Welcome to our continuing Bible
study in the book of Luke. We're in chapter 12. Boy, what a wonderful lesson
we have today. I think you'll enjoy it. It's just surprising some of
the things that are there that we find. If you recall, in chapter
12, he just had dinner with the Pharisees, and the Pharisees
were kind of laying in wait for him for nefarious purposes, and
the disciples were somewhat worried about that, and he spent some
time with them. It kind of reminded me of, well, You have a limited amount of
time you want to spend with somebody before you have to go and so
you're kind of giving them all your best advice and your terms
of endearment and just trying to deliver something
to them that's close to your heart. And that's what we have
a little bit more here of. Last week our lesson was on dividing
the inheritance, and today he takes up in verse 22 of Luke
chapter 12, And He said to His disciples,
therefore say I unto you, take no thought for your life, what
you shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. Remember
the previous lesson where the man said, I have much goods and
I don't even have enough room to keep them all. I'm just going
to build bigger ones and take my knees and eat, drink and be
merry. And he says that, thou fool,
this night shall thy soul be required of you, and then whose
shall they be? You have no control over that. And he says, so he
that lays up treasure for himself is not rich toward God. not monetarily,
it's not a lesson on tithing or something, it's just a lesson
on how we view things. And everything hinges on that
one fact, how we view things. And the only thing that makes
a difference in how we view things is the new birth. And once we
have that, we look at things and we're entirely In a different
way, we have an entirely different relationship that we look at.
So in verse 22, take no thought for your life what you shall
eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. He's taking care of that. The
life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment. Now
from a worldly standpoint, you might just, and he says this
later on in this block of Scripture, you know the world looks at this
one way and you look at it an entirely different way from a
spiritual standpoint. He says, consider the ravens
in verse 24, Luke 12, 24. Consider the ravens, for they
neither sow nor reap. neither have a storehouse nor
a barn like that other fella did. And God feeds them, how
much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with
taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?" If ye then
be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought
for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they
grow, and they toil not, and they spin not. Yet I say unto
you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothes the grass which is today in the field and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe
ye, O ye of little faith? And seek not what you shall eat
or what you shall drink, Neither be of doubtful mind, for all
these things do the nations of the world seek after. And your
Father knows that you have need of such things, but rather seek
ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto
you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that you have, give alms,
provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the
heavens that faileth not. Where no thief approaches, neither
moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also." What a wonderful block of scripture
there. So as we kind of go through this
verse by verse and dissect it, today's message is really named,
Seeking the Kingdom. And we spoke a minute ago about
the previous lesson, and as we get into this block of Scripture,
we have a few key words that tell us in certain terms what
are the consuming desires of this world. And then the remainder
of the block declares just the magnificent grace of God in caring
for His people and His predisposition for them before the foundation
of the world. And always we had that view of Him that He loved
us with an everlasting love, called us by His grace with the
gospel, saved us, and we had that view of His endearing grace
to us in that, not by anything we've done or not having the
children, not having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. It's all based on
His eternal, sovereign, electing love. And so we have here in
this block of scriptures not just a bunch more rules that tell us, well, do this or
don't do that. It's a spiritual matter and it's
a view into the heart of our Lord for His elect. He gives
us these words. that give us an insight into
how He looks at us, and how He sees us, and how He cares for
us. Verse 22, He said unto His disciples,
and remember that that's who this part is written to, His
disciples, and we can extrapolate that to the church, is therefore,
I say unto you, and that's based on what we've learned in our
previous lessons and before this, therefore take no thought for
your life. What you shall eat, neither for
the body what you shall put on. And you know the The physical
riches of this world are just temporary and fleeting, and they're
not transportable into the next life, neither into the kingdom
of God prepared for us from the foundation of the world, or in
the place that He has prepared for them that know not and believe
not on Him, and do not love Him. In your bulletin today, there's a little
script that talks about the difference. He says, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. And he says, it doesn't say that
you're not my sheep, therefore you don't believe. But he says,
It's the other way around. And He causes that. And we're
going to see some Scriptures today that bring that out to
us. So in our previous lesson from
this take nothing with you, remember from Luke chapter 9? He sent
the disciples out. It's kind of like giving them
little wings and little guidance. He says, now I want you to go
out and declare the Gospel. over the countryside. And when
you go, I'm going to give you a little object lesson in faith
and trust in me. It says, take nothing with you.
Don't take a script, a bag to carry things in. Don't take extra
shoes. Don't take a coat. Don't take
a staff. I'm going to smooth the road
out before you. The weather's going to be good. Everywhere
you go, somebody's going to say, here, have something to eat.
