Luke 12:11

Jesus said in Luke 12:11-12, “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.” In the last several verses of Luke chapter 12 Jesus had been talking about some of the fears that plague mankind. Jesus spoke about the fear of death, the fear of man, and the fear of being unloved or unimportant. This time Jesus is talking about the fear of speaking to others about Christ.

Some believers have a feeling of inadequacy or inability to speak about Christ or to speak about God to the people of the world. Certainly Moses had such a fear and such a feeling of inadequacy. The Bible says concerning Moses in Exodus 4:10-12, “And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since you have spoken unto your servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go and I will be with your mouth, and teach thee what you shall say.”

The promise that God made to Moses, He makes to each of us. If you can speak, then you can speak for God. One of the reasons that God gave you a mouth was so that you would use it to speak for Him. You do not need to fear that you will not have the right words to say. He promises that He will give us the words to say by the Holy Spirit. There are a great number of benefits to having the Holy Spirit within us. One of those benefits is that He will equip us and prepare to serve God in this world even to the point of giving us the things to say in front of the people of the world.

Notice that Jesus said, “When they bring you…” Jesus did not say, “If they bring you.” If you live for God in this world, from time to time the powers that be will draw you in front of their leaders into their places of judgment. Sometimes believers are accused by the world as evil-doers. If this happens to you, what will you say? Jesus said that you can be assured that God by the Holy Spirit will give you the things to say. We do not serve God by our own efforts. We serve Him by the ability and the grace that He gives. We do not serve Him by the keeping of the law. We serve Him by the enabling of the Spirit.

God is in control of all things. If you are accused and brought before some tribunal, it’s because God has planned all things and permitted it to happen. He would not have permitted it without a good reason to do so. One of His reasons is for you to be a witness for Him in that situation. If He has arranged such things for you to be a witness, He will certainly give you the words to say when the time comes.

In Luke 12:13-15 the Bible says, “And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.” Jesus had been speaking about spiritual things. In this incident it’s almost as though He was interrupted. This man came to Jesus in order to have Jesus resolve a dispute: a dispute about material things and an inheritance.

We have many such disputes in our society today. Jesus refused to hear this dispute because Jesus knew that it was based on covetousness, and covetousness is a sin. Some people think that there would be less suing in our society if we had enough reforms of the legal system. Some reform may be necessary, but the best reform will always be the one that Jesus spoke of: the reform that takes place when people are less materialistic, and have less covetousness in their hearts, and therefore are less likely to try and use the legal system to get the material things they want.

Some human beings may classify you by the material possessions that you have, but Jesus is making it very clear what God thinks. It’s the kind of person that you are no matter what material possessions you have that is most important. God looks at the heart, while man looks at the outward appearance. Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist of the abundance of things that he possesses.” Many a person who has lived only for material things has proven Jesus true, because such people, even when they acquire all the things they sought for, find that their lives are empty and unfulfilled.

In order to illustrate the vanity and foolishness of seeking material things as the greatest priority of life, Jesus gave a story about a certain rich man in Luke 12:16-21. The Bible says, “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Of course, Jesus is emphasizing the foolishness of those who have their priorities misplaced. The most valuable thing that any person has is their soul. God has given each person only so much time to prepare one’s soul for eternity. Should you have a lifetime of material success in this world similar to this rich man, but fail to find salvation for your soul, according to Jesus you will be a fool. You will have done a foolish thing to not prepare for your own eternity. God sees every person. God sets the limits to their sojourn on this earth, and the day must come for everyone when the opportunities are taken away and an account must be given to God.

Covetousness has kept many a soul from coming to know God and His salvation. There is nothing wrong with being rich. Some people have a greater ability to make money than others, and one day they will give an account of what they have done with the surplus. But it is a sin to love material things more than God. It’s a sin to love anything more than God. Of course, we have normal material needs and requirements because we live in a material world. That’s the way God made our life on this earth.

With the parable of the rich man who died as a fool because material things were more important than spiritual things, we are shown the attitude that unbelievers sometimes have towards material things: an excessive lust and a strong desire that keeps them from loving or serving God. In Luke 12:22-34 Jesus told believers the attitude that they should have towards material things. The Bible says in Luke 12:22-23, “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than clothing.”

