Luke 12:13-34


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Introduction:
A lot to worry about! Relationships Political Stability
Increased Local Crime Rate (Had Boxes Stolen) Increased International Threats Money

A lot to desire! Tech Food Clothes Money

Worry and desire tend not to produce the desired results. They produce negative.

Text: Luke 12:13-34
Theme: Do not worry, seek His kingdom, and He will take care of you

Verses 13-15
The exchange between Jesus and this anonymous person in a crowd is just a bit humorous to me. You can imagine that this is not the result the person desired! He sort of opened his mouth and stuck his foot in it with that demand. I imagine him wishing he hadn’t opened his mouth.

And Jesus’ response is something else too. Actually, Jesus kind of is a judge. More like THE judge. He says in John 5:22 “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” So on the one hand you could say “God has made Jesus a judge over this person.”

But I think Jesus is speaking about the here and now and courts of man. The mission that Jesus is on right now is not to be a judge in a court of law. Jesus came to bring people to God, not to bring property to people. He came because the hearts of mankind were sinful and turned away from God, and He is working to save man and turn man back to God. His mission is not to give people the things they covet. It is to deal with the problem of coveting.

And in accordance with that mission, Jesus begins to talk to the man about his coveting problem. And he doesn’t just deal with the man, he deals with the crowd. “He said to them.” Because this man, unfortunate though he was to be the one to open his mouth, is certainly not the only person to struggle with coveting. It’s a universal problem.

Link: Coveting is a problem for America today too. I think one lesson that we can draw from America’s prosperity is that the solution to coveting is not more stuff. And having enough stuff, or even having a lot of stuff, does not make coveting go away.

A lot of people think that coveting will go away if they just get what they want. It’s easy to think that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if this fellow thought that way. But it’s demonstrably false. Most of us have so much stuff that it would make an ancient king jealous – really! Can you imagine what king Solomon would have given to have central air conditioning and heating and a car and a television and a cell phone and international food of all types on demand? Would you rather have hordes of livestock and gold or all the modern amenities we take for granted? I’d rather have the A/C and phone, etc.

We take a lot of things for granted. Their diet was not nearly so exciting as ours can be. Unleavened bread, fish, lamb, olives, pomegranates – I mean sounds good, right? But it was a whole lot of the same thing day after day.

They didn’t have the luxury of sitting at home and thinking: “Now do I want Chinese food today, or pizza, or Italian, or McDonalds, or…?”

But here we sit, amazingly wealthy, and has coveting gone away? No, it has not. I don’t know if it has gotten any better or worse, seems to have gotten worse if you ask me, but it certainly hasn’t gone away. So, it’s a problem. Chances are we have that problem. If we don’t have that problem, we have constant pressure from our culture encouraging us to develop that problem.

Link: So what does Jesus have to say about coveting?
First, Jesus says that we must be on guard against all covetousness. Being on guard means that it is something you need to watch out for and defend yourself against. If you don’t have your guard up against covetousness – if you aren’t paying attention or trying to fight against it – then you’re going to be vulnerable to it. If it isn’t a sin that you deal with, that’s awesome! But you’d better still be on guard.
Then Jesus explains why you should be on guard against all covetousness. Coveting comes from the lie that true life is found in materialism. More stuff, more life. But your life is not found in your possessions, and he gives a very simple parable to prove it.

Verses 16-21

This story represents in a broad way the lie behind coveting. This man believes that his stuff will make him safe, comfortable, and happy. Likewise, coveting says “If I get these things, I will be safe, comfortable, and happy.” Both this man, and those who covet, believe the lie that life is found in materialism.

But, Jesus bluntly shares that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. This fellow who goes about saying “I will do this, I will do that, I, I, I” turned out to be an arrogant fool. The span determined for his life ended that night and without him having any say in the matter.

Simply put: stuff cannot guarantee you tomorrow. And if stuff cannot guarantee you tomorrow, then how can stuff be your life? Stuff is not your life, it’s just stuff. And when your life is over you leave the stuff behind for someone else. You don’t get to take it with you when you die.

You are an eternal creature and stuff is temporal, to be passed on to others before or after you die.

You also have an eternal destiny and were meant to be in an eternal relationship with God. Stuff is very small, unimportant, and short-lived compared to that.

Do think about it for a second: Isn’t it kind of foolish how we get worked up about desiring the latest and newest nice thing? How we commit ourselves in passion to that thing? But that thing won’t last long at all while we will last forever?

*Story of boy in Asia who sold kidney for an iPhone 4 in 2011. Now bedridden for life in 2019. What iPhone are we on again? I can’t keep up.*
Link: Life is more than food and things. It’s just silly for an eternal creature meant to be in an eternal relationship with God to place so much importance on something that’ll last a few years at best. We should guard ourselves against coveting and instead praise God for what we have and seek to use our things as God would have us to.

Link: Similar subject, Jesus tells us that we should avoid being filled with worry and anxiety. He says…

Verses 22-30

Worrying has a couple things in common with coveting; it may surprise you to hear. Both coveting and worrying misunderstand the true value and nature of life. Coveting believes the lie that stuff is more important than your life. Worrying believes the lie that God doesn’t care about your life.

But when you consider that God provides the most basic of needs for the most basic of creatures, and that mankind is of much more value than birds and flowers, then we see it’s silly to worry.

Ravens are not eternal creatures. Lilies aren’t eternal plants, they barely last any time at all. Yet, they are provided for. What then does God have in store for you who are eternal? What benevolent plans does He have toward you who are meant to spend forever with God?

You might worry about a promotion, and then not get that promotion, but so what? You’re going to live forever with God. You might worry about passing away due to an illness that you’ve contracted, and maybe it will happen – we all pass away some day – but it’s OK. God will take care of you. Your eternal future is very bright.

Coveting and worrying are also similar in the fact that they are futile because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. No amount of stuff or anxious plotting will make you live longer than you were meant to. You can stay up all night, roll around in bed worried about what you will say in an upcoming meeting, and then pass away in a car crash on your way to work.

Link: Now, you could, upon realizing that you aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, decide to worry even more! “What if I have a car crash tomorrow?,” “What if I come down with a disease soon?” But that will just make you feel bad and won’t change tomorrow.

Link: Or, you can consider and chase after what your life is really meant for: eternity. Jesus says…

Verses 31-34

You don’t need to fear tomorrow. You don’t need to be sad that you don’t have all the stuff you want. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You’re going to get to be a part of the kingdom that God will set up on the earth with Jesus as king – and then even better, you’re going to go to heaven and spend eternity with God.

Heaven will be filled with pleasure that does not fail. There will be reward there that cannot be taken away from you. So live with the end in mind.

Worried about a job? There will be work to do in heaven and it will be entirely pleasurable, not stressful at all. Coveting money? You know the city of heaven is enormous and made almost entirely of gold? And at its center is God – the Creator of all good things.

Application:
Instead of the negative thoughts and emotions of coveting and worrying, direct your energies positively toward seeking God’s kingdom and helping those who are in need.

Imagine how much better the world would be now if people lived this way! This way of living isn’t just good for eternity, it is good for now.

Not everyone will choose to live this way – but you will still get to enjoy it yourself!