I have confessed to you on another occasion that I struggle with what we call in our family "restaurant anxiety." It’s that anxious feeling about how long it will take to be seated, get our order and bring the food. Since that confession I have been doing better. However, I want to confess another anxiety to you that comes up especially this time of year: "Mall Anxiety."

"Mall Anxiety" is that anxious feeling that I get when I go to the mall with my family to "shop." I see all the stuff that is available, recognize a limited budget and then feel the tension between the two. My family has helped me with a therapy program that resolves my anxiety. The therapy is I go by Barnes and Noble get a big cup of coffee, take my coffee along with newspapers, a magazine and a book into the mall, find a chair and sit until they come and get me!

You may not have either of these two anxieties exactly but more than likely you feel the tension of these words of Jesus. The tension is that we worry about what we have, need or want but Jesus tells us not to worry. We also know we should give our resources freely but because we are so consumed with worry about what we have, need, or want we don’t give.

It is this very tension that Jesus deals in these verses. In our text, Jesus asks a simple question, "What person has ever increased his stature (or lengthened his life) by worrying about it?" We know the answer. No one has ever done so. If worrying is so futile an activity because it doesn’t work, even in such a small matter, why then is worry about what I want, need or have consuming so much of our time and of our energy? We all know that worry is unproductive, indeed, counter-productive, and yet we persist at it.

Remember that the context of these verses is the occasion when Jesus has refused to act as a judge or arbiter between two brothers. He did not hesitate to point out that the problem between the two of them was greed, and then to teach that even for those who are able to attain an abundance of possessions will find that life does not consist of possessions. His parable of the rich fool drove this point home.

But now, in verse 22, Jesus presses this same principle even further. He speaks directly to His disciples now and tells them how the principle should govern their own lives. If Jesus was, in the previous verses, speaking to those who are affluent—the rich—He is now speaking to those who are not. If, in the earlier verses, Jesus was dealing with those who sought to store up possessions for the future, He is now speaking to those who are worried about today’s needs. If, before, Jesus was talking about food that we might call "steak and shrimp," here He is speaking about "cornbread and beans," about "bread and water," the bare essentials. If Jesus spoke to the rich about their preoccupation with "getting ahead," He speaks here to those who are anxious about "getting by." Let ‘s remember, however, that while the application is different, the principle is the same: "FOR NOT EVEN WHEN ONE HAS A N ABUNDANCE DOES HIS LIFE CONSIST OF HIS POSSESSIONS" (Luke 12:15b).

Jesus therefore warns His disciples not to worry about their material needs, not even such basic matters as food and clothing. What I want us to see today is that I am able to give freely when all I want is all God has.

And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on." Why is this true?

Jesus is now focusing on anxiety concerning food and clothing as the form which greed is more likely to take in among His disciples. The disciples could just as easily come to a wrong definition of "life" as did the rich fool. For the disciples "life" could become getting by, and thus one’s daily requirements of food and clothing can become a preoccupation. If the accumulation of such things is not in mind, at least the acquisition of them would be. The rich fool set about to store up large quantities of goods, so that his future could be self-indulgent, secure, and pleasurable (he thought). The less affluent could be just as preoccupied with acquiring food for their next meal, and with clothing to wear now.

In what sense is "life" more than food? While it is true that both food and (to some degree) clothing are essential to sustain physical life, life is greater than either, or both. Life is more than that which sustains it. If "life" is more important than "food," then worrying about food is worrying about a minor matter. While all worry is wrong for the Christian, as we shall see, worry about minor matters is even more foolish.

The foolishness of worrying about food and clothing is played out by our Lord by pointing to two illustrations from nature—the raven and the lilly. They are, we might say, "material witnesses" to God’s faithful provision of food and clothing for His creatures. The raven demonstrates God’s provision of food, and the lilies of the field, God provision of clothing.

The raven teaches a lesson concerning God’s faithfulness in supplying food. Two things would seem to put the raven in a position of disadvantage. First, the raven, you will recall, is not considered a "clean" bird, and would thus be looked down upon somewhat by the Jew. Second, the raven does not even work for his food. The raven, in contrast to the "rich fool" above, does not plant, harvest, or warehouse food for his future needs, and yet God provides for its daily needs. In the same way, the lilies of the field. Two things would seem to put them at a disadvantage. The lilies of the field do not toil, and they do not even "spin" to create the materials with which they are clothed . Further, the lilies of the field are extremely short-lived. One day they bloom with such beauty, and yet (it would seem) the next day that are cast into the fire as fuel, good only for burning. Yet the "clothes" of the lilly put the garments of Solomon to shame.

If such unimportant and insignificant things as ravens and lilies receive such generous provisions from God, will not God’s children fare much better? Of course they will, which is the point of the Lord’s argument.

Worry, Jesus reminds us, simply doesn’t work. Worry does not produce anything. Worry does not make one taller, nor does it extend one’s life, depending upon which sense we give to these words. And if worry will not do such a little thing, why should we think it would do any greater thing? Worry never produced a single meal, indeed, not even a single bite. Worry has not produced a stitch of clothing. A little thought would even cause one to conclude that worry has probably hindered in these matters.

