Fear Not Little Flock

Well, good morning.

My name, as has already been mentioned, is Luke Lillivigen.

I got to talk to Jim Franks this morning, and he asked me, you know, he said,

you've been here before, and I said, yes, I have.

The last time that I was here in this room, I was being examined for ordination in this presbytery.

And I'm glad that I'm feeling much less anxiety today than I was back then.

But certainly our prayers are with Andy and his recovery, with Matthew Capone and his much-deserved time off.

And I am very thankful to all of you for the opportunity to come and to worship the Lord together with you.

We're going to look at a passage today in the Gospel according to Luke.

We're going to read together.

It won't be in your worship guides.

So if you have a Bible, you can open that up, or I've been told it will be up on the screen possibly.

So we're going to look in Luke chapter 12, beginning in the 22nd verse.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

And Jesus said to his disciples,

And yet God feeds them.

And yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.

For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give to the needy.

Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old,

with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail,

where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord God, we do thank you for the gift of your word,

the assurances of your love,

and the opportunity that we have to come and to hear them together,

to be reminded by the power of your Spirit

that we indeed are dependent upon you.

And so, Lord, I pray that today, through all of this,

that we would be conformed more and more to the image of your Son.

Amen.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

So what is it that makes you anxious?

Now, in my everyday life, I'm a hospice chaplain.

I work in Pueblo, driving all around the city to people's homes,

all over the place,

to visit with people who have been diagnosed

and given less than six months to live.

And so, when I go to meet with them,

oftentimes, it's just me and the patient,

just the two of us.

And so, I get to ask them really personal questions,

like, what makes you anxious?

What keeps you up at night?

Now, in a place like this,

I would love to walk out with a microphone

and ask you, one by one,

what is it that makes you anxious?

But my wife warns me that this might make you more anxious.

So I'm not going to do it.

But instead, I want to recognize

that many of us feel anxious.

Jesus uses three words pretty interchangeably here.

He talks about anxiety, fear, worry.

All of these are things that we are familiar with

at some point in our lives.

And if you're sitting there thinking to yourself,

I'm not anxious, well, good.

That's awesome.

I'm so glad for you.

Two things I want to check in with you, though,

before you check out of this sermon.

The first one is, why aren't you anxious?

If you sit here and you think, I'm not anxious.

I live in a wonderful house in a safe neighborhood.

I've got a great job, well-behaved children.

Everything's wonderful in my life.

Then Jesus has very serious warnings for you.

Because the phrase, do not be anxious,

is one of those nice platitudes that we can throw out there,

that we can embroider on a throw pillow, right?

Do not be anxious.

It's easy to remember.

Do not be anxious.

It's something you can tell your kids.

Do not be anxious.

It fits in a greeting card.

But it comes in the context of a much larger passage

where Jesus is teaching his disciples.

And it comes immediately following a verse that warns us

and a parable where Jesus warns his disciples

that if you are like a rich man who builds for himself

storehouses full of grain,

that even that will be taken away from you.

Because we have no power to provide for ourselves.

So if you are sitting here this morning and saying,

I'm not anxious because everything in my life is fantastic.

I have everything I need.

Then listen up.

And to see where it is that that should be.

And if truly you sit here this morning

with the true peace of Christ in your heart,

also please don't check out,

because the people around you, they're anxious.

We live in a very, very anxious world.

In fact, the psychologist Jonathan Haidt

has labeled young kids today the anxious generation.

It is the thing that defines so many young people in our culture.

It is something that your family members,

your co-workers are struggling with.

And what could be better than hearing the good news of Jesus Christ

that you can take out to them and apply into their lives?

Because I promise you, if they're anxious,

they are searching in vain for a relief from that anxiety.

If they're not turning to Christ,

then their anxiety is going to persist.

And you have the only thing that can really address their anxiety.

And isn't that good news?

Isn't that worth tuning in to the words of Jesus to his disciples for?

So when we look at these, Jesus starts off,

and he begins right away.

He says, do not be anxious.

I want to put you at ease a little bit.

This is not an 11th commandment.

Jesus is not saying, thou shalt not be anxious.

Sometimes when we worry, we can feel like we're being sinful.

We can feel like we are failing to live up to God's standard.

But that's not what Jesus is saying here.

