Sermon text: Luke 12:22–34
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Our Gospel reading this morning is from Luke chapter 12: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
What a word of comfort! “Fear not, little flock.” We are little. We are few. We are weak. The world is big and threatening. And yet Jesus says: fear not.
Why? “For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Not because we are strong, not because we are many, not because we deserve it — but because it pleases the Father to give it. The kingdom is a gift.
Jesus has just been teaching about anxiety — about worrying over food and clothing, about the cares of this life. “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”
He points to the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, yet God feeds them. He points to the lilies: they neither toil nor spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
“If then 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!”
The antidote to anxiety is not self-reliance. It is trust in the Father. It is faith that He who gave His Son will surely give us all things with Him.
“Fear not, little flock.” The flock is little — but the Shepherd is great. The flock is weak — but the Father is strong. The flock is threatened — but the kingdom is sure.
“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. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This is the economics of the kingdom: give, and you will have treasure in heaven. Loosen your grip on earthly things, and your heart will follow your treasure upward.
Do not fear. Your Father delights to give you the kingdom. And having given you the kingdom, will He not also give you everything you need along the way?
“Fear not, little flock.” You are His. He is yours. And nothing — neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come — can separate you from His love.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.