The Lord Jesus has commanded His people not to worry. We can overcome worry if we will understand apply the 5 basic truths about worry that Jesus gives us in this passage.
[powerpress]
Overcoming Worry
Luke 12:22-34
Joe’s friends all knew him as a worrier. One day Bill saw his worrying friend bouncing along as happy as a man could be, whistling and humming and wearing a huge smile; he looked as if he did not have a care in the world. Bill could hardly believe his eyes, so he had to find out what had happened.
“Joe, what’s happened to you? he asked. You don’t seem worried any more.”
“It’s wonderful Bill, I haven’t worried for several weeks now.”
“That’s great; how did you manage it?”
Joe explained, “I hired a man to do all of my worrying for me.”
“What? Well,” Bill said, “I must say, I’ve never heard about anything like this before. Tell me, how much does he charge you?”
“A thousand dollars a week.” “A thousand dollars a week?!” How could you possibly raise a thousand dollars a week to pay him?”
Joe answered, “That’s his worry.”
Wouldn’t that be great? Don’t you wish it were possible for someone else to handle your worries for you? Well, the Bible says that it is possible; indeed, God encourages His children to cast all of their cares on Him. And what is best of all – it won’t cost you a cent. He freely offers to take your worries and cares upon Himself.
The word “worry” comes from an Old English term wyrgan which means “to choke or strangle.” Worry strangles the mind. Worry also destroys the body by producing stomach ulcers, heart problems, and causing skin to break out in hives, or boils. Jesus, here, tells His disciples that they are not to worry about their basic needs of food, and clothing.
In Jesus’ day, it was an agrarian society. Most people farmed the land and had cattle and sheep. If there was a drought, their livestock were in danger of dying off. If there was a locust plague, all the crops would be wiped out. So, people in that day worried about things like droughts, locust plagues, and enemy attacks. What do people worry about today? We worry about terrorist attacks, someone kidnapping our child, cancer, being laid off work, our marriage ending in divorce, aging, and health issues. However, we need to reckon with the fact that Jesus three times commanded His disciples not to worry (12:22, 29, 32). I don’t know if you have thought about this seriously, but worrying is sin. It is to directly disobey this command of Jesus Christ.
In a book by Frank Minirth and Paul Meier entitled, “Worry Free Living” they write, “We suggest setting aside 15 minutes in the morning and another 15 minutes in the evening for active worry. If concerns surface during other times of the day, the person should jot them down on a card and vow to deal with them during the designated period. Worry-free living involves confining the natural worry we all feel into a designated time slot of only 1 percent of a 12-hour day.” Now, is that good advice? The Bible says we should never worry at all, not to confine our worrying to 30 minutes a day! This advice is like saying you should only think lustful thoughts for 30 minutes a day.
Therefore, we’ve got to get a handle on the anxiety in our lives. But what can we do about it? We can overcome anxiety and worry in our lives if we will simply understand what Jesus teaches us about worry in this passage of Scripture. The glorious thing is that a Christian doesn’t have to worry ever again. Jesus, here, goes to great pains to teach us why we should never worry.
In this passage Jesus mentions “worry” or being “afraid” (which is really what worry is) 5 times. He has been speaking to His disciples in the presence of an enormous crowd about being on their guard against covetousness. Many people are covetous because they are worried that at some point in the future they will not have enough. So, they strive to obtain more and more and more. So, in order to destroy the power of greed in their lives, Jesus teaches them here about overcoming worry.
Let’s look together at Jesus’ teaching on how we can overcome worry. There are 5 reasons why we should never worry.
1. Worry Is Irrational
In verses 23-29, Jesus gives two different arguments as to why worry is irrational. First, He speaks of the argument of the greater to the lesser. Then He uses the argument of the lesser to the greater. He tells them not to worry in two basic areas – their food and clothing (12:22,23). In order to address their concern about food, Jesus uses the illustration of the ravens. Then He addresses the concern about clothing by pointing to the lilies.