• Worry shows a lack of faith (v.27-28) "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith!"

Worry disregards God’s care of His creation and disbelieves His love and care, as expressed by His promises. In verse 28, Jesus gets to the bottom line. WORRY IS REALLY FEAR, AND ITS ULTIMATE CAUSE IS A LACK OF FAITH IN GOD, IN HIS GOODNESS, IN HIS POWER, AND IN HIS PROMISES TO PROVIDE FOR ALL OF OUR NEEDS, BEGINNING WITH THE MOST IMPORTANT—LIFE.

The problem with material things is just that, they are material. They can be seen. Faith is not rooted in what is seen, but in what is not seen. The things which are eternal are not seen, but the things which are temporal are seen. When we seek after material things, like food and clothing, we seek after that which we can see, and thus we live according to sight, rather than faith.

… we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 12:1).

Faith is rooted in the Word of God, which is both certain and eternal, not in those things which we see, which are fleeting, soon to pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away, but not His word. Thus, the Word of God is the basis, both for faith and for life.

The antidote to fear is faith. The fuel of faith is that which is not material, but is eternal, the Word of God. His disciples do not need to fear about food and clothing, or anything else, for His kingdom (which, in essence, is synonymous with life) is assured. And not only is it certain that His disciples will be given the kingdom, God has purposed to gladly give it. We can be assured that God will do that which gives Him pleasure, and giving us His kingdom will be pleasurable to Him, and so it is sure for us.

The real problem for us is that we think that worry about all I have, need or want is really a solution. In doing so we ignore a basic warning from God that worry doesn’t help – it hurts. We get to such a place that we harm ourselves trying to disprove what Jesus said.

A few weeks ago five parachuters were protesting the National Park Service rules banning parachute jumps from El. Capitan in Yosemite National Park. El Capitan is a mountain peak that is 3,200 feet tall. The rule was made banning the jumps because on June 9 a person had jumped off El Capitan safely but landed in the river. He drowned trying to get away from the park rangers.

Jan Davis joined a group of four other jumpers to protest the rule and prove that it was safe. The others jumped safely to the ground but when Jan jumped the chute didn’t open. She plunged 3,200 feet to her death, while her husband and family watched. Trying to disprove the rule meant for her safety cost her everything. Don’t make the same mistake with worry about what you have, need or want. It won’t help.

You feel the tension between what your instincts tell you which is to worry and your convictions which tell you to trust. The reality is that you will never be able to give freely until the words of Jesus become true for you. I can’t give freely until all God has is all I have, need or want! How is this possible for me? Let me give you four steps that I believe will help us all.

• Step One: Change my focus (v.29) "And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying."

Jesus simply commands me to shift the desires and drives of my life away from what I have, need or want. This is nothing more that a matter obedience. It’s not emotional or anything else. It is a willful choice that we make that is informed by the truth that worry will not give me the freedom I seek.

If changing our focus is a matter of discipline then living by faith is a matter of grace. We shift our focus away from what is seen to what is not seen. We accept based on faith that God because of his grace knows all that I need and that He wants to supply my needs as I make Him my focus. Jesus says though that the way God does this is that He does it gladly!

What does Jesus mean by this? What I believe Jesus means is that in order to truly say that all I want is all God has we must make room for what he wants to give us. To do this means the actual physical, mental, emotional or spiritual removal of what is hindering His giving to me. What we "sell" or remove are the things that we don’t really need to live. What we remove then provides room for something better. Also what we remove will then allow us to give freely.

Susan Strasser, author of "Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash" points our that our stuff is a collection of who we are and when we sell or remove something we are putting pieces of ourselves for sale or dumping. Then she says, " Part of how we mark change in our lives is getting rid of stuff that doesn’t fit our conception of our selves anymore." When we decide that we are going to give it will mean a change in who we are. We will mark that change of who we are by getting rid of what hinders our giving.

• Step Four: Choose what endures (v.33-34) "…make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Jesus reminds these disciples and us that our giving creates the opportunity to choose what will last. When we remove those things that hinder our giving we then make room for the blessings of life that will last.

My father worked for the Weyerhauser Company for over 45 years. During that time he was very careful to put money into his retirement account. My Dad unfortunately was only 3 months into his retirement when he died. What was my father’s is now my mother’s. Because of my father’s choices and sacrifices when he was working my mother is able to live more comfortably than ever before and will on till she joins my father in heaven. My father made choices about what would last rather than what would be gone quickly.

This principle is what we need to truly believe today. When we choose what endures we are obeying Jesus words to not worry about all I have, need or want. We are instead choosing to believe that God will provide and take care of all I have need want. That gives me the freedom to invest my resources in what will really last.

Today there is no need for you to struggle with the anxiety over how you are going to get by and give in such away that will please God. Trust me, anxiety about what you have, need or want will destroy you. What you need to do in order to give freely is change your focus, live by faith, remove the hindrances, and choose what endures. In other words-simply decide that all you really want is all that God has. Now that’s freedom!

Sunday, November 14, 1999

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org