Luke 12:32 – 34 (PM)

[0:00] So just a few verses tonight and they're wonderful words and again did you see that Jesus begins by acknowledging our anxiety and our fear. So at this point in the passage Jesus is just speaking to the disciples who at the moment were obviously pretty fearful about their lives because back in the days when you threw your lot in with Jesus things could get pretty hairy. So Jesus addresses them really tensely with these words fear not little flock it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. There is so much goodness just in that first verse there's so much goodness there so let's spend a little bit of time looking at it. First of all did you hear did you hear the different ways all the different ways that God has described in this one verse. Firstly we're called the little flock so if we're the flock God is the shepherd which means it's his job to care for us to lead us to water to feed us to protect us and we know in the ancient Near East when shepherds would put their sheep in the sheep pen at night the shepherd would sleep laying down in the doorway not because it was the comfiest spot but to protect the animals so the sheep would lay in the doorway opening there to stop wolves getting in and to stop the sheep getting out and and this is what

[1:28] Jesus is talking about in John 10 when he says he's the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and then later in that in that passage he says I am the door that that's what he literally means he is the shepherd he is literally the door to the sheep and he's putting his life on the line for his precious sheep so do not fear little flock because that's the kind of God you have you have a shepherding God now the next little piece of the sentence here fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom so God is your shepherd and God is father that's the word we have been given to describe God father we're not only his little flock we're his children and hear me on this he is a father that knows what you needs he knows what you need he'll make sure you get what you need which is different to what we think we need sometimes we think we know what we need and we dictate dictate that to God but it's better to let God decide that and what we need Jesus says is the kingdom and we'll define that in a moment but he says here it's his good pleasure to give it to us it pleases God to to give you the kingdom he wants to do this it makes him glad to give you this amazing thing not all of us had fathers like this you have a good heavenly father and you can trust him and he wants to give you the best thing he can give you the kingdom to fear not your God is a shepherd and he is a good father okay what else is in this short sentence well let's talk about the whole the kingdom piece for a moment here the reason well it's it's it's it's it's it's the only reason God can give you the kingdom like who can give you a kingdom the king it's the only person they can give you a kingdom is the king so God is a shepherd he's a father he's a king so do you see the layers that Jesus is building in our understanding of God and when we think about these things shepherd what does that connote it connotes this idea of protection and and provision and and fatherless fatherness father that's not a word fatherness but it will say it fatherness it connotes this idea of love and and tenderness what about king what does that what does that get across power and sovereignty and wealth do you see God loves you he wants to look after you like a good shepherd like a good father and he's a king so he's got their power and authority to do the things he promises so fear not let me let me put it this way I want to describe a scenario to you to sort of um furnish your imagination uh I've I love the description of following Jesus as the grand adventure because I think it is I think it's just this amazing adventure so let's let's let's build a picture around this a little bit let's say you've been invited on this amazing hike right you've been invited on this amazing hike and uh it's like a three-day hike and it's in uncharted territory it's like a jungle and it's dangerous and glorious and beautiful and it's but you hear it's going to be fairly dicey in places you're you're literally putting your life into the hands of the leader of this hike and you're asking yourself can I trust this person do they have my best interests at heart before leaving you learn some things about the team leader for the hike apparently he follows the ways of the ancient shepherds

[5:30] which sounds a bit cheesy I know but just just go with it right which means he knows how to fight off wild animals that he'll put his life on the line for you you also learn that he's your long lost father which who's been searching for you for years now obviously there's a bit of a backstory there you just just go with it just go with it right so he's he's like this ancient shepherd he's your long lost father who's been looking for you for years lastly you learn that the place you're going to this jungle it's his he owns it like he planted it he established it he knows all the creatures in it he's in charge of all the creatures he can direct all the creatures if that person is your sort of team leader in the hike and he says fear not let's have an adventure you believe him wouldn't you you'd trust him you'd put your life into his hands and you'd start hiking wouldn't you you'd you'd walk into uncertainty with this person you'd walk into danger with this person

[6:34] Jesus with all the love and authority and power in the universe says to you follow me on a grand adventure fear not I've got you I have you now before we move on to verse 33 there's an obvious question to ask and that is what are we talking about here when we talk about the kingdom of God and there's a lot of ways to talk about it I'll talk about it in one way because this is a thing that God wants to give you okay so here we go so the Bible teaches that history is not like a loop like it's cyclical but that history is a story moving towards an end a climactic end when everything will be cleansed and healed the world will be changed all our pain and hurts will be dealt with all evil will be sorted out once and for all and everything everything will be under the loving rule of Jesus Jesus is saying the father wants to give you that but but do you see it's slightly confusing right because Jesus talks about this future thing as if it's a present thing he does that because we do actually get to experience some of the benefits of the kingdom now we get to experience some of the power of the kingdom now partially but in a very real sense and it's wonderful this is what Jesus means and it's just and it's an amazing promise okay this is the point in Jesus sermon in Luke 12 where we want Jesus to stop speaking I think we want the sermon to end right here it's like the kingdom oh love the kingdom right the kingdom yes

[8:24] Jesus is our shepherd our father our king fantastic that's brilliant I love that I think mostly we would prefer if the sermon stop right there and we would prefer that because the very next thing Jesus says is sell your possessions and give them to the needy and we're like come on like like come on you know it's hard enough to trust God from my for my daily bread let alone you know giving it away to people but the thing about Jesus is he always wants to take us deeper deeper into discipleship deeper into relationship with him deeper into trusting him so from this promise of his care comes the command sell your possessions and give them away to the poor now Christ is not changing the subject here there's a clear logic between verse 32 and verse 33 do you see the logic he wants his disciples he wants us he wants you to be as generous as his heavenly father is so in verse 32 Jesus tells them what they have received the kingdom and now he tells them what they should do what their response should be sell your possessions give them to give them to the poor this is this is the way it should work as we grow in our faith the impulse to generosity should grow as well why because the more we believe that God will look after us the more that frees us up to give particularly to those in need and Jesus makes the point that he says think about this as an investment in the kingdom and unlike any other investment you make in this world it's never going to be destroyed now before we get to verse 34 the last verse let me summarize okay

[10:16] Jesus says don't be afraid because I know you are scared but don't be you have a God who is who is a shepherd who is a good father who is the king who wants you to give who wants to give you the very best thing he can give you the kingdom and because you believe that and as you experience that you will want to invest in this kingdom which will look like divesting of your stuff and giving to the poor okay now how does how does verse 34 relate to that let me read it to you it should make sense to you for where your treasure is there will your heart be also for where your treasure is there will your heart be also what does this mean it's basically it's the rationale for what Jesus has just said it means you are loyal you're loyal to the things you value the most so if you store your treasure here if your treasure is your money and your stuff it will it will pull your heart here your horizon will be limited to what you can see feel touch but if your treasure is in the things of God it will pull your heart there and with it all your goals and your ambitions as well which means what you do with your money says a lot about what's happening inside of you okay let me finish up

[11:33] I think I think most of us want to do what Jesus is asking us to do I think most of us want to be generous people radically generous people but we're not and we're not because we just don't trust God to provide for us we let our anxiety get in the way of generosity which is why Jesus repeatedly says do not be anxious do not be afraid and fear not fear not little flock it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom these are words we must meditate on and ask the Holy Spirit to change us so that that that that