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16th June 2002

My dearest friends

Luke 12:32
32
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give
you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide
purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will
not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
NIV

You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very
kingdom itself.1
TM
Yes Tom : 21 Nov 93 ; 28 Feb 88 etc 

I want you to exercise your imagination this morning as we try to capture

the scene as Jesus talks to the crowd and to his disciples. You have only to
read these verses to sense that this was one of those gatherings upon a
hillside. There are allusions to the ravens and the flowers, the birds and
the wider world. Again and again He encourages them not to worry about
the everyday things which are the usual focus of our thoughts.

We know the kind of people who were there. In the previous chapter the
Pharisees are given “a hard time”, the people demand signs. And in
the opening verses of this chapter Luke tells us:

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so

that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak
first to his disciples,

That scene setting is important. We identify ourselves with the disciples

and we realise that they are probably sitting closest to Him.
Then a little further away the crowds of curious people, amongst them the
religious leaders who had been addressed so sharply in Chapter 11.

A man cries out from the crowd asking for Jesus to make a decision of
probate and is put in his place. (13)

1Peterson, E. H. (1997, c1995). The Message : New Testament with Psalms

and Proverbs (Electronic ed.) (Lk 12:1). Colorado Springs: NavPress.
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In the invisible distance – beyond the Palestine horizon lies the “pagan
world” (30) with a value system that is alien in all sorts of ways. True, it
intrudes a little. Who is to say there was no Roman soldier present to look
out for troublemakers?

Sit with me for a moment, in close proximity to the One who speaks as he
turns to them with tones of touching affection and familiarity:

“Do not be afraid, little flock…”

Nowhere else does Jesus use such a phrase and we sense the warmth of
His love for them – and for us.

This morning I want us to draw close to the Lord as He speaks, and pull
into a true perspective the things that worry us and cause us pain.

The Lord who had looked up at the Pharisees and seen into their inner
hypocrisy, who had been distracted by the man who wanted his
inheritance – now asks them to look at the birds,(24) to consider the
flowers, (27) and makes a humorous reference to the foolishness of trying
to add to yourself by thinking hard (25). His gaze is drawn ever nearer
until it falls on that small band of followers near to Him.

“Do not be afraid, little flock…”

And here – in this church building – we too have gathered for a short while
to be closer to Him. There is a world of worry out there. There are cares
and troubles we brought with us here. We need to hear His voice putting
things into perspective – drawing our gaze and our adoration to the Lord
Himself. We too are aware of injustices, hypocrisy, and above all a sense
of vulnerability – we feel small, even insignificant – perhaps even
persecuted or got at.

It might seem to us that we don’t count for much in the world – maybe
even in the church. He looks at us, who knows our hearts, our worries and
our “little faith” (28) and He says:

“Do not be afraid, little flock…”

And suddenly I matter – because He loves me, knows me and has a plan
for me.

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16th June 2002

I have spent rather longer than usual on my introduction – because I

believe it is significant for our understanding of these words.
32
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves
money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does
not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.

• Our situation
• Our status
• Our objective

A. Our Situation “dearest friends”

For all the thousands that had gathered on that hillside so that there was
scarcely room to move – the true disciples of Jesus were in the minority.

It is often like that in the Gospel narratives. The crowds – and the small
band of true disciples. And Jesus has much time for the crowd “they are
like sheep without a shepherd” whereas we …

Yes – we have the Shepherd – but sometimes it’s me Lord that needs
attention.

Look down a few verses and you will see that Simon Peter feels he has to
ask Jesus whether He is speaking to them – or to everyone. (41)

I know how you feel, Peter. Jesus has so many wonderful things to say –
and some of his parables seem to give us a status and importance that
seems a bit out of place.

What is our situation?

We may well feel outnumbered, even sidelined, and of no real

significance.

Often the church is as guilty as others at concentrating on an inner circle

and marginalising the others.

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Whatever the reason we may feel SMALL and WEAK, VULNERABLE and
PRONE TO WORRY.

What can we do about this?

When worry – about which Jesus has so much to say in these verses –
seems to surround us?