He's not warning them to not be anxious.

He is encouraging them.

Because he has just told them that you have no power to provide for yourself.

You have no ability to protect your goods,

your food on this planet.

You don't.

That's a hard truth for us sometimes.

To recognize that we are not in control of our lives.

We desperately want to be.

But we are not in control of our lives.

We are not self-sufficient.

This is something that many of my patients wrestle with.

If any of you have ever had to get to that point

where you need to take the car keys away from your dear mother

and say, no, it's not safe for you to be out there,

you know how tightly we cling on to the idea of our independence.

The idea that we should be able to go where we want

and do what we want whenever we want.

We are independent people who don't like to be dependent upon anyone,

even God.

But when Jesus tells us, fear not, little flock,

he's speaking to you and to me.

We are his little flock.

We are the sheep that he loves and cares for,

that he feeds out of his very own hand.

And he is encouraging us to not be anxious

because we live in a very anxious world.

Now, what is it that makes us anxious?

What is it that makes you anxious?

Is it money?

I got to tell you, I have my own monetary fears in this world.

I was very, very blessed this Christmas break

to have my daughter home from college.

It's her freshman year.

And we just sent her off.

She's our oldest, the first one that we sent away.

And there's a lot of concern on my part when she goes.

There's safety concerns.

There's financial concerns.

College is not cheap.

And so I wonder about things like,

where's the money going to come from?

How are we going to pay for these things?

Is she going to take it seriously?

Is she going to study hard?

Or is she going to be like me and goof off?

Fail classes, lose scholarships, all of those things, right?

It's so real to me because I've done that.

And at the same time that we're sending my daughter off to college,

we're getting ready to welcome a new child into our home.

My wife, who's, I'm 44 years old.

I'm not going to tell you how old my wife is.

But we're expecting a new baby.

Our youngest right now is 11.

This was a bit of a shock to us.

As we were financially preparing, I was going back to work full time.

I was getting ready to, and we made all of our plans.

They were set in place.

But God had different plans for us.

And I'll admit that that brought me anxiety to say,

how are we going to do this again?

I have to say, I laughed a little bit because my wife and I,

we got married very young.

And I had children pretty much right away.

And so I normally worship at Grace and Peace just up the road from here.

And we have a lot of young children running around with parents who aren't quite as young.

And I laughed over and over again thinking,

I am so thankful that I was wise and had my children young.

So that as they grow older, I still have the energy to do these things.

And now, of course, God laughs back at me.

And so we can be anxious about important things, right?

We can be anxious about things that matter, like providing for our loved ones,

raising them up in the fear and the admonition of the Lord,

keeping ourselves safe.

We can be concerned about the world that we live in,

the society that we occupy, the government that we elect.

These are all good and important things.

And yet Jesus assures us not to be anxious.

Because we're in a world that's telling us all the time,

over and over again, to be anxious.

Because it's such an effective marketing tool.

We live in a world where everyone is trying to make us afraid of something

so that they can sell us the solution.

Do you not have as much money as your neighbor?

Here's a get-rich-quick scheme.

Are your children not as beautiful as you want them to be?

Here are some braces that you can pay for.

Have you run out of ways to compete with your neighbors?

How about you put them into music, like my kids are, right?

How about you are afraid of the other party and so you have to vote for us?

Or you're afraid of the borders or the economy or whatever it is.

I have a solution that I can sell to you.

But none of those things are going to deal with the real anxiety that we feel.

Because the real anxieties that we have can only be addressed by Jesus Christ himself.

And so Jesus begins with the encouragement.

Do not be anxious.

And he gives us not one, but two parables back to back.

You'll see in them a very nice parallel about the ravens.

We all know what ravens look like, right?

Those big old black birds that you see everywhere, right?

Flying in the skies, eating out in the fields.

They are beautiful.

But they're not like squirrels.

Squirrels, as they prepare for the winter,

they will go around and they'll pick up all the nuts and they'll put them someplace, right?

They'll hide them.

Now, thankfully for oak trees, squirrels often forget where it is that they've hidden them, right?

But the idea of the squirrel is, I'm going to get ready for winter.

I'm going to be ready when there's no more abundance out there.

I'm going to have it sitting here waiting for me.

And what Jesus tells us is, don't look at the squirrel.

Don't consider the ant.

