Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why We Worry and How to Respond | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 12.22-34

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Right now, we're learning what it looks like to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. Have you ever imagined what it would be like to have Jesus visiting your house? You know, take a look around. Sometimes I imagine him visiting my house today. You know, we've got a kitchen, a little dining room, a living room, some bedrooms, a yard. We've got a pantry and refrigerator full of food and drinks. We've got dressers full of clothes, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, indoor plumbing with limitless water right whenever we want it.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Toilets that magic away our refuge, trash bags to collect all of the stuff that we don't need anymore. We've got two tables, two cars, and all kinds of devices that make life a lot easier. What do you think Jesus would think if he visited your house? To help you get an idea, let me just tell you a little bit about Jesus's house. As it turns out, archaeologists have unearth the house from Jesus' day in Nazareth that actually might very well be the house that Jesus grew up in. Whether or not that house is or isn't it, it gives us a good idea of the kind of house that Jesus probably lived in. The first thing you need to know is this. It was cut into the side of a limestone hill. So three of the walls in Jesus' house were solid rock,

Starting point is 00:01:31 walls, while the front of it would have been made of stones piled on top of each other. By modern standards, the house was pretty small. It probably had two or four rooms, one for sleep, the other one for making food, and probably taking care of some domestic livestock that lived in the house. It was stabled right there with Jesus' family. There would have been a tiny little courtyard outside of the house. It might have had a small little cistern, which is a thing that can collect rainwater, and they probably had very few possessions. What little they had, chances are they actually made with their own two hands. A small wood fire oven, a low table, maybe one or two changes of clothes, utensils to cook with. They probably lived hand to mouth. They didn't have pantries full of food. They didn't have

Starting point is 00:02:15 toilets or toilet paper, no running water. There were days when Jesus' family probably didn't have anything to eat or drink. And a real bath was probably an uncommon experience. So now that you know about Jesus's life, the kind of house that Jesus lived in. What do you think Jesus would think if he walked into your house today? In Jesus' day, many people thought that possessions brought security. It's kind of a natural assumption, right? That if you have a lot of stuff, you can be free from anxiety, anxiety over the next day's food, the next day's water and clothing. And if they were right, we would assume then that we who have so much in our society today. We would assume that we were the most non-anxious society. in human history. But of course, the opposite is true. Despite having unimaginable wealth and prosperity

Starting point is 00:03:04 compared to people in Jesus' day, we might be the most anxious generation in human history. So have we learned the lesson that having more stuff doesn't necessarily make us any less anxious? That striving after the things of this world? A bigger paycheck, a bigger emergency fund, a flush 401k, extra fund money, a nicer house, a nicer car, better clothes, whatever it is, Have we not realized that striving after the things of this world, they don't actually ever make us feel any more secure, any less anxious, that the secret of peace isn't found in having an abundance of stuff or money? The secret of peace has to be found somewhere else, or we surely would have it by now, right? Jesus had something to say about anxiety and possessions. He claimed to have the secret to a heart at

Starting point is 00:03:54 rest, not a heart at rush. Luke 1222 says this. Jesus said to his disciples, therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you'll eat, or about your body, what you'll wear. Now keep in mind, this was actually a daily reality for Jesus' followers. Will I eat tomorrow? They say, I don't know, I'm not sure. Will I have clothes for tomorrow? Will I hope the ones I'm wearing don't rip because this is all I got? Verse 23, for life is more than food. And the body. body more than clothes. Okay, let's just pause again really quick, because this is a radical statement in the modern world. You see, if there is no God, or if God isn't really involved in our lives in some way, then life really is about food and clothing and the small daily comforts that keep us afloat, because that's all

Starting point is 00:04:42 that we really have. But Jesus is saying here, nope, life is actually far more than food and clothes. And again, if you doubt them, we just have to ask the question, we who have so much more than so many people hasn't made our lives any better. Has it given us a deeper sense of peace? Jesus continues. Consider the ravens. They don't sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn. Yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than birds? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? I think we all kind of see Jesus's point, right? Our anxiety, rarely actually solves the problem at hand. More anxiety rarely gets us a bigger paycheck. It rarely

