Good morning. Welcome again to Blacksburg Christian Fellowship. We are delighted that you are here with us this morning at home, outside, in 160, the Fellowship Hall, and the auditorium. Wish I could be in five places at one time to be with everyone. But we're so thankful that you're here, gathered with us this morning, now, especially as we hear from the Lord through His Word. We're going to be in Luke 12, verses 13-34. As we get ready to read the Word, which I believe is the most important thing we'll hear this morning, would you stand with me in honor of God and His Word? This is Luke 12, verses 13-34. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbiter over you? And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And he said to his disciples, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life? If then you are not able to do a small thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. 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? Oh, you of little faith. And 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 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, give to the needy, provide yourselves with the 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 will your heart be also. Father, we come to worship you this morning and we pray that you would help us from your word, not store up things on earth, but to seek your kingdom. And in that, that you would help us to be a people that are not anxious and not worried and not fearful of anything. But we need your help in that. So use your word this morning to do that work in us, Father. We pray for your glory and your honor in the name of Jesus. Amen. You can have a seat. Well, I wonder if you have enough money. Do you have enough? Do you have enough money for this week or this month or this year? Many of us, maybe do, some of us may be really struggling with that, wondering, will I have enough? Do you have enough money for the rest of your life? Will you have enough at the end of your life? There's lots of other questions that come at us from all the college students. Will I get a job after I graduate? Or some other really difficult situations with maybe a grown adult child who's not walking with the Lord, who has walked away. Will they ever come back? Will this work out? Or what is life going to be like on November 4th, the day after the election? Or what if those lab results come back and they show that something isn't right, something's wrong? You know, all these questions and many more that you probably ask in your own mind, the one thing that they have in common is they can produce great anxiety and worry and fear in our lives. Even during this pandemic, one study found that the searches online for anxiety and panic attacks were the highest they have ever been in 16 years of historical research data. Another study indicated that 81% of Americans under 30 reported feeling anxious, depressed, lonely, or hopeless at least one day in the previous week. For those over 60, it was 48% feeling anxious or depressed or lonely or hopeless. I don't know about you, but even this week, moving back inside, I have felt some anxiety. How will this go? Will this work? Is this gonna happen? You know, what we all want when we have anxiety is we just want a solution that will not just take it away now, but will take it away forever. I just want it, I want it, and I want it quickly, right now. Fix my anxiety, get rid of my worry. So we go searching. If you go searching online, you'll find lots of good answers. Things like get more sleep, change your diet, go to therapy, take a vacation. Well, that would benefit everybody, wouldn't it? All kinds of solutions, many of which are good, not all of which are good and beneficial, but so often the solution to try to get rid of anxiety does not go to the core of what causes our anxiety or our worry. Lots of things can be helpful, but in the end, the most helpful is God and His Word. And so we don't have to depend on Google to solve our worry problems. We can go to the Word of God. And this morning, Jesus, in his teaching to his disciples, gives us a great tool for how to battle. And I think that's a key word when we experience any anxiety or worry. It's to battle. to trust the Lord. It's a fight, but he gives us the tools to be able to do that. Now, we need each other's help. We may need counseling at some point, and elders are available, and we have a side-by-side team available to help walk with you through the difficult seasons of life that may be producing anxiety or worry or fear. We need each other in that, but most importantly, we need to be reminded of what God has said, because He created us. He made us, and He knows us inside and out. And when we struggle with sin, He knows how we can walk out of that, turn from it, and come into fellowship and relationship with Him. So this morning, we're going to look first at just talking about what, from this passage, what is anxiety? When Jesus says, don't be anxious, don't worry, what does he mean by that? And then we're going to examine two different commands that he gives within this passage, and then the result that could come if we follow those commands. So you notice right here in verse 22, Jesus, after teaching a parable, he says to his disciples, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. So he says, don't be anxious. What is being anxious? Well, I think in the context of this passage, to be anxious, you could define it, this is how I've defined it, is to be unduly or overly concerned about something that is either promised by God or is beyond one's control. So it's to be overly concerned about something that is either already promised by God or is beyond one's personal control. And when we are anxious about something, worried about something, we do something to try to fulfill something that God has already said He would do, or we try to control things, or other people, or events to work out in the way that we think are best. Now, in the context of this teaching, the context is directly about storing up money. And will I have enough to eat or wear each day or long term? That's the anxiety. But God has already promised us that he would take