into their 90s. They're looking fine, good. And you've got people that bike and work out and eat right, diet, exercise, and they die at 35 from a heart attack. Who determines the number of your days? We know the simple answer is the Lord, but listen, 1 Samuel 2:6, “The Lord brings death and gives life.” He's the one, Job 14:5, “since man's days are determined, and the number of his months depend on you, and since you have set limits, he cannot pass.” Psalm 139:16, speaking to the Lord, “and in your book were written all the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”
The Lord knew when you would be conceived. The Lord knew when you would be born. The Lord knows when you will die. No diet, no exercise, no planning, no plotting, no worrying can change that day. It is set in stone. It cannot be altered. It cannot be changed. And so, the Lord says, why worry? Why worry about tomorrow's food? Look at the ravens, I care for them, your Lord cares for them. Why are you worried? Why are you concerned?
There is a freeing result when you consider these things. There is a freedom in giving your life fully to the Lord. Lord, whatever you would have for me. There is a freedom in giving and being generous with what the Lord has given to you and borrowed loan. Lord, whatever you would have for your glory, I open my hands. I wouldn't wanna live one second longer if it was outside of God's will, not one. And since I don't know the date of my death, I can live today without worry about it. I can live tomorrow without fear about it.
Me personally, I am tempted at times to have concern. I had three strokes this last summer. I'm alive. I don't have any really lasting results. I got some eye issues that are really not bad. I'm back to full duty. But I was very worried and concerned at that time. Very worried in the hospital. I was anxious. So, I was saying earlier, I needed this. Personally, I needed the Lord's comfort through this process. And He has comforted me. He has helped me.
So, let's say with Job, “Though the Lord slay me, I will trust in Him. I will hope in Him.” Let's say with Paul, “It is far better to depart and be with Christ.” And let's agree with the Lord's command here, “Don't worry about your life. Don't worry about it.”
So, worrying can't add a moment. And then Jesus says this, if then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Now, this thing doesn't seem like a little thing to me to extend my personal life out. That seems impossible, right? It is impossible. I can't do it. But in His economy, in His thinking, it's a very little thing. For God, this is nothing. And since it's so small and you can't change it, then why are you worried about our stuff? Why are you worried about the job that you lost? Why are you worried about the job that you are needing and you can't get? Why are you worried about your family issues, your relational issues, your financial issues? Why are you so consumed with worry? Why does it grip you with fear?
Open your hands to your God. My life is yours. If you have ordained for me hardship, then blessed be Your name. Remember when Paul on the road to Damascus, he was told when he was going to meet Ananias, the Lord told Ananias, I'm gonna show this man how much he is going to suffer for my name's sake. Paul was told; he was promised suffering. As a Christian, if you wanna be a light for Jesus Christ, you're gonna suffer. If you wanna live Godly, if you wanna open your mouth, you're gonna have suffering. If you want to give up all of your life and live freely for the Lord Jesus Christ, or abandon everything in this life, and open your mouth and speak for Him, you're gonna have conflict, confrontation, you're gonna have some suffering in your life. But compared to the glories that will come, it's nothing. The light and momentary afflictions of this life are not to be compared with the glories to be revealed. We're promised that, we're told this.
So, considering God's providence over your death, over your life, God wants us to see our utter weakness in God's abundant strength, our powerlessness in His surpassing power, our helplessness in His loving care, our tiny existence in the magnitude of His existence, our inability, His ability, our fleeting life, His eternality, our needs, His provision. That's what God wants us to focus on.
So, if you're a Christian, your life is hidden with Christ and God. Your life is secure in heaven. You are a stranger and a sojourner on this earth for however long the Lord has for you. So why fret and why be afraid?
So “worry vanishes when we see life from God's perspective.” True life is eternal. Nothing in this world is secure. And second, through God's provision, “worry goes away when you think of God's provision.” He takes care of the birds; he'll take care of you. The third, He wants us to consider, “Worry vanishes when you think about God's providence.” Worry can't extend your life. God has determined the number of your days.
And lastly, the fourth and final. This is the third example that Jesus gives of why we shouldn't worry. “Worry vanishes when we consider life through God's protection.” Verses 27 and 28, so read along with me. Jesus says this, “consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, tomorrow's thrown in the furnace, how much more will he clothe you, you men of little faith?”
