Some CVC'ers left service a few weeks back thinking, “I know that I ought to invest in the spiritual – to give more to God’s work in this world. But I’m worried. Will there be enough money at the end of the month?” You are traveling down the “what if?” road. “What if someone gets sick? What if the car breaks down? What if a filling falls out?”
That’s why Jesus gives us some words about worry.
A few weeks back during weekend services at CVC in the story about the guy who wanted to build bigger barns for all his stuff, Jesus was speaking to the affluent. But here, He is speaking to those who are not. Jesus spoke to the rich about their preoccupation with “getting ahead.” He speaks here to those who are anxious about “getting by.”
I want you to think about how radical these words are:
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old…
… with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 12:22-34 (ESV)
I’ve been reading a book called Radical by David Platt.
I’m wondering if we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe.
Platt encourages us to put ourselves in the shoes of the followers of Jesus in the first century. Here’s what they heard from Jesus, “You have to give up everything we have to follow Me. You have to love Me in a way that makes your closest relationships in this world look like hate. And I will tell you to sell your stuff and give to the poor. Want to follow me now?”
Today, when we hear words like these, we don’t want to believe it applies to us. We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives.
Platt writes:
And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.
“A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, He loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream."
“But do you and I realize what we are doing? We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us because, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.”
That’s why Jesus gives us some words about worry.
A few weeks back during weekend services at CVC in the story about the guy who wanted to build bigger barns for all his stuff, Jesus was speaking to the affluent. But here, He is speaking to those who are not. Jesus spoke to the rich about their preoccupation with “getting ahead.” He speaks here to those who are anxious about “getting by.”
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old…
… with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 12:22-34 (ESV)
I’ve been reading a book called Radical by David Platt.
I’m wondering if we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe.
Platt encourages us to put ourselves in the shoes of the followers of Jesus in the first century. Here’s what they heard from Jesus, “You have to give up everything we have to follow Me. You have to love Me in a way that makes your closest relationships in this world look like hate. And I will tell you to sell your stuff and give to the poor. Want to follow me now?”
Today, when we hear words like these, we don’t want to believe it applies to us. We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives.
Platt writes:
And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.
“A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, He loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream."
“But do you and I realize what we are doing? We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us because, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.”
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