care of us. So that's why Jesus is saying, don't be anxious about these things. But our anxiety, if we're honest, goes well beyond just money, many other things in life. As I said, that research during this season, the searches for anxiety have spiked tremendously. People are worried, they're anxious about life. There's so much unknown and out of control it seems. And then add on top of that our season now of this election that's causing many to be anxious. It's a situation, as Jim prayed, that it's already taken care of by the Lord. He is sovereignly in control. He puts governing authorities in positions of power. I can't control that. He controls it. I can vote, but I can't put somebody in office. God does. And so I need to not be anxious about that. So what are you anxious about? What's making you worried? What's keeping you up at night maybe? Well, the core issue here is that we tend to trust ourselves to provide what we need instead of trusting God. Or we trust ourselves to control all things instead of trusting God who is in control. So this passage deals with this general sense of anxiety and worry that we have. But there is a reality that some people will experience anxiety at a level that is very significant, even to the point of experiencing things like panic attacks. There is help that is provided. If you're in that place, talk to us. We would love to help you get the help that you need to deal with that significant level of panic or anxiety or even depression that you may be dealing with. This passage deals with this general anxiety that all people face, and I think it helps all of us. And so let's look in here again, back in the first portion. of this passage, Jesus tells this parable about a man who had an abundance of possessions. This man had many barns, and he grew crops, and he was doing well. And then all of a sudden, he has so many crops, so much of an abundance of crops, that he decides to take care of all the crops he has. He's got to tear down all his barns and build bigger ones. Now, the problem is not that he has excess in crops. The problem is what he does with that extra resources that he has. He's so focused on storing up for himself because he wants to, as the scriptures say, relax, eat, drink and be merry. He is self-focused, self-indulgent. In the story, he never thanks God for the crops that just seem to show up for him. He doesn't use the abundance of the resources that God has given him to bless others, to give to the poor. No, he seeks to store up instead of building God's kingdom. He has an earthly perspective. He's working to try to provide for himself so that he can relax and he doesn't need anyone else, especially not God. And what he missed in this whole scenario of this abundance of crops is that life is more important than crops. It's more important than money. It's more important than food and clothing. Jesus says in verse 20 that God is going to say to him, the father is going to say to him, fool, And now if God ever calls you a fool, you better pay attention. He is in a bad place. This night, your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? He was so focused on the things of this life that he ignored his soul in relation to God, something much more important. He was rich, but he was not rich towards God. Now, Jesus is not teaching we should never save for the future, but he is teaching in this that we don't need to be anxious about what we're gonna eat or wear. We don't need to store up for ourselves in this life because God has promised to take care of us. In verses 13 through 21, store and lay up are used four times. I think Jesus is trying to drive home to us. Don't store up for yourselves things on earth. Again, this man was rich, but he was not rich towards God. Instead of seeking the kingdom of God, which is to live under the rule and reign of God, he was piling up goods so that he could be taken care of without need for the Lord to provide his daily bread. I think that's the sinful tendency of all of us, is that we want to store up for ourselves. We want to make sure we have enough, whatever that is. We want to make sure that we can control whatever situation is in front of us that causes us a bit of anxiety. And so we want to try to store up and work for and put all this energy into those things so that it'll all work out. And then we know that we're taken care of. We don't need to trust the Lord. But what this does is it produces this anxiety, this worry, because how do I know if I have enough? How do I really know if this situation that I'm dealing with will actually work out in the way I want it to? In this story, Jesus calls this man greedy. Again, he's rich, but he's not rich towards God. Life is not found in the abundance of possessions, the things of this world. Life is found in the kingdom of God. This man stored up treasure revealed the focus of his heart. It was on the things of this earth. I think this story should lead us all to ask, what am I storing up? What am I trying to store up in my life so that I don't have to trust God to take care of me, or I don't have to trust God to work out the details of this and be in control? I want to be in control of my life. Maybe it is money and trying to get as much in the bank account, the right amount, or in the retirement account as I possibly can. Maybe it's storing up trying to make my kids into these good Christians that will walk with God forever, even though I have no ultimate power over their soul, God does. Maybe I'm storing up career achievements so that I'll be taken care of. What are you storing up? This story and this teaching about not being anxious is telling us we don't need to store up. We don't need to allow the anxiety that we feel about, will I have enough? Or will this situation work out to drive us to store up and try to control? No. Instead, Jesus says, instead of storing up, we should be seeking the kingdom of God, resting in his promises and his power to provide for all our needs. So as we mentioned earlier, anxiety, I think, can be defined as being overly concerned about something that is either already promised by God or that's beyond our control. And Jesus tells us the parable, and