This is the third command the Lord gives, don't worry, consider, and the second time, consider. Meditate on this fact also. Don't just think about the birds and spend some time thinking about that reality. Spend some time thinking about this reality. Consider the lilies. Consider the flowers. They don't toil. They don't spin, meaning they're not making themselves their clothes. To Jesus' audience, clothes were a big deal, right? Men and women had an inner garment and an outer garment. The inner garment stayed with them all the time. It was lighter. It wouldn't provide any protection from the elements. The outer garment was thicker, hardier, and it served as a raincoat. It served as a blanket at night. It's what they kept with them all the time. Their outer clothing was their provision so that they didn't give and succumb to the elements. And they were a lot to make. If they wore out, it was a process, a lot of toil, a lot of spinning. They got to shear the sheep, comb the wool to get the impurities out, take the individual strands and spin those into thread. Then the thread's woven into the fabric on the loom. And then the fabric was softened so that it became watertight. I pounded it with a mallet. Sometimes it was dyed, but that was expensive, so usually it's just, you know, browns and grays, and that's it. And the women were making these primarily, and their responsibilities of everything else in the house couldn't just sit aside. So, it was a constant source of temptation and anxiety. How am I gonna clothe my kids? I've lost my husband. How am I gonna provide? How will I make this work?
And so, Jesus says this, “consider the lilies,”they don't work for their clothes. “But I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these.” What's interesting is this, everybody had a picture of Solomon in their mind, which was incorrect to some degree, because Solomon had died a long time ago. A thousand years before, about. But Jesus created Solomon, knew Solomon, saw Solomon's attire, and he could say with confidence that nobody dressed like Solomon. Nobody has ever been arrayed like Solomon. But even in Solomon's finest silk garments, when you take any man-made material and look under a microscope, it looks rough. You can see all the little imperfections, and it doesn't look soft at all. It doesn't look well-made. When you take a flower and look at a flower under a microscope, the intricacies of God's genius are woven into this thing. You get closer and it opens a whole nother world and level of design and beauty. So, God has clothed those flowers.
And His point is this. If God so clothes the grass and the field, which is alive today, tomorrow's thrown in the furnace. It's beautiful today, these flowers that bloom would be a few days, and then it would replicate another few days, and then they're gone. They're fleeting. If God is able to do that, and you take it and you throw it in your furnace for cooking your food the next day, is He not able to clothe you? Are you not worth more, basically, than the lilies of the field?
And this concept, too, is, hey, it's a fleeting time. These flowers are fleeting, but man is often compared to the flowers throughout the Scriptures. Isaiah 46 through eight says this, describing man's fleeting nature, it says this, “all flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. The people are like grass. We're here today, we're gone tomorrow.”
And Jesus finishes this whole thought by saying this. God will do these things; I want you to consider. He will provide for you in these ways. And then He says this, He attributes all of their worry, all of their anxiety. He's saying a couple things. Don't be greedy like that greedy interrupter. Don't accumulate things for yourself. Be so worried about this life. Don't do that. God will take care of you. Don't think that tomorrow God won't fulfill His promise to me. Don't be so concerned about life in the here and now.
Faith increases as worry decreases. And conversely, your worries decrease as your faith in God increases. So, these are men of little faith. Maybe some of you this morning have little faith in this regard. The Christian who's planted in the soil of little faith will continually sprout weeds of worry in their life. And the Christian who is planted in the soil of God's sovereignty will continue to grow cedars of faith in their life. So, the remedy to weeds of worry in your life is an increasing alignment to God's perspective, okay, an increasing faith in God's provision, an increasing trust in God's providence, and an increasing rest in God's protection.
So how much more valuable are you than the birds? The answer was demonstrated to us at the cross. That's how much more valuable you are than the birds. The cross of Jesus Christ, our Lord. He graciously gave us the life of His Son, our God did. He meets all of our needs along the way. And if He's working His purpose through your life, He will sustain your life. When your purpose in your generation is done, He will end your life. So be consumed with God's purpose for your life. And how much more than the flowers will He clothe you? How much more will God clothe us in the righteousness of His Son? He puts His Son's righteousness around us, removes the filthy garments that are stained red like crimson, and He makes them white as snow. He gives us the righteousness of His Son. Won't He care, and He does care, about clothing you, providing for you? So why worry? Why have fear in this life?
And when we're tempted to worry about tomorrow, we have to fight for a heavenly perspective. and eternal perspective, set in our minds on things above, not on things on earth. And 2 Corinthians 4:18 says this, “for the things which are seen are temporal. The things that are unseen are eternal.” So may God consume our thoughts with the eternal so we can trust Him in the temporal, amen.
Pray with me,
[Prayer] Father. Your glory is on display in your Word, and your glory is on display in this world. I ask, Lord, that You would help my brothers and sisters to consider what You have told us, Lord, to consider, to see life through Your perspective, so we can have wisdom, Lord, and true faith and hope in this life. I pray You bless my brothers and sisters. I pray for any Lord, who don't know You, that You would prick their conscience. You would affirm your great and abounding love for that person, Your care for them, an eternal care. So, Lord, Your Word has gone out, make it effective for Your glory and for Your name's sake. And we ask this all in Christ's name, amen. [End]