Look at the raven.

The raven who doesn't do any of those things and yet somehow manages to survive.

That raven is an example to us of how we should be.

Or here in beautiful, colorful Colorado in the spring when all of those gorgeous wildflowers come out, right?

That's something that we can all look forward to, driving up the road and seeing all of those colors and how beautiful they are.

And Jesus tells us that not even Solomon was dressed as beautifully as a single columbine.

And he says something really important to us.

And you can tell it's important because, like I said, there's two parallel parables, right?

Two parallel parables.

Hard to say.

And sandwiched right in the middle of those two parables is sort of the point.

So Jesus says,

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?

You can't.

This is something that in hospice we are very, very much aware of.

That we can care for you, relieve pain, give you love, help you deal with the leftover anxieties of this life.

But we cannot extend your life.

If there's a doctor who doesn't know that, then they should learn it really, really quickly.

Because as wonderful a blessing as modern medicine is, it cannot extend our life one minute beyond what God has already ordained for us.

And so when we live in that reality, that might make us uncomfortable.

And I think it probably should.

Because as much as we plan and scheme in this world, as much as we prepare ourselves for what is to come,

we don't know what's going to come.

We have no idea.

This is a world where we can sort of make five, ten, twenty-year plans.

But God's going to do what God's going to do.

And that might be a terrifying thought to you,

if you think of God as being distant from you.

Some sort of force who's monkeying with your life,

and you have no say in it.

But that's not who God is.

I think sometimes we, especially as good Calvinists,

can look at people who are worrying,

people who are in pain,

and we can say,

don't worry, God's in control.

And that can come across as being truly hollow

if that person doesn't know who God truly is,

what his character, his nature is.

Because so many people are taught to think of God

as a disapproving father.

Or some sort of distant bureaucrat

who makes all of the laws,

and it's our job to follow them.

But that's not who God is.

Because remember the raven.

It's not that the raven is able to survive out there

without storing up food.

It's that God provides for the raven.

God clothes the flowers.

They are beautiful because he loves them.

How much more does God love you

than he loves a bird or a flower?

The same God who sent his son to die for you

is providing for you.

He is the one who is caring for you.

He is the one who is in control of all of those things

that you can't control.

And that, brothers and sisters, that is good news.

And so when we look at it,

we see that Jesus tells us

that do not seek what you are to eat

and what you are to drink, nor be worried.

Because think about it.

How sad would it be

even if you could provide everything

that you need to eat and to drink?

If you could do those things, but nothing more.

Imagine if that was it.

You just had just enough.

But God looks at us and he tells us through his son.

He says,

but God tells us that the same things

that the nations are seeking after,

he knows that we need them.

We do need food.

In this life, we need food.

God designed us that way.

In this life, we need clothing.

So God gave us clothing.

In this life, we need security.

We need hope.

We need opportunity.

There are things that we need

that God knows that we need.

And he doesn't forget that.

Remember, this is the God who,

if you come to him and you ask for a serpent,

if you ask him for something bad,

he's gonna give you bread.

He's gonna give you something good,

something that you actually need.

This is the God that we worship.

He knows much better than we do

what it is that we need.

So God says,

don't go seeking after those things

that you think you need.

Instead,

seek his kingdom.

Seek his kingdom.

Now, what does that look like?

What does it mean

to seek God's kingdom?

It's that I'm,

I'm a PCA pastor.

I've read a lot of books.

I've studied a lot of scripture.

I have been examined right here

on this floor

to do these things.

And I want to tell you

that the answer is

go home and pray.

Learn some theology

that's seeking God's kingdom.

I want to end the sermon right here.

Go home.

Farewell.

Do not be anxious,

but instead seek God's kingdom.

But it's not immediately obvious,

then,

what should come next?

What do we do with that?

How should we apply this in our lives?

So Jesus tells us.

He looks at us

and he says,

fear not, little flock.

Fear not, little flock,

for it is your father's good pleasure

to give you the kingdom.

There are a lot of people in this world

who are building up barns.

There are a lot of people in this world

who are seeking after power

and authority

in order to protect themselves.

There are a lot of people

who are building their homes

into fortresses

to protect their loved ones.

A lot of people

who are building a lot of things.

But it's not God's kingdom

that they're building.

