1. As we turn our focus to the Word of the Lord this morning we are in week 3 of our series of messages on seeing ourselves as managers of our lives. The series is entitled “What’s It All About?” We have been asking and answering the questions that all of us ask ourselves when the lights are out and no one else is around. What is life really all about? Is it about amassing things for me, my spouse, and our descendents who will come after us? Is living for the here and now all there is to it? Is this really all there is to life?

--We noted that to answer that question well requires that we ask and answer a much bigger and more important series of questions. Who is God? What is He like? What does He want from me?

--In the message of week 1 we looked at the truth that life is really all about Commitment to Knowing God personally. All of us need to reconnect with God through a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We noted that there is no verse in the Bible that says we can be partially committed to knowing and following Jesus. We studied together what it means to be committed more deeply to our personal relationship with God.

--Last week was week 2 in the study. We examined the theme of living life on purpose. We saw the central truth that knowing why we are here, the purpose questions of life must begin with God who willed our existence. Real contentment in life, having a happy heart, is the result of learning what it means to Chase what God Chases! We asked an important question last week, I am asking all of us to ask God right now in prayer today:

“Lord Jesus, what are you going to do today to advance your kingdom purposes, that you would like me to join you in doing?”

3. Today as we look at the theme, which introduces our study for week 3, we are looking at what it means to live life in God’s Provisions. As we begin with the theme this week I’d like to invite you to join me in thinking through the truth about what or whom we really trust in life. As Christians – people who have decided we will follow Jesus, who will walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, not after fleshy pursuits – we all have to make constant choices to turn away from the cheap and temporary riches of our human provisions for life and embrace the true riches God provides for us.

a.) God has provided for us a way to deal with what we have done wrong, the Bible calls them sins, to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. We have been given the incredible gracious gift of salvation, eternal life in and through what God was doing in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 111:9 “He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever – holy and awesome is his name.”

I Peter 1:18, 19 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

b.) God has provided a way for us to know Him personally, to know for sure we belong to Him, and to walk through life in fellowship with Him.

Romans 8:9b, 10 “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

Romans 8:14 “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

c.) God has provided a way for us to deal with the daily grind and wear of temptations that we all face to turn away from the Lord Jesus and to embrace sin. Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers: I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can bear up under it.”

4. The Bible is very clear that the Lord God Almighty really owns everything in heaven and earth by creation. God willed everything into existence, things spiritual, physical, and material. The point here is that everything we have been given to enjoy in the material and monetary realm is a gift from God and it is so important to make sure there are two heart responses in my life:

Recognize the Truth that God owns everything I have been given to enjoy.
Submit myself and all that I am and have to His Lordship every day.

Psalm 24:1, 2 “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”

Psalm 89:11“The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.”

--All that we are or ever hope to be, even life itself, and our next breath comes from God as a gift. And we will never find meaning and purpose in our life until we embrace the truth that we exist by and for God’s glory.

--All that we have to enjoy, the abilities we have to earn a living, the people in our lives whom we love and cherish, and the material things we have been able to enjoy, all come from the Lord God.

4. For the remainder of this message today we are going to be looking at Jesus’ words to His followers found in Luke 12:22 – 34. In this incredible passage of Scripture Jesus is telling us how to live a much more Contented and Worry Free Life. Another way of saying the same thing is that if we can follow the counsel of this passage we will discover that walking in the values of the kingdom of God give us the benefit of a Happy Heart!

I. Jesus Taught Us Some Do Not’s

Jesus gave us three “do not” words in this wonderful paragraph of Scripture. Each of these do not commands is designed to help us to understand something that is in direct opposition to being able to trust the Lord God for today and tomorrow.

Do you remember the first words of Jesus’ model prayer? They are words of trust and submission, believing God our Father has our best in mind. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed is your name. May your kingdom come and your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” Lord I know you have my provisions in your mind and I trust you for them.

1. Do not number one is Do Not Be Worried

Luke 12:22 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.”

Luke 12:25, 26 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

Luke 12:29, 30 “And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.”

Worry – “to cause to feel disturbed or depressed, especially through fear of some event, or some expected outcome, to feel nagging fear about something, to experience petty annoyance about something by making demands on one’s attention.”

For we who live in North America – who are a part of the 15% of the population of the world that consumes 85% of the world’s resources – to live worried about our needs we have, or worried about tomorrow, what we will eat, or what we will wear is all relative.

A worried life is characterized by deep inner anxiety about the basics of life. In our middle-class, North American culture, as compared to 50% of the have-nots in the rest of the world, there is not a shred of truth to this anxiety. A worried life has chosen a mentality of lack. If I choose to give what is mine away, my family and I will have less.

A worried life is self-absorbed; it is consumed with its own importance at the expense of the kingdom of God and at the expense of others. Jesus said it well. “Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.” That’s the inner issue that is utterly neglected by a worried life. The heart is set on the wrong things!

2. Do not number two is Do Not Fear

Luke 12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

Afraid – “to be frightened, apprehensive, fearful; to be afraid of the consequences of a given course of action.”

