Sermon Transcript Jeremy McQuoid Luke 12:22-34 Don t Be Anxious 3 rd May 2015 I m sure that some of you will have read the excellent book by Tim Keller, called Counterfeit Gods. In this book, Tim Keller tells the troubling story of a 39-year old top business executive who worked for the firm, Goldman Sachs. This top banker (who was earning a seven-figure salary) was found dead in his home, with a cord tied around his neck; clearly a suicide. He was actually one of fifteen top-ranking bankers across the world that have chosen to end their own lives over the past couple of years. Each of these men, despite outwardly having it all, and living the dream as we would call it, inwardly all of these men were in deep despair. Tim Keller was telling this particularly tragedy about the man from Goldman Sachs to make the point that the god of materialism really doesn t satisfy. As I was reading that early chapter of Tim Keller s book, it made me think about this passage from Luke s Gospel this passage is so relevant to our lives in the Western World, particularly in the wealthy Deeside corridor. In chapter 12 of Luke, Jesus has been talking about money. And in this passage he connects the desire for money, for material possessions, with stress, anxiety and worry. Our generation probably worries about money more than anything else. But notice that as Jesus talks about material possessions, he says 4 times, don t worry, don t be anxious, don t be afraid.
This passage is very much an antidote to anxiety. It s a passage that encourages us to have a healthy outlook on our material possessions, so that we will view material possessions in a godly way, which also happens to be a healthy way. This passage is good for your health! It s an antidote for anxiety. Jesus says firstly, if we are to avoid worry, we need to Embrace God s value system (v22-23) You ll notice that verse 22 begins with the word therefore, linking this passage with the previous one about the rich fool. What made the rich man so foolish in the previous passage was not that he was rich, but that he valued material possessions more than he valued his relationship with God. There was something seriously wrong with his value system. And that is the same point Jesus brings into this next passage. From verse 22 onwards, Jesus is not talking to rich people. He is talking to poor people the kind of people who are anxious about having enough food to put on the table and having clothes to put on their bodies. Many of the Galileans that Jesus spoke to were in that position. But whether Jesus is talking to rich or poor, his message is the same: stop being obsessed about material things whether you have a lot, and are preoccupied about how to store it all, or whether you have a little and are preoccupied with how to get enough. Don t be obsessed with your material wellbeing. Worrying constantly about material possessions is just a huge waste of time. And verse 23 uncovers the value system God wants us to have: Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. That is a more profound statement than we may realize. 2
The atheists and humanists of our day are telling us all to be materialists. Materialism teaches that life is limited to what you can see and taste and touch. And if you are a materialist, then you spend all your time worrying about material things. But Jesus is saying, don t become obsessed by them. There s more to life than your physical needs. Life is more than food. The word used for life here actually means soul. The word soul in the Bible was first used when God breathed life into Adam s nostrils in the Garden of Eden and man became a living soul. At that moment mankind became a different kind of creature to the rest of the animal kingdom. He became a creature who could live forever; a creature who could have a personal relationship with God; made in the image of God. The animal kingdom lives by instinct. Birds and tigers and chimpanzees survive from one meal to the next. They are the ultimate materialists. But you and I as human beings are different. Chimpanzees are holding onto the last bits of jungle while mankind sends rockets to the moon and is governing this planet, creating hospitals and education systems. We are made in the image of God. We are made to live forever. We are made to glorify God and enjoy him forever, as the Westminster Catechism puts it. And we ve got to decide which worldview we accept. If materialism is right, then when we die that is it, then you will live a certain kind of way. You ll try and be happy, you ll make as much money as you can, and material things will be the things that preoccupy you, because that s all there is to think about in our world. But if you decide that there is more to life than the physical that we actually are a higher order of being than the animal kingdom; that mankind has always had a spiritual nature which 3
looks for meaning and purpose, who gazes at the stars and wonders why he exists, and seeks after a Creator. If you believe that your soul is eternal, and you were made to worship God and glorify him forever, then material things will not dominate your life. You ll spend most of your time thinking, What is the purpose of my life? How can I glorify God and enjoy him using my money, raising my kids, as I go to work each day, using these things as a means to glorify God? And you ll ask the really big questions of life that our culture has stopped asking. How can I get ready to die? Because I know that my life here on earth is just a breath. I blink and it s over, and then I will be ushered into eternity; into the world of God and angels. How will I get on then? For many people in our society, this after that does not exist but do you believe that you will soar into the world of God and angels? Can you see the massive difference it makes to your life whether you are a materialist, or whether you believe you have an eternal soul made in the image of your creator? Life is more than food, says Jesus, and your body is much more than what you wear and how you look. This is such a counter cultural way of thinking! The culture around simply perpetuates this fixation with outward appearance. Huge advertising billboards show us beautiful men and women, usually scantily dressed with the perfect body. The advertising is subtly telling us this is what we should be aiming for; this is the goal. Teenage magazines will publish photo after photo mocking celebrities for bad fashion choices and having a little too much cellulite. It seems like harmless fun, 4