One reason that people become materialistic is because of worry. If someone becomes anxious or worried about the source of their material sustenance, then they can easily become materialistic. Their own worry causes them to put a greater effort and attention to material things than there should be. Remember it’s all about priorities. If you value anything more than God then you are in big trouble. It can easily happen with material things, because we all know that we need a certain minimum of things in order to survive in this world; and we all have a good and natural impulse to do more than survive but to also thrive. According to Jesus, one way to help insure that you do not become overtaken by a lust for material things is to make sure that you do not worry about them. There is nothing wrong with working or planning or saving, but we must all make sure that we do not worry.

Food and clothing are a couple of the basic necessities of physical life. But Jesus said that “the life is more than meat, and the body is more than clothing.” As important as material things are for physical life, we must never forget that spiritual things are always more important. Your spiritual life is more important than your physical life. You had better believe this, or you will become an easy prey to materialism, which is one of the great sins of people who do not follow Jesus.

In Luke 12:24 Jesus said, “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them: how much more are you better than the fowls?” Consider the ravens. Think about the ravens and other birds. What is it about them that we should know? As human beings, what can we learn from them? According to Jesus, we can learn from the fact that they do not plant seeds and harvest grain and store it into storehouses, yet they are provided for. Somehow by the creative genius of God, the way that they are fits into the way that the world is. They were not created to perish. They were created to live their lives to the fullest, and they do. Somehow God provides for them. They use their God-given abilities to fly and to see and to find food, and God provides for them. We do not have to worry. God will provide for us also. We can do just like the birds of the air. We can go out and use our God-given abilities, and be certain that He will make a way. He will provide. It’s the way of life for all the creatures of the earth, including human beings.

In Luke 12:25-26 Jesus said, “And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If you then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take you thought for the rest?” This is an interesting translation. Where Jesus said, “taking thought,” it means “worry.” The two are closely associated. To worry is to think about things in a way that we should not think about them. To worry speaks of insecurity and doubt. A person who is full of the ideas of God’s love and God’s care will not worry.

The point that Jesus is making is that worry does not accomplish anything. There is a way to accomplish what needs to be accomplished, but worry has never accomplished anything. Some things are out of our control anyway. In the physical world there are many things that are entirely out of our control and usually we do not sit around and worry about them, as with the example that Jesus used: how tall we are. We do not worry about how tall we are, and then find that the worrying caused us to grow taller. Of course not.

In Luke 12:27-28 Jesus said, “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?” The next thing that Jesus told us to think about are the flowers and how beautiful they are. Humans have always recognized the beauty of flowers. Flowers are used to brighten wedding celebrations. They are given to a loved one as an expression of one’s love and devotion. They are used at funerals to help soften the blow of that day of sorrow and mourning. We use flowers from our birth to our death, so we understand what Jesus was talking about. They are so beautiful that sometimes they take our breath away.

But as beautiful as flowers are, they do not last very long. One day a flower can be seen at the very peak of its beauty in full bloom, but just a few days later can be withered and ready to be cast away. God loves beauty. He made the flowers as beautiful as they are. He clothed the grass with the beauty of flowers. If God so clothed them, will He not also clothe us? Of course He will.

We have no reason to worry about such things as food and clothing, because God will provide a way for His children. Those who lust after material things and those who worry have caused themselves needless pain. Don’t worry. Just do what Jesus said to do. Think about the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and remember that the same God who provides for their existence will do the same for you. He loves you. He created you, and He will provide for His creation.

Those who do worry find themselves in the same category that Jesus placed those to whom He was speaking in Luke 12:28 where He said to them, “O ye of little faith.” You will either worry or you will have faith. You will either have faith or you will worry. The one cannot abide with the other. If you worry or if you have faith will largely be determined by what you think about. We serve a great Savior. He told us what to think about in order to have faith in God’s provision for us. In order to not worry Jesus told us to think about the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and to understand what it all means.

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