Why are we to be released from living fearfully or apprehensively? Because God the Father has been pleased to welcome you and me into His kingdom, adopting us as sons and daughters in Christ Jesus. As part of His family we can rest assured and confident that He cares for us.

That’s why Peter counsels us to “cast all your anxieties on the Lord for he cares for you.” The only reason we have to be afraid of another person is if we think they have intentions for us that are going to be difficult for us. God the Father isn’t like that at all. He loves us with an everlasting love and has drawn us to Himself with loving-kindness.

3. Do not number three is Do Not Be Overly Concerned About Things

Luke 12:22, 23 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.”

Luke 12:15 “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Jesus was trying to help us to understand that there are two competing kingdoms in the world and they represent two radically different value systems. He was asking us as His followers to evaluate which set of values we really embrace with our whole heart. Not the values we think we should say we embrace but the ones we cherish as is validated by our decisions of how we spend our time and money.

You heard the one about three little boys in Sunday School class. The teacher posed the question, “Who was chosen to be the first president of the United States when our nation formed?” One little boy said, “I am pretty sure it was George Washington but I know the right answer here is Jesus.”

The critical question is, what are my real values as based on an analysis of into what or whom I invest my time, energy, and money?

II. Jesus Taught Us Some Do’s

Luke 12:29 – 31 “And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; don not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

1. Jesus asked us to Trust the Lord implicitly, to meet all of our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Everything we need for life really is already in the heart of God to pour into our lives. And to be honest brothers and sisters, that has little to nothing to do with the material world. In order to cement in our thinking what He was trying to say He used two illustrations of the fact that God really does care for His own:

--God feeds the ravens even though they do not sow or reap or store in barns. Scavenger birds are a pretty disgusting lot when you stop to think about it. Carrion is not exactly a way I want to go through life, unless it’s a carry-on piece of luggage on my to help people on the others side of the world. But the truth is they are the creation of God and He does provide a way for them to exist in our ecosystem!

--My favorite time of year is just around the corner. It’s the time of the spring and early summer flowers. I love to work with all kinds of lilies. God clothes the lilies of the field in such magnificent colors. If He cares that well for the flowers of the field, He cares for you and me.

2. Jesus asked us to Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all of the things we can be so caught up in pursuing will be given to us as well. Seeking first His kingdom is a matter of choosing the right priorities in life. It’s about embracing the values of God’s kingdom of the heart, cherishing what God cherishes.

--Let’s be really honest with ourselves for a moment. Too many people tend to think this is some super-spiritual thing that sort of hits you and presto-chango, we are instantly and mystically transformed forever.

--Seeking after God’s kingdom and His righteousness to be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit is absolutely a matter of making choices in our will, determining this is the kind of person I want to be and following through with that every day this week!

3. Jesus asked us to Pursue God’s Presence and not merely His Provisions. You and I are called to pursue a right relationship with a person, a loving Father God who knows what we have need of before we speak. It isn’t about delighting in his provisions, it’s about delighting ourselves in Him. The truth is that if we make the choice to delight ourselves in God’s presence in our lives, we will then experience wonderful life change from the inside out. Our hearts will be radically changed because we have chosen to know Him, love Him, and chase after what God chases.

Psalm 37:3 – 6 “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

III. Jesus’ Wise Counsel

Luke 12:32 – 34 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”

1. His counsel to us is to Sell Off, which can also be said another way. Reprioritize the way we view things and the time we spend on the material world in order to be able to give a higher priority to kingdom values. The message to the rich young ruler was not a model to be absolutely and legalistically adhered to. It was a picture to him of his heart’s unwillingness to follow after Jesus with his whole life. But let’s remember a key kingdom ethic:

The key life principle: As Goods Increase so do concerns with caring for them!

Ecclesiastes 5:10, 11 “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?”

2. His counsel to us is to Give Away, which is a tremendous pathway to inner contentment, to having a happy heart. To have a giving lifestyle is a joyful and consistent surrender of my will to God’s will for my life.

The key life principle: The best Antidote for the spread of Materialism in my heart is to live to bless others by finding creative ways to Bless Others through Giving!

3. His counsel is to Treasure what is Really Treasure, or said another way to put God’s money, which I manage for Him, where God’s heart is. Embracing a giving heart doesn’t strip me of vested interests in bettering my life. Giving to the kingdom of God transfers my vested interests from the earthly to the heavenly. True treasure doesn’t rust or corrode. True treasure lasts forever!

The key life principle: My Heart will always follow where I invest God’s Money!

Let’s illustrate it this way. If you have $50,000.00 in General Motors right now you are prioritizing your reading of the newspapers to learn anything you can about the trouble general motors is in. If, on the other hand, you have invested $50,000.00 in an orphanage in India and you hear there is a natural disaster in India, you will prioritize your news research to find out if the children in your heart are OK!

Conclusion:

Peter was writing to the people of God about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He wrote an awesome word about living in the provisions of God. Let’s read together from II Peter 1:3, 4 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

WELCOME