but it s dangerous, and we need to help our children think clearly about what really matters. As Christians, we need to be so wise about what advertising subtly does to our minds and souls. You will hardly ever see an advertisement about developing good character, but you will have seen thousands of adverts about your physical appearance, telling you the thing that matters is how you look. This is why we, as Christians, need to go on a massive counter offensive, talking to each other intentionally about our souls, talking less even about our physical health and more about our growth in godliness. How much are we reading the Bible, praying and growing in the fruit of the Spirit? Real beauty is inward beauty. The Bible is not a picture book. It is God s words designed to search our souls. Am I growing in love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and self-control the fruit of the Spirit? We need to embrace God s value system in our generation. God doesn t mind seeing a beautiful garden, but he prefers a beautiful soul. He doesn t mind a beautiful home, but he prefers a beautiful heart. He doesn t mind a beautiful figure, but he much prefers a beautiful temperament. We can t take our homes, or our gardens, or our wardrobes, or our figures to glory, but we will take our souls. So the Bible says to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Be dressed in good deeds the white robes of the saints. Stop worrying about material things, says Jesus. They ll soon be gone. Your soul is worth more than the food you eat, and your character more than the clothes you wear. This passage is teaching us to stop being anxious about material things, and we do that firstly by embracing God s value system. 5
We do that secondly by: Observing God s Providence (v24-30) If you are worried all the time about material things, then take a good look at the natural world, says Jesus. That s the focus in verses 24 to 30. Observe God s providence in nature. Verse 24 says, Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than birds? It s a very simple argument. Look at how well God takes care of birds. These birds don t do anything to make or store their food, and yet they are so well fed, they sing about it! How much more valuable are we to God than the birds? We men and women are so important to God that he became one of us. He spilled his blood to rescue us from sin. He has revealed his eternal plan of redemption to us in scriptures which he has inspired over centuries. He is creating a new human race, and has promised us that we will reign with him in glory if we trust in Christ. You are infinitely more important to God that all the birds and beasts put together. If God looks after every sparrow in minute detail, don t you think he will take care of your daily needs? My father left a well-paid job in Belfast to go as a missionary to Ethiopia in 1960, with no salary, relying on support from Christians he had never met, most of whom could not pick out Ethiopia on a world map. And yet our family did not want for a single thing during 20 years of providential care in Africa. And if you have lost your job recently, or find yourself spending a lot of time worrying about the economic meltdown in Aberdeen God s calling you to trust him. He s in charge of the price of oil not Saudi Arabia, and he watches over your circumstances like a hawk. 6
Look at the lilies, says Jesus in verse 27. How did they get so beautiful? How does grass, which we trample on, which cows eat, which is here today and gone tomorrow how did grass get such beautiful clothing without ever visiting an outlet mall? It s because of God s providence over nature! And if God gives the ravens their food, and dresses the grass with such magnificent lilies, don t you think he ll look after you? You are worth so much more than ravens and grass! God s providence is an important doctrine we don t talk about very much. The sun shines because he tells it to, the rain falls under his say-so, the entire eco-system is inter-dependent and sustained by a loving God every moment of every day. And I think that s the point Jesus wants to highlight. These creatures are utterly dependent on God, and so should you be. We worry about our jobs and our finances and our homes because we feel that we re in control of our lives, and if we don t take control of our material prosperity then no one else will. But that s nonsense. Look at verse 25 (which is the key to this whole section), which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do a thing as small as that, why are you anxious about the rest? The word used here is not an hour of your life, but a cubit. It s a unit of measurement. Jesus is saying, no matter how hard you try, you can t even add 5 minutes, an hour, a week onto your life. If you can t even do as simple a thing as that, why are you so worried about everything else? Life isn t under our control. It s in God s control. Jesus almost ironically says that it s a small thing to add 5 minutes to your life. From our point of view that is a massive thing. How can we possibly prolong life? Scientists are sweating 7