I'm going to prepare the way, just as I love what our pastor
brought out the other day at Wednesday night service about
the triumphal entry. He says, you go over to this
town and there'll be a colt tied up there, and you go get it.
And if anybody says unto you, just say, the master hath need
of it. And they'll say, okay, He made all that happen. He prepared all that thing. So
often we think of God as a reactionary being that Well, so-and-so did this, so
now I have to do that." He's created all things from nothing. He's created all things and set
them in order, very precise. There's a wonderful lesson in
Norm's repertoire called the exactness of God and how He operates
in the entire universe. Everything, every molecule, every
atom is working according to His purpose. And everything we have, everything
we do, everything we say, He has worked out. So take nothing
with you. Rely totally on Christ. And then
praising Him for that which He blesses us with day by day. And
we see that in this scripture today. In Luke 20, 1223, he says,
the life, and he kind of takes them into
the spiritual realm of things here, the life is more than meat,
and the body more than raiment. And as believers, we're faced
with the reality of the eternal nature of God and the church,
and the spiritual nature of our existence and our relationship
with Him. He said we have to think in those
terms as believers. The body is more than meat. Life is more than meat. The body
is more than raiment. And you know, for unbelievers,
life is here and now. And they just have hope in what
they can achieve and obtain and possess in this world. And after
that, they say, well, there's nothing. So I just get what I
can get for myself now. And as that young man said in
the previous lesson, I'll just store up all this stuff and say
to myself, eat, drink, and be merry. I'm in good shape, no
thought for tomorrow, no thought for eternity, just taking care
of the here and the now. In verse 19, that's what the
Lord stated, that delusion of, take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. You know what the Lord says?
You know what? You can't take it with you. And it would buy
nothing in the hereafter, no matter where you are. It does
have no value. It only serves a purpose according
to God here. now. We need places to live,
we need food to eat, we need things to wear while we're here
accomplishing His purpose in this world. And so it's just
not too good of an idea for us to put more emphasis on it than
what's really necessary there. And what we have, it's according
to the richness of His blessing. And He says, in verse 24, consider
the ravens. Now the ravens, they're kind
of the lowest pecking order in the in the bird group, in the
fowl. They're scavengers. And you know,
when we lived in Alaska for a long time, and if you had a bag of
garbage in the back of your pickup, plastic bag full of garbage,
and you left it outside, the ravens would have a hole in that
thing and nothing flat, and they would have garbage scattered
from the next four acres. And they're just scavengers. But he says, take the ravens,
they neither sow nor reap, which neither have a storehouse or
a barn, and God feeds them. How much more are ye better than
the fowls? you're way above in God's view. He's making this spiritual comparison
to a kind of a low form to contrast how he views the church, the
elect, the people that he gave Christ to redeem. He elevates
them to a degree in his viewpoint in Christ. And this makes a stark
comparison between how God views and cares for His chosen in the
church and this lowly raven. And then He provides for the raven who
can't Provide for him, he can't do anything other than just take
advantage of what the Lord lays out for him. Road killed moose
once in a while. Rabbits. and whatnot that meet their end. So what an example of God's love
and care. He says, I take care of them. Why would I not take care of
you whom I've loved from before the foundation of the world?
A raven is a nothing. In verse 25 and 26 we come to
an important viewpoint as we exist in this world. And I want
you to note some key words here that are important. Taking thought
in the word can. Those are two things that are
important here, and they're not just there to take up space between
the words that come before them and the words that come after
them. They're there to direct our attention to some spiritual
matters that are important. In verse 25 of Luke 12, In which
of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? And if ye then be not able to
do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? So we have this word taking thought
and can. Well, can always speaks to ability.
And he's just saying in these matters you have no ability.
You're totally dependent on me for everything. Which of you
with taking thought can add one to his stature, one cubit. And
if we think of that in spiritual terms, it really comes into a
different focus. If we think of our spiritual
relationship with him, you know, we're totally independent on
him for all of that. Which of you were taking thought
Can we, you know that word taking thought means to be anxious about
something to the point of distraction, is what that means. And it means
that something occupies your thoughts totally to the disregard
of what is actually true. We're just so focused on something
physical that we lose track of the spiritual. And the word can
speak again to our ability in these matters. So if we were
to paraphrase that, which of us has the ability to add to
our height one cubit by constantly and anxiously focusing on it
and worrying about it? We can't. I'd like to be as tall as Nate,
and I could use the upper handle on our shop instead of the one
for us short guys. But we can't. And, you know, everything is
according to God's purpose in every circumstance. He has a
purpose for me being as short as I am, and a purpose for Him
being as tall as He is, and so on. You know, everything is according
to God's purpose in every circumstance. And consequently, from a spiritual
standpoint, we cannot, by our own means, add or gain in our
spiritual stature, our growth, our spiritual growth, except
it be given us from above. A man can receive nothing except
to be given Him from above. That's what the Scripture says.