Because we don't build God's kingdom.

God's kingdom is the one

that he gives to us.

And not grudgingly either.

I think sometimes

when we look at the scriptures

we can think of

God of the Old Testament

being the stingy God.

The God who's always looking at us

and waiting for us to mess up.

But the God that Jesus shows us

is a God who loves us

and who provides for us.

And that if we remember

the story of God's people

throughout history

we'll see that too.

If we remember

that once we were slaves in Egypt

we were slaves

in a land of sin and death

but God by his mighty right hand

brought us out.

He rescued us

delivered us

from slavery in Egypt

and we went out into the desert.

And immediately

the first thing we did

was to sing praises to God.

The second thing we did

was to complain.

God's people come out

and they sing

led by Moses

and then Miriam

and then they say

hey

Moses we're in a desert

and there's no water.

And then they look at Moses

and they say

hey Moses we're in a desert

and there's no food.

What are we gonna do?

And so God gave them water.

God gave them food.

He could have sustained them

without food and water.

But that's not how he chose to do it.

He chose to do it

by giving them food and water.

And when he gave them that food

that manna

they were sent out every day

to collect.

And every single morning

they went out

and they picked up the manna

and those who gathered a little bit

they were satisfied.

They had everything that they needed.

And those who gathered much

they had none left over.

There was nothing more

that God was gonna do with that.

You couldn't keep the manna

from one day till the next

because it was filled

it rotted and filled with worms

overnight.

God was telling them

no, no, no.

Each and every day

you will depend on me.

And then

on the seventh day

he told them

sixth day

go out and collect twice as much.

And don't collect on the seventh day.

So some of them go out

on the sixth day

and they collect all of that

they collect twice as much

and then it's left over

on the seventh day

it's still there for them.

God is miraculously providing

for his people.

And some people thought

this is great

God who's providing for me

I'm gonna go out

and get even more.

I'll go out on the seventh day.

And there was none.

God

because that's not

how God works.

It's hard.

We want to plan.

We want to control.

We want to save up

for the future.

But God doesn't

love us in that way.

He loves us in the way

that he knows

is best for us.

He loves us

by each and every day

praying for our daily bread

so that we are dependent

upon him.

Because as much as we want

to be independent

that is rebellion

against his goodness.

As much as we want

to provide for ourselves

we can't.

We can't add a single day

to our lives.

But he has the power

to give us bread

every day.

He has the power

to give us

eternal life.

And so he calls upon us

and he says

fear not little flock

for it is your father's

good pleasure

to give you the kingdom.

Because that's what

he loves to do.

He feeds us

because we need it

and because he loves

to feed us.

And again

I'd love to just

stop right there

because I'm a good

Presbyterian

and I like to focus

on God's sovereignty

and God's goodness

and God's character

and maybe not so much

on my response.

But Jesus doesn't

stop there

so I'm not going to.

He says sell your possessions

and give to the needy.

It's right there

in black and white.

Sell your possessions

and give to the needy.

The God who loves us

the God who provides

for us

he's the one

telling us

to sell our possessions

and give to the needy.

Now does that mean

you need to go home

today and sell your house

and live on the streets?

No.

I don't think that

that's actually

what it's saying.

But take a moment

to be confronted

by scripture.

And say that

the way that we

are supposed to live

in this kingdom

that God gives us

is with radical generosity.

The kind of generosity

that surprises

other people.

The kind of generosity

that when you go to work

your co-workers

will notice

and they will ask you

how can you be

so generous?

Aren't you afraid

there won't be enough?

And you can turn them

and say

I worship a God

who will never

let me go without.

I worship a God

not who has commanded me

to sell my possessions

or to tithe

or whatever

but who has freed me

from worry.

My anxieties

are not like

your anxieties

because I worship

a good God

who loves me

cares for me

and provides for me.

Isn't that good news

that you can take out

into the workplace

this week?

He says

provide yourselves.

I think what he's saying here

is by doing so

by giving to the needy

you are providing yourselves

with money bags

that do not grow old

with a treasure

in the heavens

that does not fail.

And Jesus is intentionally

juxtaposing

his promises

of verse 33

with his warnings

about

those who lay up

for themselves

treasures

on earth

and are not rich

towards God

in verse 21.

