We are looking to cover a pretty long section here in this study with the point of making sure we are living in a way that is seeking God and not earthly treasures. We come off of the context we looked at in our last study. We finished off with Luke 12:20-21 that says But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’ 21 So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
This really takes us back to the concept of those two kingdoms that we have been speaking of since chapter 11. You will either be living for earthly treasures or heavenly treasures. You will either be storing up riches for self or being rich towards God. Now this does not mean that we are giving our money to God or anything like that. This is meaning our ability to trust God instead of ourselves.
We looked at the parable of the rich fool in our last study where we saw that at some point our lives will come to an end. If all you have ever done is chase after earthly wealth then what good is that at that point of death. Jesus refers to this type of person as a fool because they have trusted their own wealth and abilities over God.
In this study we will look at what it means to seek God’s kingdom or in other words what it means to be rich towards God. This will be the content for this study so let’s look now at our first point concerning this topic.
For a parallel reading of this section go to Matthew 6:25-34.
1.Seek God’s Kingdom by TRUSTING GOD.
Look with me at Luke 12:22-24 that says And He 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. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 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 then 27-28 that says 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. 28 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 of little faith!
As you can see with these verses I am using here that we will not be going in exact sequential order in our text. I did this to stay true to the content that we will deal with in each point. Here what we notice is a command to trust God in every area of our life. Remember we must take what we see within the context of what Jesus has been speaking on in the last section in our text. Really if we go back to the beginning of this chapter we see the need to fear God and not man. This sets up all that we have seen in this chapter so far.
We have seen in this chapter that we must trust God even when persecuted and even threatened to be killed for the faith. This was a near reality for much of Jesus’ followers in Jesus’ time. We also must trust God by living out our life as a Christian before others in spite of those threats and we must trust God over earthly treasures.
It is this last statement that we continue in this study. Notice what Jesus says at the beginning here, He says in Luke 12:22-23 “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. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
This sounds a lot like what He said in our previous section when He said in Luke 12:15b for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.
We must keep in mind that the life we have here is only temporary. That was a point in our last study and it has to be something we keep in our mind as Christians. It is easy to get caught up into the things of this life, especially when we are faced with difficulties that hinder normal life. The original audience of our Lord would have in fact faced this danger just months down the road that would last until some of them lost their life.
Not only in this type of extreme situations should we trust God but also in every day life. Jesus first says in Luke 12:25 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!
Then we skip down to verses 27-28 that says 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. 28 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 of little faith!
These are the necessities of life, both food and clothing. In their time this is all they worried about, they did not worry with the latest fad or the latest popular fashion statement. The struggle for food and clothing was a reality because they were dependent to provide these things for themselves for the most part. They did not have stores like we do even though there were some markets that provided minimal food and clothing resources.
For the most part this would be what consumed their life. If this was a struggle in normal conditions then this would definitely be a struggle in conditions where they were to be persecuted for following Jesus. This point is very clear which shows to us that we do not trust in our own ability or in the accumulation of the things we have.
To finish off this point I want to look briefly at what Jesus says at the end of verse 28 where He says You of little faith! Here I believe we see the reality of the disciple’s condition. It is no different with us as well because we too are people of little faith. We struggle to deal with the smallest matters sometimes and it is for this reason we will look at what our next point says here.
2.Seek God’s Kingdom by NOT WORRYING.
Look with me at Luke 12:25-26 that says And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span? 26 Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?
And then verse 29 that says And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.
Here again we see another concept in how we are to seek God’s Kingdom. We learned we must trust God for our necessities of life and now we see that we do this by not hanging on to worry and anxiousness. The fact is that we can’t trust God and worry at the same time. We will either be worrying about a situation or trusting God. Yes there are times we may have questions about difficult doctrines that need to be answered but those answers should never determine our trust in God.
The reality about worry is that this hinders our ability to truly trust God. The other thing is the obvious thing that we see Jesus says here. Look again at what Jesus said in Luke 12:25 And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?
The answer to this question is obvious and that is a big NOTHING. Worrying about something does not change the truth about that situation. So we see Jesus says in verse 26 Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?
The rhetorical question implies that we do not need to worry. When we go down to Luke 12:29 we see that Jesus says And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.
Philippians 4:6 tells us do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Instead of living our life in constant worry and stress we need to follow what Psalm 55:22 says Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
We turn from trust in ourselves and turn to God. We learned first that we are to trust God but the only way we can do that is to quit trusting in ourselves. Trusting in ourselves does nothing but brings to us worry and anxiousness. But we can trust God not just because He says too, even though that is a good enough reason to, but because He is in control of our lives. This is what we will look into in our next point for this study.
3. Seek God’s Kingdom by knowing HE IS SOVEREIGN.
Look with me at Luke 12:30-32 that says For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 Do not fear, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.
God’s kingdom is not like the world’s. Our views, our lives, our beliefs should not run in agreement with the world’s views on what sin is, who God is and how to attain eternal life. Our life should not be seen as one that is lived out for the abundance of earthly wealth and possessions. It isn’t that we forsake jobs or the use of our skills to provide for what we have but that we see that it is God that has provided to us the abilities and jobs we have.
We notice that Jesus says that these things the nations of the world eagerly seek. The word seek here is the Greek word epizéteó (ep-eed-zay-teh’-o) which shows to us a personal, intense desire to seek after something. So we see it isn’t that we just sit around not working and then expect God to provide. We can and should use our skills given to us. But at the same time we must not use our skills to seek after these worldly things that end up taking the place of God in most peoples lives. Instead we trust in God’s sovereignty. Jesus says but your Father knows that you need these things.
It is for this reason that we turn to God’s way instead of our own. He knows what is best for us and what we need so Jesus says in Luke 12:31 But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
In Matthew’s account we see an addition to what Jesus says here. Matthew 6:34 says So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
If we are seeking God’s kingdom then we have no reason to worry. In fact there will be things throughout our lifetime and even in everyday that will cause trouble and problems so we should know to not worry about the necessities that God will in fact provide for us.
In our Luke text we see right after this statement that Jesus says in Luke 12:32 Do not fear, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.
There is that wording that we continue to see, that is to not fear. We do not fear because the promises that we have been given will come to pass. In fact salvation and eternal life(God’s kingdom) is what God has willed for us that trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. It is pleasing to God to give to us what He has willed and planned therefore we need to not worry about these things but trust in His sovereignty, His promises and His plan for us. This leads us to look at the last section briefly that will show to us how this affects us.
4.Seeking God’s Kingdom shows up in your ACTIONS.
Look with me at Luke 12:33-34 that says “Sell your possessions and give it as charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This is not a command for everyone that is a Christian to never have any type of possessions. This again is in opposition to the religious leaders that were living in such luxury while the common people were suffering. The idea is that of a saying that shows to them the importance of not trusting in personal possessions but instead trusting in the promise that God will take care of your every need.
To end this study look again at what Jesus says here in Luke 12:34 where He says For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If you are seeking after earthly and worldly wealth alone then that is what you will be living for. But if you are seeking God’s kingdom then that is what you will be living for. You can say you love God more than anything in the world but in reality what you are living for shows up in the actions you take. If you are a Christian then your life will be in battling against yourself most often. You will want at times to live for the flesh, the world and the earthly things but if you continue to seek God’s kingdom then you will find yourself turning from those things more often. It is really with this thought of consistent living for God and seeking His kingdom that we will move into our next section as we move into our study for next time.
Disciple's Direction 