And when that happens, we say, thank You, God. Thank You for
letting me have a glimpse at You. allowing me to see this
or to understand grace a little bit. You know, we just understand
such a small bit of it because it's so expansive. It's beyond our mortal frame
to contemplate it in its proper context. So, the key thought
here really, again, is relying on totally on Christ and trusting
Him. There's a block of Scripture.
If you turn on your Bibles over to Philippians 4, keeping in the background of
your mind, take no thought. Don't be anxious about what you
wear or what you eat or anything. You know, He gives us the bread
of life and the robe of righteousness. in a spiritual way that's all
we need. But in Philippians chapter 4
verse 6, the apostle, he kind of brings us out to these folks
there and he says, be careful for nothing. Well, in our modern
parlance that doesn't really make a large amount of sense,
but It really means the same thing, don't be anxious about
anything. If you translate that and look it up in your concordance,
that's what that means. Don't be anxious about anything.
But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God,
which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Jesus Christ." You know, when we look at things in that
way, He blesses us with that peace that we know that He is
taking care of everything, that He is in charge of everything,
that the world is running according to His purposes, and it's not
just a bunch of random situations out of control. Everything is
working according to His purpose. And finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, he's making a comparison here. He says, instead
of being anxious about everything that you have no control over,
that don't really mean anything in an eternal aspect, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of a good report, If there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Well, you know
who fills all of those categories up? It's only Christ. Think about Him. And as we apply
each one of these adjectives, They just describe Him. They're
just attributes of aspects of Christ that He exercises on behalf
of the elect of the church. And we should keep our focus
on those, on Him, and not other things that don't mean really
anything in the long term and that we have no control over.
Which of you, by thought, can change one thing? Consider the
lilies in verse 27, how they grow. The lilies are there by the purpose
of God. Every grain, every seed, every
herb of the field He created. They toil not, they spin not,
yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. You know, we're always trying
to dress ourselves up and make ourselves appear better and put
on those fig leaves and whatnot. But, you know, viewed from God,
how does He see us? As viewed from God, how does
He see us? Does He regard us in the all-consuming effort to
make ourselves appear desirable to Him? He doesn't care what you're wearing. Or does He view us in the robes
of righteousness that He provides and imputed to us through the
sacrifice of His Son? That's how He sees us, without
spot, without wrinkle. You know the term, as we come
to this next part in verse 28, If God so clothed the grass,
which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
how much more will it clothe ye, O ye of little faith? And you know, when I was studying
this out, I came across a really, you know, I was looking that
up in my Greek Interlinear English dictionary Bible for the New
Testament from 1959. And the Greek inner linear translates
it, and if in a field, the grass being today and tomorrow into
an oven being thrown, God so close, by how much rather you
little face. And in the Greek, it's a punctuation
of a period, and in the King James Version, it's a question
mark. And if you look at that, it makes quite a bit of difference
in how you understand that scripture. If God, if then, it starts out
with that question, if then God so clothe the grass which is
today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much
more will he clothe ye, O ye of little faith? That's it's
a question that leads you to think that, you know, if you
increase your faith, if you put your mind to it and increase
your faith, you can you can control some aspect of that. But really,
this is a this is just a sweet term of endearment to the church.
If you if you read it in that Greek, he calls you little faiths. How much rather you little face?
How much better does God clothe you little face? You know, a
little bit later on, He calls you His little flock. Another
little term of endearment. And it just gives you an insight
into just the love that He expresses for the church and the way He
feels about it. If you recall back to our lessons
from the Song of Solomon, I love you. No, I love you more. And
back and forth between the church and the Lord. Just these little things that he says
to express his feelings. How much better am I going to
clothe you, you little face? And when we read it that way,
we learn that it's just not a measure then of our faith or a result
of the quantity or quality of our works that He blesses us.
