Sermon Text: Luke 12:22-34
Date: August 10, 2025
Event: Proper 14, Year C
Luke 12:22-34 (EHV)
Jesus said to his disciples, “For that reason I tell you, stop worrying about your life, about what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23Certainly life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap; they have no warehouse or barn; and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 25And who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan? 26Since you are not able to do this little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. 28If this is how God 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? 29Do not constantly chase after what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not be worried about it. 30To be sure, the nations of the world chase after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, continue to seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. 32Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Do Not Be Afraid, Little Flock
How are you doing? And I know this is clearly a rhetorical question because I’m asking it in the middle of a sermon, not exactly known for its question-and-answer format. But actually, it’s a question I want you to think about and internalize and I would cherish the opportunity to hear your honest answers when we’re done here today. How are you doing? And when I ask that I mean how are you really doing? Not the standard small-talk answers of “Good… good,” or, “You know, I’m fine,” or “Busy…” but what is the realanswer?
So many things can weigh on how we’re doing or feeling at any given time. Family relationships might be strained or very energizing. Work may be a slog or a beautiful pairing of your skills to the needs in front of you. The prospect of school starting shortly can be a drag or an exciting reunion with friends and a new step on life’s path.
But oftentimes, the resources we have at our disposal can really weigh in on how we’re feeling, but a given situation or our lives in general. Is there enough money to pay the bills? The rent? Put food on the table? Is there enough time to tend to the tasks and responsibilities that you have, or are you stretched far too thin, burning the midnight oil too much, and sacrificing your health in order to try to keep your head above water? Do your teachers do a good job explaining the material in a way that connects with you, or do you feel lost, adrift on the sea of too much information without enough comprehension?
Last week, we focused on the proper place of material wealth in our lives, which often comes from the perspective of keeping greed in check. We noted that while this is not exclusively a temptation for people with greater amounts of wealth, it certainly is a danger that comes along with earthly riches.
This morning, we are looking at the same topic from the other side. How should the Christian think of scarcity? And how do we tell the difference between needs seemingly not being met and just our desires not being fulfilled (one being crucial, the other a nice-to-have)? Jesus’ words in our Gospel really center us no matter what fears, concerns, or worries plague us because they once again focus us on what is truly important: Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
The words of our Gospel today immediately follow the heels of our Gospel from last week and are part of the same conversation, so it would be good for us to refresh our memory of how Jesus closed that reading last week. Jesus was addressing the dangerous pull of material wealth, and told this parable:
“The land of a certain rich man produced very well. He was thinking to himself, ‘What will I do, because I do not have anywhere to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods. And I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’
“That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21).
So that closing statement is what Jesus is referring to when, in the first verse of our Gospel this morning, he says, “For that reason I tell you…” What reason? That we want to have the goal of being rich toward God rather than squirreling away treasure for ourselves. Jesus’ encouragement to his disciples goes something like this, “Don’t worry about the things of this life. Look at how your heavenly Father takes care of the creation. Aren’t you more valuable to him than flowers and birds?” And he concludes this point, “Do not constantly chase after what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not be worried about it.”
Worry is that sense that there is a problem with no solution. Worry does not mean that our concerns are fake—far from it. But worry almost always ignores God’s promises to us, to take care of us, provide our daily bread, to be our guard and shield in this life.
Worry at its core is a lack of faith, a lack of trust in what God has promised. And worrying about earthly things, what you will eat or what you will drink or anything else that is a high priority in this life, forgets or ignores that truth your Father knows that you need them. If these concerns are real, if these are real needs that we have and God himself knows that we need them and he has promised to provide for our needs, why worry?
Of course, that is easier said than done. And the cure to worry is not “relax” any more than the cure to depression is “be happy” or the cure to cancer is “be healthy.” But Jesus doesn’t just leave us scolded and then move on; he gives us a battle plan for dealing with worry and keeping it in check: Instead, continue to seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
In a way, Jesus solves worry over the problems that plague us by lifting our eyes to see clearly a much bigger problem in front of us: our sin. More than debt, or poor grades, or anything else that might cause stress and worry in this life, our sin causes far greater problems, but they are difficult for you to get a hold of because we don’t see them. It’s almost like going out to dinner, and you're all excited at the start of the meal. Drinks! Appetizers! The best entrees! Dessert? Why not?! But then there is the sobering moment when the bill comes due, and now you have to pay for everything you cavalierly ordered and enjoyed.
We have some sense of the seriousness of sin. We may feel guilt, our conscience may make us very uncomfortable, but we can often put that out of our mind, ignore it, and move on. It’s like seeing the prices on the menu, knowing how this will add up, but ignoring it and doing it anyway.
So, our sin racks up a debt with God that we can never pay. And there’s no solution to it. There’s no emergency fund to dip into, no payment plan to set up, and no dishes we can wash to pay it off. Our sin creates an impossible debt that we can never pay, and the end result of that debt is eternal separation from God in hell after this life is complete.
If there was ever anything worth worrying about, it would be this. More so than anything we will ever face in this life, this is a problem with dire ramifications that we can’t even process. Eternal death in hell is so gruesome, so horrendous, that we ought not wish it on our worst enemy—and certainly not on ourselves!
Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us hanging here. Not only does he provide the solution to this eternal worry, but he presupposes it in his teaching. Rather than being focused on what we will eat and drink (that is, earthly solutions to earthly problems), we should be focused on seeking the kingdom of God (that is, God’s solutions to our eternal problems).
God’s kingdom is his rule in our hearts by faith. It’s the same kingdom we pray that God would bring about in the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. When we seek God’s kingdom, we seek faith in Jesus; for the Christian, this is a stronger, more resolute faith. We look beyond the ravens and the flowers and instead see the promises of God, that Jesus, crucified and suffering hell on the cross, is truly doing that in our place. That is suffering, and death is our forgiveness and life. He paid the debt we couldn’t touch, solved the problem that we could never address, and rescued us from eternal death in hell to bring us to eternal life with him in heaven.
What is clearly lacking in any of this is any effort on our part. We can’t work off our sin, we can’t bring about our forgiveness, we can’t even choose to believe in what God has promised. All of these are gifts from God. Therefore, like Abraham in our First Reading, our God-given faith is credited to us as righteousness, credited as a right relationship with God.
Faith in Jesus also underscores all of the other promises that he has made to us, including to provide for our daily, earthly needs. You will never find a problem that God isn’t equipped to handle, and he urges us to bring them to him. Again, Abraham serves as our model. What was happening in his life didn’t seem to be lining up with what God had promised, “LORD God what can you give me? … you have given me no offspring, so a servant born in my house will be my heir” (Genesis 15:2-3). After Abraham’s request, God addressed that concern.
So it’s not that the things that cause us to worry are foolish, and we should be ashamed of even thinking about them. Far from it! But let us approach those problems with faith and trust that your Father knows that you need them. Call on God in the day of trouble and, truly, he will answer you. Perhaps not in the way you think you need or want, but he will answer in the best way for you.
And how can you be sure of that? Look to the cross, to the empty tomb! See your Savior crucified and raised to destroy your sin and open the gift of eternal life to you! There is your hope for eternity. How will our Father not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all things for our eternal good? He can and he will!
Do not worry, but put your trust in the eternal, all-powerful God who loves you as an individual and will bring you to his side for eternity! Thanks be to God! Amen.