then he explains why and how we cannot be anxious. And he uses these beautiful pictures as he encourages us to not worry about what we will eat or what we will wear, but to seek the kingdom. And first, he uses the picture of the raven, that the raven doesn't sow or reap. This bird goes out. They don't work to provide themselves for food. They fly around and God brings to them the food that they need. They see it. They find it. They don't store up for tomorrow. God continues to take care of them. And here is one of the most key parts of this entire passage, verse 24. of how much more value are you than the birds. If God's gonna take care of a raven, which was not a respected bird even, how much more valuable are you? Don't be anxious. God is gonna take care of you. You're so much more valuable than a bird. You're created in the image of God. He promised that as you are in Christ, forgiven of sin, made brand new, adopted into His family, He's going to take care of you. You're so much more valuable than a bird. Remember back in chapter 11 when we studied the Lord's Prayer? What Jesus encouraged us to do is every day say, God, give us our daily bread. Give us our daily bread. And then we trust Him to provide what we need. See, that Lord's Prayer is not just a nice statement that makes us sound good or feel good. It's true. It's real. When we pray for God to provide our daily bread, we are seeking His kingdom. And He promised He will provide for us. And then Jesus uses the lilies that neither toil nor spin and yet are more beautiful than even Solomon in all his glory. If you hadn't been by the church recently, you need to come by today. There are these flowers out front that I have never seen in my life. And now if you know me, I'm not the guy that notices flowers, okay? That's not me. I'm not that kind of guy. But the other week when I walked into church, I noticed these flowers and I just stopped. And I thought, these are the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen in my life. What are these things? Where did they come from? Who made these? This is incredible, and our gardening committee put them. They're just beautiful. The color's vibrant, and the shape. I was just struck. Now again, I'm not the guy that notices those things, probably because I was thinking about this passage. The Lord stuck it out to me, and I thought, look at how God clothes these flowers. And then in verse 28, how much more will he clothe you? How much more will he clothe you? Again, you and I are created in his image. And if you have trusted in Christ, you are made right. Your sin is forgiven. You've been brought into God's family. He's going to take care of every need you have. He is completely in control of all things. And so we don't need to be anxious. That's why Jesus says in verse 28, O you of little faith. It's a rebuke, but it's a very gentle rebuke. Don't forget who I am, Jesus says, I'm gonna take care of you. It's a reminder that we are loved and we are of much more value than the birds and the flowers and God is going to take care of us. So we need not be anxious about what we eat, what we will wear or anything. Now, this little faith that he says they have, it doesn't mean they have no faith. It means they're struggling to trust God. It's the moment that the little child is at the swimming pool, and it's the first time they're ever gonna jump into their mom or dad's arms. And it's like they're jumping into the Grand Canyon. I mean, this is so dangerous. This is the worst decision they could ever make in their entire life. And the parent is standing there going, I'm going to easily catch you. And if I don't, there's water, you're going to be fine. But the child thinks, no, I can't do this. I can't do this. Now, this child has been taken care of every day by this parent, fed and clothed and cared for and nurtured. And yet in this moment, there's this moment of doubt. Can I really trust this man? Really? Is he going to take care of me? But eventually, they remember, right, this is my mom, this is my dad. They are strong. They've taken care of me. I can trust them. And they jump, and there's this joy. And then they want to do it for the next seven hours, right? But that's a picture of what it means to have faith. It's not always easy. Will God provide? Will He catch me? Will He take care of this? and I stand at the edge of the pool, and I know who He is, but I struggle. What Jesus is inviting us to do is to jump, is to trust Him. And so how is your faith? How is your faith doing? Are you trusting in the provinces of your Heavenly Father and His sovereign control over all things? He loves you. You're so much more valuable than a raven or a lily, who He cares for. You don't need to store up. You need to seek His kingdom, and He will take care of you. It's that seeking of the kingdom, looking to God for provision and power that is the path out of anxiety and worry. It isn't easy. This is not just some quick little fix. We still struggle with our sin and our doubt. It's like standing at the edge of the pool every time. Can I really trust Him? Will I have enough? What if that person gets elected? Will my child walk with the Lord as an adult? Will I still have a job during a global pandemic? Will I get cancer or some other disease? So many things out of our control. And when we struggle with anxiety, we really are struggling with unbelief. And what Jesus says here, He invites us in. by fighting for belief. It is a fight, isn't it? It is a fight to trust Him in the middle of the night when you are anxious. No, God, I believe You. And you go to the Word and you remind yourself of who He is. Anxiety and worry can be so crippling. In verse 29, here in the ESV, they translate the word worried. And really what that word means, it means to be hanging in midair. I think that's such a good picture about anxiety and worry. I'm hanging in midair. How will this turn out for me? But Jesus says you do not need to be worried. I don't know about you, but I take great comfort in this passage because I think the fact that Jesus teaches us not to be anxious and worried means he knows we were gonna be anxious and worried people, that we were