Download 1 “Provision for the Guest of Honor” Luke 12:22

“Provision for the Guest of Honor”
Luke 12:22-34
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 7, 2013
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text for this morning: Jesus’ continues his monologue from last
week, and he says, “Therefore, I tell you, 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….
Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”
Dear friends in Christ,
Let’s take a moment to review where our text has taken us
the last three Sundays. Two weeks ago, Jesus taught us to pray. Last
week, He warned us against covetousness; this morning, He
safeguards us against anxiety and despair – more weapons of the evil
foe who madly seeks your overthrow! We must never forget that
even these ‘simple’ sins of anxiety and despair are the devil’s tools to
try to convince us that Christ doesn’t love us or can’t help us.
And so, follow the weeks’ progression, and you learn of
yourself what the Lord already knows about you: your life is a
rollercoaster of sin.
Start from the beginning: Two weeks ago, Jesus had to teach
us to pray because we sinners otherwise would not. In prayer, God
invites us to call on Him as our dear heavenly Father, and we wonder
if He actually means it. We struggle to include in our prayer concrete
and tangible requests because we are worried what it means if such
things don’t fall from heaven into our laps. And so, we are hesitant
to pray.
But our gracious Lord says, “I know your need better than
you; I know your heart’s desire better than you… and so, to show
you my grace and mercy, I will answer your prayer even before you
ask it.” And, suddenly, our heart’s yearnings are answered in ways
we did not expect or did not pray for.
But we in our sin, instead of responding with thanksgiving,
we quickly grow comfortable with God’s gracious provision. We
quickly abuse prayer as a means to get ‘stuff’, and we begin to take
God’s provision for such granted that we compare what He’s given to
us with what He’s given to others: “Yes, He answered my prayer (we
say), but now I see my neighbor has more than me. God has been
unfair!” And so, (last week’s text), we begin to covet what others
have; we begin to stockpile for ourselves, and we measure God’s
goodness toward us by how much stuff we have.
And, when our comparison doesn’t end with results we’d
like, we begin to grow anxious (Greek: pull ourselves apart) and we
despair (welcome to today’s text!). Perhaps we prayed again, and
this time the answer wasn’t what we wanted. We sinners look at our
bodies’ needs and wonder anew if God will actually care for us. We
wonder if we will be clothed or fed because we forget God’s past
provision and judge His goodness based on our covetousness. And
2
because we are anxious about such things, we are unwilling to pray
further because we convince ourselves that God won’t hear our
prayer.
From an unwillingness to pray to covetousness to anxiety…
that’s our sinful routine, isn’t it? Complete the cycle, and we start all
over again. And our Lord Jesus is unafraid to lovingly chide, saying,
“O you of little faith. The nations of the world seek after and worry
themselves with such trifling matters because they do not believe
your Father knows they are needed. Do you join their refrain?”
But Jesus does not chide for long; instead, He encourages
and comforts us and reminds us of our relationship with him as our
Good Shepherd: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good
pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Notice what He says, friends. He skips right past our anxiety
and worry about temporal things, and He says, “your Father wants to
give you abundantly more. He wants to give you the entire kingdom
of heaven” – that entire country and homeland the faithful seek (as
heard in our epistle reading).
Now, we could end here and all be sufficiently comforted
that “the Lord promises to provide.” But, lest we become covetous
anew for temporal treasures, let us understand this text more fully:
It is vital for you to hear in these words of Jesus comfort and
reassurance. And such comfort is yours especially when you study
them in light of Matthew’s account of this same text.
3
Matthew’s purpose in recording these words is to teach
piety: the pious and faithful will live this way, not that way; will do
that, not this. Matthew’s version forewarns against temptation. He
includes what Luke does not when he says, “The eye is the lamp of
the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”
Anxiety is a product not first of the heart, but first of the eye.
The eye sees what others have and it tells the heart to covet. The eye
sees what its cupboards do not have and it tells the heart to despair
and be anxious. And so, Matthew focuses his readers on controlling
the eye and the heart, which are so torn in trying to serve two
masters – you cannot serve both God and mammon. “You must hate
the one and love the other.” Remember all those words? – that’s this
account, according to Matthew.
But, where Matthew records the Law for the sinner, Luke
wants us to hear the comfort of Jesus’ promises. What Matthew
doesn’t include, Luke does: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Nothing short of
that is Jesus’ promise to you. Do you question whether God will
provide temporally for you? Then ask yourself if He will be so absentminded in caring for those special guests He is bringing to His
kingdom and homeland.
Consider this picture: You are the guest of honor at a royal
banquet. Suppose the host of the banquet says to you, “When you
4
arrive, I will lavish you with all things. I will feed you plates of the
finest cuisine and ensure you have the finest of wines. The entire
banquet will be about you… all eyes will wait for you, and all will
celebrate when you arrive. The whole hall will be yours!”