He is telling us

that instead of being

like everyone else

who's selling us

anxiety

and its solution

that we should be people

of radical generosity

and that by doing so

we are storing up

for ourselves

treasures in heaven.

And at Grace and Peace

each and every week

when we collect

the tithes and offerings

we use

it's actually the text

out of Matthew

but we use this

as a text

as a liturgy

to remind ourselves

why it is that we give.

To lay up

for ourselves

treasures in heaven

for there your heart

will be also.

And I've always read

this backwards.

One of the most wonderful

things about

preaching

is the opportunity

to really meditate

upon a passage.

Maybe a passage

that you know

really well

and to turn it

inside out

and say

is it true

the things

I've always believed?

And I have to say

that coming to this passage

for the first time

I truly believed

that

if you lay up

for yourselves

treasures in heaven

that that's your response

to where your heart is.

if your heart is

truly transformed

by the gospel

then you will want

to lay up for yourself

treasures in heaven

and not treasures on earth.

But actually

Jesus is saying it

the other way around.

And what he's saying is

if you do this

if you practice

generosity

if you practice

Sabbath rest

if you practice

trust in God

then your heart

will move

from this world

to his world.

From this kingdom

of anxiety

to his kingdom

of provision.

Because the things

that we do

with our bodies

are important.

It's not just

in our mind

hey I'm going to go home

and trust in you.

No, no, no.

I'm going to actually

do something.

I'm going to take money

out of my account.

I'm going to put it

in my hand

and I'm going to give it

to someone else.

It changes us.

It transforms us

by doing that simple action.

And so

I encourage you

this is the other

opportunity I get

when I get to go

and preach

in a congregation

that's not my own.

I get to encourage you

in a couple of ways.

Give to your church.

But also importantly

I haven't asked

but I'm sure

it is true

and Jen will tell me

if it's not.

Your church has

a benevolence fund.

A fund

that is not touched

by your elders

by the way.

It is controlled

by your deacons.

Your deacons

who have called

to serve

the needy among you

to be friends

to the friendless.

Those deacons

have a fund

called the benevolence fund

that you can give money to

and they will distribute it

on your behalf

to the people

who need it the most.

These are men

that you trust

that you know

that you will look

in the eye

next week

after you've given

that money

and you will hear them

occasionally come up

and tell you

the good things

that the benevolence fund

has done

on your behalf.

This is a radical generosity

and it's incredibly ordinary.

But this is the way

of God, isn't it?

That we don't need

manna coming down

from heaven

each and every day.

We know

that the money

in our bank accounts

comes from God.

We know

that it's not

because we are so smart

that we have

that fantastic job

or because we're

so hard working

that we're going

to be able

to keep it.

We know

that's from God.

And so because

we know that

we are free

from anxiety.

To know that

if we ever

lose those things

it's not because

God failed us.

It's not because

he turned his back

on us.

It's because

it wasn't

what was best

for us.

Because our

loving Father

is giving us

his kingdom.

And so in a few moments

we're going to come together

together and we're going

to share the Lord's

Supper.

And this right here

is the very best

example

of what it means

to be

his little flock.

It's a very

tangible

physical way

that we come together

and are fed

by God.

we're going to

we're going to

prepare ourselves

to feed upon

Christ himself

who gave

himself

for us.

Because

sometimes when we

think about the

powerful God

who can give us

a whole kingdom

we can also

forget the price

that was paid

for that kingdom.

It didn't come

cheaply.

because our

rebellion against

him wasn't

small.

When we stood

in that garden

and we said

the food that

you've given us

is not good

enough food

what we want

is this food

over here.

But all of that

has been reversed.

All of that

has been

transformed

so that you

and I can

come together

at this table

and we can

be fed

by heavenly

food

and we can

reside together

if just for a

brief time

before leaving

here

in his kingdom

that he loves

to give to us.

So let us pray.

Heavenly Father

Lord God

we thank you

for the gift

of your son

for his work

upon the cross

and for his

warnings

but especially

Lord God

we thank you

for the

encouragement

that you've

given us

this morning

through the

gospel according

to Luke.

This encouragement

to not be

anxious

to not worry

as the world

worries

but to live

as your people

as his little

flock.

Lord I pray

that you would

prepare our hearts

to come into

his presence

and to feast

upon his body.

Amen.