By Mike Ivaska, Associate Pastor
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide for yourselves 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.” – Luke 12:32-34 (ESV)
The context of this portion of Scripture is Jesus’ famous teaching about considering the birds and the lilies, about not being anxious for our lives or clothing or food, and about seeking God’s kingdom instead. In Luke’s account, this teaching is sparked by a question from the crowd. A man asks Jesus to get involved in an inheritance dispute (v.13). Jesus refuses to get involved and warns the crowd against the disastrous consequences of a life of covetousness.
And then comes the passage we are considering today. Jesus tells us to seek God’s kingdom instead of self preservation and the accumulation of comfort and belongings. If we spend our lives seeking that kingdom, he promises that our needs will be met. And in this context we are promised, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…”
Lets take a moment to consider this wonderful promise. How much of my life and yours is spent dwelling upon possessions, money, food, bills, the budget, comfort, vacation, television, technology, gadgets, and so on? I spend more of my life worried about these things than I would like to admit. But Jesus says that life does not consist in these things (v.15). He tells us to look at nature and behold God’s good providence. Our needs, if not our wants, will be met because God loves us. He loves us dearly. And because he loves us he calls us to seek something better: his kingdom.
So what is the kingdom of God? Despite all of our complicated efforts to theologize this concept, it is really quite simple. The kingdom of God is God’s rule and government. It is his will being done on earth as in heaven. You and I, if we have put our faith in Jesus and have committed ourselves to follow him, are in that kingdom. That kingdom is within us by his Word and Spirit at work in our hearts. When Christ returns, his kingdom will come in its fullness. God will reign and his justice and love will flow like a river. For “we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). When God sovereignly chooses to release miracles into the life of his suffering church, he manifests this kingdom of God which is already here, but not yet come in its fullness and power.
It is this kingdom we are to seek. God’s will in my life and yours. God’s will in society and among our neighbors. Salvation, forgiven sin, and loving justice. Miracles and healing, if God so moves, or our loving and patient submission if he so chooses to withhold the miraculous. And the return and reign of Jesus Christ, the kingdom truly come. After that, the day that Jesus gives it all back to the Father “that God may be all in all.”
So as we seek this rule and reign of God, the really wonderful thing is that God wants to give it to us. We aren’t told to pursue something we only might find. It is our Father’s good pleasure to give us this kingdom. So what should we do? We should sell our possessions. We should give to the needy. We should focus on God and that reward which will never pass away. Are we doing this in our own lives? Am I? Are you? Does your family know the commands of God to live for eternal things?
Let’s press on in prayer and patience as we seek God’s grace to manifest his own precious Word in our lives. We can’t do it without him. Amen.