Luke 12:22-35
The Balance of Life
The setting for this passage began in Luke 9:51.
Luke 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was
come that he should be received up, he stedfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem,
\\#Luke 12:1\\ As Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem, a great crowd
met Him at some unknown location. There Jesus did what He always did.
He taught them, but verse one tells us that He spoke "first of all"
to His own disciples.
The emphasis that Jesus was teaching the disciples was repeated in
verse 22:
Luke 12:22 And he said unto his disciples….
And again in verse 32:
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock…. "Little flock" being a personal
term describing the disciples with Him not the huge crowd that had
met Him.
All of this leads me to believe that while Jesus was teaching all, He
specifically wanted to teach the disciples. As they marched toward
Jerusalem, Jesus was preparing them for their increasing roles as
leaders in the church.
In verse 13, a man from the crowd asked Jesus to help settle a
dispute between him and his brother concerning their inheritance.
There is no record that Jesus resolved that issue but Jesus did use
it as an occasion to teach the crowd and the disciples truths about
possessions and eternity, namely that life is not things.
The main point seems located in verse 15:
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed,
and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth.
From there, Jesus began to give the disciples some commands and
truths to help them and us to learn to balance one of the most
difficult areas of our lives, things and God.
I. Commands and Truths
A. \\#22-40\\ Do not be concerned about this life.
Luke 12:22 And he said unto his disciples,
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for
your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the
body, what ye shall put on.
1. The disciples were being commanded to take NO thought for
their life.
a. When God sais NO THOUGHT, I believe God meant NO
THOUGHT.
b. God had a plan for these men and they were not to
allow thoughts of life to influence them AT ALL.
2. We saw last week that we need to be careful that we do not
think TOO much about life.
a. God does want us to take care of the possessions He
has entrusted to us as one of Jesus’ parables (The
Parable of the Pounds) teaches.
Lu 19:23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money
into the bank, that at my coming I might have
required mine own with usury?
b. But anything that takes our minds away from Jesus and
His will for lives is a distraction.
c. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted.
B. \\#24-31\\ God knows what you need.
Luke 12:30 For all these things do the nations
of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth
that ye have need of these things.
1. This makes sense.
a. Jesus just commanded the disciples take NO thought of
this life.
b. Their question would be, "Then who will?"
c. Jesus’ answer is God is keeping up with you!
2. This is as true of any believer today as it was of Jesus’
disciples.
3. Question
a. Since these disciples are going to be miracle
workers, why don’t they just do miracles to take
care of themselves?
b. Answer - Although Jesus’ disciples had great power to
prove who they were; like Jesus, they did not use
their power to advance themselves.
4. Concern
a. The Apostle Paul in giving his testimony described a
portion of his life and it does not sound like he
had an easy time of it.
2Cor 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
b. So does that mean that God lied and/or failed?
c. No. It means that God has a plan for our lives and
never promises to sacrifice that plan for our safety
or comfort.
5. Even so, God KNOWS the things that we have need of and God
will give us the things we need.
a. That is, the things we have need of to accomplish His
will.
b. Our goal in this life is to "seek the kingdom of God"
and let God add to us what He desires to add.
6. By the way, the books will be balanced one day—if not
here then in eternity.
Luke 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of
God; and all these things shall be added unto
you.
a. The whole point in Jesus’ teaching here is to show us
that things—including what we deem to be needs—are
not what life consists of.
b. If that bothers you and you disagree with it, I
understand.
(1) We all want to provide THINGS for ourselves and
our families to show them that we love them and
to show others we are good people.
(2) But Jesus was telling His disciples and us that
the best we can do on our own is to gather
possessions.
(3) We cannot get to ourselves the things of true
value.
(4) It is a foolish person who sacrifices what he
cannot lose for the things he cannot keep.
(5) One day, it will be the Father’s delight to give
us all things—both those of eternal value and
those of earthly value.
(6) Right now, some—like these disciples—were going
to have to do without some earthly comforts in
order to serve God.
C. \\#32\\ Don’t be afraid. God will give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is
your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.
1. Again, I believe the term "little flock" designates
Jesus’ disciples.
a. This was a promise being made primarily to them.
b. I think God literally meant it.
Re 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon
them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded for the
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and
which had not worshipped the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years.
c. I also believe the four and twenty elders are the
twelve apostles of Jesus probably sitting with the
twelve patriarchs of Israel.
2. Knowing that His followers were NOT going to have every
materialistic comfort or necessity, God told them not to
be afraid.
a. Don’t let this world and its effect on our life cause
us to be fearful.
b. That is,
(1) Don’t be afraid to do without.
(2) Don’t be afraid of what they say.
(3) Don’t be afraid of pain.
(4) Don’t be afraid of failure.
(5) Just don’t be afraid.
3. This promise has application to all of Jesus’ followers.
This world cannot get to our treasures.
D. \\#33\\ Sell what you have and serve.
Luke 12:33 Sell that ye have, and give alms;
provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a
treasure in the heavens that faileth not,
where no thief approacheth, neither moth
corrupteth.
1. This command may be for you but not necessarily.
2. Jesus was talking to the disciples.
a. They were going to lose everything and serve Jesus
with all they had.
b. By selling it and giving it to the poor, they could
help others.
c. Then they would be a position for God to help them.
3. Does God want you to do that?
a. I don’t know.
b. At several points in life, Kathy and I had to walk
away everything we had in this world.
c. I am sure doing so was much harder on her than it was
on me.
d. Might God have that in mind for you?
(1) Perhaps.
(2) If He does, do not be afraid.
(a) If God can cloth the fields with lilies and
take care of the birds, can’t He take care
of you?
(b) And if you do without some things, do you
think God will let you enter heaven with
regrets?
(3) I say, NEVER!
(4) Life is not things!
E. \\#35\\ Stand ready and burn brightly!
Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and
your lights burning;
1. This command is for us all!
a. No doubt Jesus was still talking to the Twelve but
this command transposes every calling and every time.
b. We are all to stand ready and burn brightly.
2. Jesus gave three parables to help us understand this
command.
a. \\#36-38\\ The first was related to the Jewish
wedding.
(1) When Jews had a wedding, the clock went out the
window.
(2) This parable is like the parable of The Ten
Virgins \\#Matt 25:1-13\\, except it speaks
about the servants of the groom being ready
AFTER the wedding.
Luke 12:36 And ye yourselves like unto men that
wait for their lord, when he will return from the
wedding….
(3) This is the groom returning WITH his bride.
(4) If there was ever a time when you wanted to make
the groom look good, it would be the night the
groom returned!
(5) How do you make the groom look good? You be at
your duty station doing what he told you to do.
(6) We want to be at our duty station doing what
Jesus told us to do when He returns!
b. \\#39\\ The second reminds us the way to victory is
the same as the way to defeat.
(1) In our lives, the stronger is going to win—
either the thief or us.
(2) We are the goodman.
(3) We who call ourselves Christians will either make
ourselves strong in the Lord and defeat the
devil or the devil will defeat us.
(4) I don’t know about you, but I want to kick the
devil to curb.
(5) That takes time, effort, sacrifice, and work, but
victory is worth it
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