He blesses us according to His purpose, and He's blessed us
with, in Ephesians, all spiritual blessings, not just a small amount
or some now, some later. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. It's all of grace. And then back in verse 29, And
seek not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, neither
be ye of doubtful mind. Where is your mind? Where is
your heart? Is it on things of this world or is it on things
of a spiritual nature? And it's more than that because
wrapped up in that is a view of everything, a view of the
world, a view of the universe, a view of why we're here, how
we got here, the view of the fall, a view of our need to be
saved from sin, a view of everything. not just these two particular
issues that he's using as a metaphor, take no thought what you shall
eat or what you shall drink or what you put on, three things
are. Where's your mind? Where's your
heart? This term seeking is just, he says, the world seeks after
these things. But you seek after spiritual
things. You know, another interesting
word we find in this block of Scripture is the doubtful mind. In the Greek, that's meteorizo.
It's where we get meteor, meteorite, or meteorologist. All those words
come from that root word in the Greek, meteor. It means the study of things
like high in the air. And later on in Luke chapter
12, in verse 54 through 56, he says, you look at things in the
air and in the weather, and you say the wind is from the south,
it's going to get hot, and it's from the west, we're going to
have rain. those meteorological kind of aspects, but here that's
the same kind of concept here. You have your head up there not focused on spiritual things. If you're in the world, And it
also has a connection of to be in suspense. And really the word
kind of came from, as they gazed on a meteor shooting across the
sky, it seemed like it was kind of suspended between heaven and
earth. So it gives you the aspect of, don't be in a state of suspense. Don't be in a state of uncertainty. Seek not what you shall eat or
what you shall drink, neither be you of a doubtful mind." Keep your mind on those things
that we read about in Philippians. Keep your mind on Christ and
view things. You know, we just go down the
road of life and we just look at stuff and we just say, well,
that's just physical stuff. Every molecule of everything
is here because all things were created by Him and for Him, the
Scripture tells us. And they all serve a purpose
that He has decreed, that He has ordained, be it ever so little
or ever so large in our view. Of course, from His view, it's
nothing. But every single atom of every
single molecule is serving the King of kings and the Lord of
lords. And it's all for the purpose that He has determined in the
redemption of the church. And He says, don't be in suspense
about what you'll eat or drink. In verse 30, all these things
do the nation of the world seek after. And He says, And then
he gives us another word of comfort to the church. He says, you know,
the Father knows that you have need of these things. He knows
you need to eat. He knows you get tired. You need a place to sleep. You
need a place to stay warm. I saw Lisa and her thing all
bundled up. trying to keep warm in her house
there. The Lord knows you have need
of all those things. He experienced all those things
when He came down and tabernacled with us, when He dwelt with us.
He experienced hunger. He experienced tiredness. all those things that we run
into every day. But you know, he says, in this
world, he had no place to lay his head that he called home.
He says, this world is not my home. I'm not of this world,
and neither is my church. They're in the world, but not
of the world. So all these things do the nations
of the world seek after, and your Father knows you have need
of these things. So what things do we seek as
opposed to what the world states that it seeks? That should be
a big measurement there. It should be a big difference
there in how we look at things and what we're concerned about
and where our hearts are. It says, for where your treasure
is there will your heart be also. If your treasure is possessions
and things of this world and amassing this or that, it's just all ink on paper mostly. It doesn't mean anything. One
day it could be this, one day it could be that. And in eternity
it doesn't, that means nothing. So, Let not the disciples of Christ,
as what Matthew Henry said, thus seek their food. Seek that spiritual
food. Speak those things which are
above. But ask it of God day by day,
and let them not be of a doubtful mind. Let them not be in suspense. You know, it's just not a measurement
of our faith that the Lord is gracious to us beyond measure. It just astounds me how good
he is to us all the time. So seek not, he says, seek not
these physical things. Don't dwell on them to the point
of it's all consuming. You have to focus on it a little
bit. You have to go to work. Paul was a tent maker. He had
to have money to buy his food and raiment and whatnot. But don't let it become all-consuming
to the point where it distracts you from what's
really true. So seeking really, as it relates
to the kingdom, he says, seek ye the kingdom of God. That's an active, focused, intent
desire which through Christ has the objective of glorifying God.