We can be found CLOSE TO JESUS – like Mary, sitting at His feet.

And the Lord who sees the multitude – and doubtless has compassion on it
as sheep without a shepherd – looks at us – and we HAVE a Shepherd – we
are His LITTLE FLOCK.

Not because we are special or good or right – but because He has given us
His grace and chosen us.

“Do not fear, little flock, …

What matters – as we repeat over and over again – is that we belong to

Him.

That we choose to be as close to Him as we can.

It is likely that we shall remain in the minority. The world may not either
care for us or give us the time of day – and even the church may
sometimes seem to function without us – but to Him we are

“His flock the sheep of His pasture”

6
Come, let us bow down in worship, PSALM 95 -
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
11
He tends his flock like a shepherd: ISAIAH 40 11
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

Over and over again the Lord speaks of His people as His flock. That is our
situation.
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But of course there is more here in these verses than that:

B. Our Status “your Father … the

kingdom”
32
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to
give you the kingdom.

Or as the NIV expresses it as an accomplished reality:

32
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased
to give you the kingdom.

Do I not sense the Master’s love and tenderness in His words?

Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom…

That which changes our Situation is the sovereign purpose of our God – the
loving tenderness of our Saviour – the transforming power of the Holy
Spirit.

This takes away my fear and my sense of inferiority.

But it does more besides – it promises me a rich inheritance:

a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief

comes near and no moth destroys. v 33b

Clearly this teaching left a deep impression on Simon Peter – for he draws
on it in his first letter:

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great
mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance
that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who
through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation
that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice,
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though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of
trials. 1 Peter 1 : 3-6

The little flock with the immense inheritance!

Some decry the thought of a treasure in heaven – choosing instead to

worry about food and clothing, and the so called necessities of life – but
what we have in heaven is infinitely valuable and precious.

The crowd disperses – the man who shouted out about his inheritance goes
off to see the lawyers again – the Pharisees go back to their influential and
misguided lives.

The little flock stays close to the Shepherd. THAT IS OUR STATUS

C. Our Objective “where your treasure is…” 34

32
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide
yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the
heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.
34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Put quite simply Our Objective is to PUT HIM FIRST:

“Where your treasure is…”

And where is it? With Him of course.

Yet the sad reality so often is that we are preoccupied with other things –
things that don’t last, that fail, where thieves take and moth corrupts.

And so we spend inordinate amounts of time fretting about the things that
don’t matter.

I believe that the church gets things out of perspective. Human judgement
and human decisions take precedence over His way and His Spirit’s will.

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In short we become overly concerned with THINGS THAT CHANGE when

what matters is Him who changes not.

We fear that which can destroy the body – but not Him who has power of
JUDGEMENT over us.

Jesus does not decry the importance of everyday needs. His teaching
makes it clear that God knows what we need. (22-33)

But He does make it plain that OUR SITUATION is DIFFERENT, our STATUS is
UNIQUE and our OBJECTIVE is to SET OUR HEART ON HIM.

Throughout this whole chapter the stress is upon God who CARES and
PROVIDES – but also JUDGES (5) and acknowledges those who are His (8)

His parable of the rich fool underscores further the folly of a world view
that is only concerned with possessions in this world. (13-21)

Jesus knows that His disciples WORRY – so he gives them a picture lesson
in God’s providence – RAVENS and LILLIES.

Those who are HIS LITTLE FLOCK

for whom the FATHER IS PLEASED TO GIVE THE KINGDOM
must “seek his kingdom” and discount what the world counts profit.

In a world where material things are valued most

God’s little flock is to value HIM and their STATUS as HIS

Surrender the material for the spiritual.

34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is the test of the little flock.

Where is OUR TREASURE?

So become part of that crowd on the hillside as Jesus speaks.

Make sure you are in that inner ring of His followers

That LITTLE FLOCK – infinitely precious to Him

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Know and acknowledge Your SITUATION at His feet

Your STATUS to whom the Father gives

and Your OBJECTIVE to treasure HIM most of

all.

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