in laboratories all over the world right now, to try and prolong human life - we can t even add 5 minutes to our lives! God is the author of life and death. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139). We worry so much as human beings because we feel we have more control over our lives than we really do. One visit to the doctor changes everything. One black day on the stock market changes everything. One job review at work changes everything. We are not in control of even a shred. So what s the point of worrying? Jesus says. Larry Norman sang the song, put your life in Jesus nail scarred hands. He s the rock of ages, he s the sage of sages and he s the key to the Promised Land. So put your life, in Jesus nail-scarred hands. That s the message here. Stop worrying about making ends meet, or building bigger barns. Take your hands off the steering wheel of your life and hand it over to Jesus. You don t have control anyway! The prophets keep telling us that God has sworn to bring down people who think they are in control the Bible calls them, the proud. But he has sworn to bless and prosper and protect and save those who realize they have no control, and have handed the steering wheel of life over to Jesus. Ravens and lilies are blissfully dependent on God s providential care for them. It s we humans who have the hang-ups. We want to be captain of our own souls, and it s just a joke. Come to me, says Jesus, your Creator. The raven feeder wants to feed you as well. The grass-clother wants to clothe you as well. The life-giver wants to breathe eternity into your heart and add more cubits to your life span than you can imagine It s called eternal life, and it s offered to all those who submit their lives to Jesus Christ. 8
You re not in control, and the sooner you realize that, and hand the reigns of your life over to the God who is in control, the sooner you will have peace. Jesus is the antidote to anxiety. He rules over the natural world, and he wants to rule over you as well. So, here is the antidote to anxiety. Number 1; embrace God s value system your life and your soul is more than your possessions. Number 2; observe God s providence. He looks after the birds and the grass, and will look after you if you place your life in his hands. And thirdly: Seek God s kingdom (v31-34) Verse 31 says, Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Jesus message here is, stop being obsessed about material possessions. There is something much more important to become obsessed about. This passage is not teaching us to just sit back and let the world go by. There is something to seek; something to pursue with all our hearts. Psychologists tell us that one of the prime reasons for anxiety and depression in our day is that people lack purpose in their lives. We re running around doing a lot of things, but we don t have any grand purpose to live for, no overarching narrative that drives our lives. Jesus says here that the antidote to anxiety is not just realizing that God will look after the day-to-day needs of your life, but he wants to give you a burning heart for his kingdom; a new purpose for which to live. 9
The thing we are to seek, the thing we are to strive for and dream about, is called the kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God. This phrase, kingdom of God, dominates the Gospels and it was the centrepiece of Jesus teaching. He told us right from the beginning that he had come to build the kingdom. He said the kingdom of God is near you. The whole story of the Bible could be summed up with this phrase the kingdom of God. The book of Daniel has a vision of all the kingdoms of the world, rising up like a giant mountain, but then a rock comes and smashes the mountain, and it crumbles. The rock that is left is the kingdom of God. When all the kingdoms of this world have had their day and shuffled off the stage of human history, God s kingdom will be the only thing left. Hebrews says it is an unshakeable kingdom. When we give our lives to Christ, we become members of this kingdom and our job from that point on is to bring God s kingdom to others. But what does that mean? God s kingdom is not a physical place you can point to. It s not a country you can travel to. God s kingdom is God s rule over our hearts. It is everywhere that God is being worshipped and obeyed and loved and trusted. That s a great definition of a Christian; not just someone who believes a set of doctrines, but someone who is living under the rule of God and is seeking to bring others under that rule. If you are a Christian, is there public evidence that you are living under the rule of God? That s why Jesus goes on to say in verse 33, sell all your possessions, and give to those in need. That is evidence of the rule of God in your life, when we are so sure that God is looking after us, and so wanting others to come into the good of God s kingdom, that we sacrifice our own material wealth to see others prosper, and see justice come, and see God s grace and love to win the day. 10
Are you pursuing the kingdom of God? Are you living under God s rule, are you a beacon for God s values and are you sharing that kingdom with those in need? This is our calling. You won t be nearly as anxious about your own needs when you share God s burning heart for his rule to be extended across the globe. Your prayers won t start with a shopping list of your daily needs, but with, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. So here is Jesus antidote to anxiety: embrace God s value system, observe God s providence, and seek God s kingdom. It s a wonderfully liberating thing to know that we are not in control, but that we are held in the hands of the God who watches over the whole of life. The God whose kingdom is eternal and who will one day wrap up this current universe like a scroll and usher in a kingdom of righteousness, justice and peace. Don t be afraid, Jesus says. Don t be anxious and worried. Put your life in Jesus nailscarred hands. 11