Starting point is 00:05:28 gets us a nicer car or better clothes or whatever it is that we think we need or want. And even if it did, the anxiety has no power to make you feel more secure in reality or be more secure in reality. Because in reality, anxiety has no power to even add a single hour to your life. Here's what's funny. I mean, these days we've got all these studies, we can show that anxiety actually takes hours from your life. Jesus continues. Consider how the wildflowers grow. They don't labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon, and Solomon was the wealthiest, most extravagant king in Israel's history. He says, not even Solomon, and all his splendor was dressed like one of these flowers. If that's how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire,

Starting point is 00:06:16 how much more will he close you, you of little faith? Do not set your heart. Do not set your on what you will eat or drink, don't worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all these things and your father knows that you need them. I think Jesus would say to us, look, don't set your heart on your paycheck, on your 401k, on your wardrobe, on your house, on your car. Just look at everybody around you. They're all running after all the same things. And if you can be honest about it for a second, they aren't really any happier than you are. No, no, no, no, no. Your father knows what everyone needs. And if he provides what the grass and the birds need, how much more will he provide what you actually need? But if our greatest need isn't food or clothing or all the things that we think are our real needs, what are our needs?

Starting point is 00:07:04 What is the thing that we absolutely need the most? Jesus tells us, verse 31, but seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little fly, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. sell your possessions, give to the poor, provide purses for yourselves that will never wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no fief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus' call here is radical, and frankly, it's kind of careless, at least by any worldly definition. He's telling people who don't know if they'll have food to eat tomorrow, or if they'll have clothes to put on their backs.

Starting point is 00:07:44 He's telling those people, sell what little you have and give it away. Why? Because your father has secured the thing you need the most. His kingdom, life with him. This call to sell everything and give away, it makes no sense unless you fundamentally believe three things. Here's the first thing, that God really does reward and punish in the age to come. Why worry about now when you've got an eternity that's going to last forever? If he's going to reward you forever. Why do we worry about the small things in this life that are going to pass away? The second thing is this, that God really is in charge right now. Sometimes we seem to think or believe that we live in a world which is governed by chance

Starting point is 00:08:27 and chaos. Like at a moment's notice, we could lose everything that matters. But Jesus is clear. The Father is in charge. And as long as he's in charge, he promises, he promises, promises to protect you in what really matters, which leads to number three. Third, what really, really matters is God's kingdom. God's kingdom is, in some senses, a future promise. It's a future reality where we will live with God in perfect harmony. We'll obey him. We'll walk in his ways.

Starting point is 00:09:02 We'll have fellowship with one another in a renewed creation. But Jesus also understood that that future reality, it's not just a future reality. It's actually a present reality. It's a reality that God brings into the present by bringing us believers together. Because when we are together, God's kingdom is coming to life on earth as in heaven. And Jesus is saying that experience, that reality, walking with God, living with God in this new creation, something that's happening now in the present and will also happen fully in the future. If we get that, if we fixate ourselves on that promise, I'm being with him, all that we fear losing,

Starting point is 00:09:37 all of that, it really pales in comparison to the gift of life with God forever in his kingdom. All that we have right now, it genuinely, truly pales in comparison to that future promise, that future promise which we can begin to have appetizers of right now in our life today. It pales in comparison, even in the present, because the life of God is already here living in our hearts through his spirit. Do you want to know the key to a heart at rest, not a heart at rush? make God's kingdom your greatest treasure. Make it your ongoing meditation.

Starting point is 00:10:13 Make God's kingdom, life with him, life with his people, life in his new creation, life empowered by his spirit. Make that your deepest desire. Because your heart, if that's your deepest desire, your heart and your actions and your desires, it's all going to follow. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be too. And a heart that treasures the kingdom of God, treasures a gift which cannot be lost or stolen. With that kind of confidence, what do we have to fear?

Starting point is 00:10:43 Why have any insecurities? Today, I want you to ask God to help you to treasure his kingdom. The truth is, no one does this perfectly, but we need to ask him, help me to desire it, to meditate upon it, to treasure the future promise of future life, perfect life in your kingdom, and help me to treasure the promise of present life in your kingdom, a present life, which just breaking into the present through your spirit's presence in my life, in my heart. Ask for a heart at rest in these promises, not rushing anxiously from one unsatisfying possession to the next. Thanks for listening.

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why We Worry and How to Respond | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 12.22-34

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