gonna struggle with this. And in his tenderness, he says, you don't need to. You don't need to worry. You don't need to store up for yourself. You can seek the kingdom. And then you notice in verse 32, again, tenderly, fear not, little flock. For it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. What does it mean to give you the kingdom? It means to live in the security and the stability of God's rule and reign in all things. That's what God will give us as we seek his kingdom. living under and enjoying God's complete and total rule and reign in our life, and then walking in obedience with Him. In the kingdom, there is complete rest and peace. When the fullness of the kingdom comes, anxiety and worry will be all gone. And what's the result? When we seek the kingdom and we start to trust God more and more and see the anxiety and the worry fade away, fly away, what's the result? Well, look in verse 33. When Jesus ends this teaching, sell your possessions, 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 will your heart be also. When we seek the kingdom, we need no longer to be like the man in the parable and storing up, building larger barns, making sure that we got everything taken care of and in control. No, when we seek the kingdom, we're no longer tied to the possessions, the things of this world. We hold them with open hands, and we trust God to use them in any way He wishes, and that He'll take care of us. This story really is, this teaching is in so many ways a lesson about investing in the kingdom instead of investing in the world. Now when he says sell your possessions, he doesn't mean never, he doesn't mean, he doesn't say all. He doesn't mean never save anything. No, of course save, provide for your family, right? Use your God-given mind to make good decisions, right? We don't walk in front of a bus trusting that God will protect us. We're not dumb. But we don't put our hope in the things of this world. We don't store up. Instead, we seek the kingdom of God. The man in the parable was anxious to store up more, taking the abundance that God had provided, not thanking God and not giving it away, not selling it to provide for others who had need. No, he stored it up. And when this man met the Lord for judgment, which we'll talk about judgment more next week, all his things were left. He couldn't do anything with them. Life is so much more than food or clothing. Jesus is telling us here, you want to make a good investment that grows and produces, then invest in the kingdom. Don't invest in the things of this world that cause anxiety and worry. Invest in eternity. Give away the abundance that God has given you to the poor and the needy. It is an act of faith saying, God, I trust you. I don't need to store this up. I can give it away as I seek the kingdom. I can give it to the work of the church. Give it to the spread of the gospel. Give it to those who are desperately in need. It's an act of faith to say, I'm not gonna be worried about if I have enough because I'm trusting you to provide for everything I need. This kind of attitude allows us to look at our things, our bank accounts, our retirement funds with open hands. Knowing a hope is not in that number, but it's in the Lord. It reminds me one time of a pastor who walked outside of his house and his car was gone, stolen. And the first words out of his mouth were, uh-oh, somebody stole God's car. Now that's an eternal perspective, isn't it? I don't think I'd think that. Where am I going to get my car? I'd start to be worried. How are we going to get around? But this pastor said, no, this is God's car. He provided everything for me. It's on him. If he wanted it stolen, that person must need it. Open-handed. Now, I'm sure he called the police and tried to find it. But his attitude was not one of worry or anxiety. He wasn't seeking to store up. He trusted God. Every day, you're going to take care of me. If I don't have a car today and I need it tomorrow, I'm going to trust that somehow I'll get to where I need to be. See, it's this kind of attitude, the selling of possessions, the giving generously. It allows us to face life head on without fear, without worry, without anxiety. If we do get called by the doctor and say, you have this or that, we know that we're a child of God. And it may not be easy, but we can trust Him to take care of us. That one day we'll be in the kingdom, the fullness of the kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth, no more disease. We can trust Him to get us to that moment. We can wake up on November 4th, no matter how the election goes, without a bit of worry or anxiety. All fear can be gone because we know God is still on the throne. Amen? Life is hard. Our Heavenly Father knows that this life is difficult. Our sin causes it, brokenness all around, but He beckons us to trust in Him and not be anxious. And when we seek His kingdom, we don't store up, but we give away our time, our treasure, and our talents to provide for the work of the church, the spread of the gospel, the need of the poor. It is in this seeking the kingdom that anxiety and worry and fear begin to fly away. God is not asking us to do something that He hasn't already done. He gave us His Son so that whoever would believe in Him, His death on the cross for our sin would not perish but have eternal life. He gave Himself to us so we in turn can seek the kingdom and give away, not store up, but give away and trust God. So remember, fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Father, we come to you, we ask for your help to have faith, to trust you in our anxiety and worry when we're trying to gather for ourselves and store up, or we're trying to control something that only you're in control of. Father, help us to be not a flock of little faith. but of true and genuine faith in you. You provided for the forgiveness of our sins. You certainly can provide for our food and our clothing and anything else we need. Father, help us to be a people that trust you, that fight for faith and help each other to flee from anxiety and worry. But we need your help, Father. Would you do that in our lives? We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.