Now consider, will this host continue on and say, “However,
until you arrive at the banquet, you are nothing to me. I have no
concern for you or whether you’ll arrive in safety or whether your
travels through the wooded wilderness on the way will end in ruin. I
don’t care if you have ample supplies to get you here, and I will send
no escort to keep you safe. You’re on your own to get to this
banquet hall in your honor. I hope you make it, and I’ll wait for you,
but don’t expect me to provide for you in your travels.”
No host would say such a thing! What an absurd thought!
Obviously, even for this world’s guests of honor, provision includes
the travel plans. So, for you, o you of little faith. The Lord does not
promise you eternity, only to say, “You’ll have to figure out your
travel plans by yourself.” Instead, He provides for your every need,
having in clear view that your need is not determined by what
provides your own banquet here and now, but that temporal need is
determined by what will get you from this temporal life to the
heavenly banquet where you are the guest of honor!
Now, I can’t imagine that this all doesn’t sound wonderful to
all of us! But, because we are anxious and despairing sinners, it is our
very nature to distrust the promises of God. And so, we begin to talk
5
ourselves out of such promises and we say, “How can I be sure that
God actually wants me to be the guest of honor? Where is my
certainty that He actually takes great pleasure in giving me the
kingdom?”
Well, Jesus answers that in our text. He alludes to two images
of nature, and he tells us to consider them. In fact, in the Greek, the
word for ‘consider’ means to “immerse one’s self in the study of.”
Well, we sinners find it hard to immerse ourself in the study of even
God’s Word, let alone the study of ravens and lilies. How much is
really needed to know that a raven is a bird and a lily happens to
grow in fields. “So what? (we say), God provides for me more than
the basic creatures of the world… is that really all that comforting? Is
that reason enough to take God at His word regarding His promise to
give me the kingdom?” YES! And, here is why…
Notice that Jesus happens to throw Solomon into comparison
with the lilies. Why Solomon’s glory? Just because he was the most
successful king of Israel? Perhaps.
But it is Solomon who wrote the Song of Solomon, and in the
fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon, we hear these words from the
Bride in the book: “[My lover’s] head is purest gold; his hair is wavy
and black as a raven… His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.”
Who is this ‘lover’ in this Song of all songs? It is Christ
himself, bridegroom of the Church, his bride. It is Christ who is
compared to a raven and lilies. And so, why does God care for the
6
ravens and for the lilies? Because when He looks upon them, He sees
Christ, the image of God and King over all creation.
So then, friends, why will God provide for you? Is it not
because when He looks at you, He sees Christ! If the lilies and ravens
have such privilege, do you not all the more? You were baptized into
Christ! You put on Christ! By his stripes, you were healed. By his
death, you were given new life. By his suffering, he unlocked for you
the gates of the kingdom of heaven. Heaven is yours because of
Christ. When God sees you, He sees Christ, and so it is His good
pleasure to give you the kingdom.
And notice the important subtlety of this promise: It is his
pleasure to give (present tense – give) you the kingdom. It’s yours
now. God provides it’s shield and safety to you now… no questions of
whether you “might be” saved. Jesus gives it all to you now. Consider
– immerse yourself in the study of – the verbs of Scripture and their
grammatical tenses, for they open to your understanding just how
much God gives you here and now.
Jesus says,
 “My sheep hear My voice… I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish.”
How does He give you this eternal life, this treasure of heaven that is
yours now?
 (Baptism) “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless He is
born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the
Spirit gives birth (present) to spirit.”
7


(Preaching) “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent
me has (present) eternal life and will not be condemned; he has
crossed over from death to life.” (already happened!)
(Lord’s Supper) “Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood
has (present) eternal life.”
And, the result?: “Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good
pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Focus on this kingdom, friends,
for therein you are even now provided “a treasure in the heavens
that does not (present tense – does not) fail.”
Now, one bearing Christ’s name, if His kingdom belongs to
you… if you are on your way to the royal banquet held in your honor,
will the heavenly Father leave you uncared for along life’s travels as
helpless prey for the evil foe? Or will He provide escort and all
necessary provision to get His guest of honor to the seat of honor?
So, be not anxious – do not pull yourself apart over such
trifling matters that a mere moth can eat, a thief can steal, or rust
can destroy. Life is more than food; the body is more than clothing…
indeed, this life is a Christ-purchased and Spirit-escorted sojourn to
that banquet of the Father’s kingdom, with a seat reserved for you.
In the Name of the Father
And of the Son
And of the Holy Spirit.
+ AMEN +
Rev. Mark C. Bestul
Calvary Lutheran Church
August 11, 2013
8