The Greater to the Lesser (12:23)
In verse 23 Jesus says, “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” God has given you life and a very complex body. Now, life is far more valuable than the food it takes to sustain it. A living, breathing, body is far more valuable than the clothes it takes to cover it. Do you really think God would go to the trouble of giving you life and a body, and then totally neglect to take care of your food and clothes? That would be like buying a ten million dollar mansion, and then leaving the doors and windows open for the birds and insects, and dogs and cats and mice and squirrels to come in and destroy. No one would do that. If we pay a very high price for a home, we won’t spare the necessary pains to take care of it and maintain it. So too, will the Lord provide your food and clothes, if He has gone to the pains of giving you life and a body!
The Lesser to the Greater (12:24-28)
The Ravens: Jesus says in verse 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!” His argument is simple. The ravens are not worried and anxious about their food for each day, even though they don’t have any stored up for the future. You don’t see them wringing their wings together in worry about where they are going to get their meals the next day. Jesus is alluding to the rich fool who never had enough, and planned to store up abundant crops in his big barns so that he was set for the future. Jesus was saying, the birds are not like him at all! Yet God feeds them every day. Now, if the disciples are far more valuable than birds, don’t they know that God will feed them too?! There is no bird that was made in the image of God, is a joint heir with Christ, and has a home in heaven. So, how much more will God feed His children.
The Lilies: In verse 27-28 Jesus 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. 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?” The lilies don’t work feverishly to provide their clothing, yet God provides clothes for them. In fact the clothes God provides the lilies is such that even Solomon, the wealthiest man of Israel, could never clothe himself like them. If you put the most costly garment that King Solomon owned under a microscope, it would look like sackcloth. But if you examine the petal of a flower you will be lost in winder. It has a texture, form, color, and design that man just can’t duplicate. Yet the lilies are here one day, and the next are thrown into the furnace to provide heat for a common home. Jesus’ disciples are of far more value than these lilies. Don’t they know that God will clothe them? If God gives such exquisite beauty to these transient, short-lived flowers, won’t God clothe His own sons and daughters?
Friends, it is totally irrational to worry! If God has given the greater things like life and a body, surely He will also give the food and clothes to maintain it. If God gives so wondrously to birds and lilies, surely He will also give what His own heaven-bound children need in this world.
2. Worry Is Useless (12:25)
Jesus said in verse 25, “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?” Literally Jesus asked who could add a single cubit to his life’s span. A cubit was about 18 inches. Sometimes on our birthday, we say “I’ve reached another milestone.” Well, if the length of your life was a 100 mile road, could you lengthen it by worry? Could you extend it even 18 inches? Jesus had just gotten done showing that the rich fool thought he was going to enjoy life for many years to come, but was cut off out of the land of the living that very night. None of us can lengthen our life span by worrying. Worry is not going to prevent you entering eternity when the Lord has ordained it. Ps. 139:16 says, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” The exact number of your days was written in God’s book before you were ever born. No amount of worry will ever change that number.
Friends, worry is useless! Either what we worry about will happen or it won’t. If it does happen, our worry didn’t stop it. If it won’t happen, we have wasted all that emotional energy on it. It has been said that 80% of the things we worry about never come to pass. That means for 20% of the things we worry about, we have suffered twice – once when we worried over it, and then again when it happened to us. In fact, worry can be worse than the actual suffering. The anticipation of suffering can be worse torment than the actual crisis itself.
3. Worry Is Unbelieving (12:28,30)
God Is Your Father: In both verse 30 and 32, Jesus tells His disciples that God is their Father. How much time does a little 2 year old spend worrying about whether Mom or Dad is going to feed her today? Little Sarai there never worries about whether she is going to have a roof over her head, or food for her tummy. She knows enough about her parents that she knows they will provide those things for her. What if I saw your child with a worried look all over his face. I asked him what was the matter and he replied, “I just don’t know if my Dad is going to feed me tonight!” What would that say about you, Dad? If someone heard them saying that, they might just turn you in for child abuse! Yet, that’s how many Christians live. They live in worry, because they aren’t convinced that God is going to take care of their needs. When we live in worry, we are sending false signals to everyone who sees us. We are telling them that our God can’t be trusted.
Well, what do we know about the character of our Father? We know that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and filled with steadfast love toward us. Those three attributes alone ought to banish worry from our lives! He is all-powerful so nothing can thwart His purposes. He is all-knowing so nothing can take place that He didn’t know about in advance. And He is loving toward us, so He will do what is right and good for us.