And if we kind of make ourselves view things that way, you know,
we ponder, well, instead of just going through life in a random
way, we're oftentimes just blown away by how God intersects us
with people and things and opportunities and how we view things. Many times
we say, wow, that was just crazy. How did that happen? It was all according to God's
purpose, and I'm sure you've all had situations where that's
been true in your life. So a true seeking with all the
heart results in growing in grace and more appreciation for what
God has done for us that we really couldn't do for ourselves, and
certainly not by anxious thought and worry and works. Colossians
3 says, If you're risen with Christ, here's a caveat. If you're born again, if you're
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. That's
what you should kind of concentrate your mind on to the ability that
God has given you. Where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. And so, he says, Seek ye the
kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. So if we look at the who, what,
how, and where of this, we've kind of looked at a little
bit of that, but the how really follows who is determined by
the sovereignty of God. You know, outside the ability
of natural man to seek God because of being dead in sin, He says, seek the kingdom. Well,
you know what? God looked down from heaven to see if there was
any that did seek God and understand. And you know what he found? He
found none. That's how we are by nature. Lazarus didn't do much seeking
while he was laying there on that slab in that tomb. And that's how we are pictured
in that metaphor. Dead in trespasses and sins.
And Romans 3 quotes that. Paul quotes that as he's writing
that epistle to the Romans there in chapter 3, verse 11. There's
none that understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. As I was kind of looking through
that, I was looking up some scriptures in Psalm 10. It's just a declaration of the fall. Psalm 10 verse 4 says, the wicked,
through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God
is not in all his thoughts. And I think that could almost
be interpreted, God is not in any of his thoughts, other than
how he can manipulate him or, you know, that in Psalm 14, the
fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And that's how he
gets around that issue of God. Well, I've just said, there is
no God. Therefore, I'm justified in whatever
I do because there's no one to answer to. The fool has said,
there is no God. Well, that solves a lot of problems
for them, they think in their mind. But really, it's the beginning
of problems. And so how then does one seek
the kingdom. What's involved with that? Well,
you know, it really requires the new birth because when you're
dead in trespasses and sins, you're not seeking God. It requires a new birth. It requires
God to cause us to seek Him then. And you know where I got that
verse from? Psalm 27, verse 7. Hear, O Lord,
when I cry with my voice, and have mercy also upon me, and
answer me. Verse 8, Psalm 27, 8. When thou
saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face,
Lord, will I seek. In many such scriptures there
are like that. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes
to approach unto thee. No man can come unto me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him. because that's what
it takes to bring us from darkness of the depth of sin to His marvelous
light. We have to be brought out of
that, and we can't really seek that kingdom until that has occurred. The where, you know, Psalm 27,
if you back up a couple of verses in Psalm 27 and verse 4, it says,
one thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of
the Lord and to inquire in His temple." That's an after. That's
an after the rebirth. That's a then, he says, then
I'm going to seek after this. I'll seek after the Lord. that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
and to behold the beauty of the Lord." Isn't that interesting?
He starts to look at the world in a different way. And he sees
the beauty of the Lord in all things, in everything grace,
in everything that the Lord has done to accomplish His purpose
in the redemption of the church. You know we just go back and
read those genealogies and say so-and-so begat so-and-so begat
so-and-so And that person was in the lineage of Christ when
everyone in the church can go back and say back to Adam So-and-so
begat so-and-so begat so-and-so and maybe those people were heathens
or Not in the Lord's flock but they begat somebody who begat
somebody who begat somebody who did and begat somebody who was
of the Lord's flock. When you think about that, how
the Lord has worked all that together, it's just astounding. So the results are seeking the
Lord, seeking the Kingdom, It's used in these two examples
of God's love and care. Take no thought what you shall
eat. We have the bread of life. Take no thought what you shall
wear. He's given us the robe of righteousness. And then he
says in verse 32, fear not, little flock. Over and over again, those two
things, you little face, you little flock. He looks at us
and says, you're mine. It's your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. If we just contemplate that for
just as long as our minds can focus on that, that's just, it's
just, as David said, it's too high, I cannot attain. I think
about those in the night watch and it just, Explodes my mind. It's your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom, my little flock. What an affectionate term. Fear
not, little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. You know it can't be earned or
bought or learned. It's a gift of God, not of works.
Not a him that willeth, not a him that runneth, but God that shows
mercy. And more than mercy, His good
pleasure is to give you the kingdom, give you Christ. Focus on Him. Think about that. You sell what
you have and give alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not
old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief
approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. You know you have things, the
more things you have, the more you worry about. The more you
worry about being robbed, The more stuff you have, the more
it breaks down. You got to fix it. You know,
the things of God never break down. They never wear out. They never grow old. Nobody can
steal them from you. You can't be robbed of it. And once you have them, you see
things in an entirely different way. You see the world in a different
way. And those things that were important
to you before, maybe they're not so important to you now as
they once were. Maybe they're necessary to some
degree. in the long term, what's valuable
is seeking the kingdom. So we'll stop there, and until
next time, as always, my friends, be free.