At the end of verse 28 Jesus says, “You men of little faith!” When we worry, we demonstrate that we are people of little faith. God has promised in His Word to take care of His children. Jesus tells us here in verse 31, that all the things we need will be added to us. Therefore, to worry about our needs being met means we are committing the sin of unbelief. When we worry we are not believing God. When we have faith we are making a judgment – God can be trusted. When we have unbelief we are making a judgment – God is not trustworthy. When we worry about God taking care of our needs, we are really calling him a liar. Thus, worry insults God’s character. If I told you that in 1979 I traveled throughout the western United States, playing the banjo in a gospel bluegrass band, and that we made an album, and you decided that was not true, in essence you would be calling me a liar. In 1 John 5:10 it says, “the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.” When we worry, we are insulting God!
Friends, when you worry you are really saying “I don’t believe God will do what He said He will do.” Oh, let’s not insult our loving Father like that.
4. Worry Is Pagan (12:30)
In verse 30 Jesus says, “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.” In the mind of a Jew, the “nations of the world” referred to the heathen ungodly people of the world without a saving relationship to Him. The pagans have to worry. They don’t have a God they can trust in. Folks, we shouldn’t be mimicking the world. The world has no faith in God. They must worry about how they are going to get all their needs met. Everything depends on what they can do for themselves. We don’t! We have a God who will take care of our needs!
When you and I worry, we are acting like the ungodly lost people of this world. We are not showing that our God can be depended on. When we refuse to worry, but trust God, non-believers will sit up and take notice. It will provide a good testimony of our Father.
5. Worry Is Paralyzing
In verses 31-34 there are 3 commands of Christ and 3 promises of Christ. The commands are: seek God’s kingdom, sell your possessions and give to charity, and make yourselves money belts which do not wear out. In this last section, Jesus shows that worry will hinder us from obeying these commands of Christ.
Notice, also the 3 promises in this section: our Father will add all these things to us, our Father has chosen gladly to give us the kingdom, and our Father will give us unfailing treasure in heaven. If you are gripped by worry, you will be paralyzed and unable to obey Jesus’ commands here, in spite of the wonderful promises He has made to us.
Seek the kingdom of God: The pagan nations of the world eagerly seek to meet all their needs. However, the Christian is freed up from anxious concern about that. Because he knows God will provide for his basic needs, he is free to devote his time and energy to seeking God’s kingdom. That means he makes it the main business of his life to enter God’s kingdom himself, and he does everything he can to bring others into that kingdom as well. This is the main business of your life, Christian. Worry will paralyze you and hinder you from seeking the kingdom above all other things.
Sell your possessions and give to charity: The Christian of all people is able to have an open hand and be generous toward others. He knows God will take care of him, and that everything he has was entrusted to him by his Father. He understands that he is only God’s money manager, and that he needs to seek to understand what God wants him to do with His wealth. When he trusts in his Father without worry, He is free to sell his possessions and give to charity.
Make yourselves money belts which do not wear out: when we give to charity or to the work of God, we are in reality storing up for ourselves treasure in heaven. Instead of investing in money belts that will wear out in this lifetime, we invest in eternal heavenly riches which will never wear out.
Friends, refuse to worry. It will only hinder you from doing the truly important things in life! Worry is crippling. It makes us so consumed with what might happen in the future, that we are immobilized to serve God now. Pour all your effort and energy into serving God now, and let God take care of tomorrow.
Conclusion
Folks, our only real concern is to put God and His kingdom first in our lives. If we will do that, Jesus promises that God will add everything else that we need. Think about the relationship of a master to his slaves. It is the slave’s duty to obey his master. As long as he is doing that he doesn’t have to worry about his food, clothing, or shelter. The master will provide that. It is the same for us. As long as we are seeking God’s kingdom, there is no reason for us to worry about anything.
We have seen that worry is Irrational, Useless, Unbelieving, Pagan and Paralyzing. What then can we do when we feel worry welling up in our hearts?
- Judge God to be faithful. Rehearse His attributes. Dwell on His promises. Count His Word as true.
- Pray! Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything!” My advice is that when you start to feel afraid, or start to worry, pray. Remember God’s promises, and pray them over that situation.
I trust that as you fight worry with faith, God will deliver you, and provide for you, and help you to treasure Him above all things. Let’s pray.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!