"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and
rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the
lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will
be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will
be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how
great is the darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters, for either
he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to
the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you
will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will
put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by
being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why
are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But
if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and
tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying,
'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we
wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. 34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble."

One of the things I love about being a pastor, as opposed to an
itinerant preacher, is that I get to come back week after week and
clarify and correct the things that I have said poorly or
incompletely, or that have been misunderstood. My prayer is that
over time the message of the Bible will be heard in its fullness
and balance, even if from week to week things may sometimes be
lopsided. So let me try to answer two very thoughtful questions
that were raised in response to last week’s message.

Recap of Last Week’s Message

You recall the main point was from Matthew 6:20 – that we
should lay up treasures in heaven and not on the earth. I argued
that the way you lay up treasures in heaven – the way you
increase your reward and joy in the presence of God – is by
giving your money away in the name of Christ rather than storing up
more and more for yourself.

I used two verses to support this. One was Luke 12:33, "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." And the other was Luke 14:13-14, "When you give a
feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you
will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid
at the resurrection of the just." In both of these texts, giving
freely with no thought of getting money back is seen as a way to
increase your reward and your joy in heaven. Something happens for
the heart that gives which increases its capacity for joy in the
age to come.

And as part of this call to lay up treasure in heaven I called
for a simplified, exile-like, wartime lifestyle that enables us to
give more, rather than treating this world as our home and treating
this age as though it were a time of peace, when in fact is a time
of conflict between God and Satan, and between righteousness and
unrighteousness, and between belief and unbelief, and between light
and darkness. And the stakes in this conflict are eternal.

So, I concluded, let’s put a governor on our lifestyles
(because if you don’t, expenses will always expand to fill
the income) and then let us give more than we ever dreamed.
Let’s be hazardous in our risk-taking for the glory of
Christ. This kind of freedom and this kind of love, I argued, will
make us the happiest people on planet earth. Because Jesus said,
"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). Loving
and giving like Jesus will probably involve suffering, but the joy
in giving and the increased joy in heaven – the joy set
before us – will be worth it all.

Two Thoughtful Questions

Now, two thoughtful questions came to me out that message. One
said, "Since both the texts that you used to explain laying up
treasures in heaven had to do with giving to the poor (Luke 12:33;
Luke 14:13), don’t you think that your closing application in
calling people to make pledges to Education for Exaltation was
lopsided since that is really not a giving to the poor but to a
building program?" The other question was this: "When you stress
the imagery of wartime living, do you leave any room for aspects of
life that don’t fit well in the wartime imagery, like art or
leisure? Are there not other images of the Christian life that are
more restful than war?"

1. Response to Question on Rest within the Wartime
Lifestyle

Here are my responses to these two very legitimate questions.
Let’s take them in reverse order. Yes, absolutely, there are
other images of the Christian life that are more restful. "The Lord
is my Shepherd, I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green
pastures, he leads me beside still waters" (Psalm 23:1-2). That is
a very different image than bombs dropping and blood flowing. "Come
to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest" (Matthew 11:28). "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray
hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry
and will save" (Isaiah 46:4).

And yes, there is a proper time and place for the Christian to
benefit from, evaluate, and transform the whole range of human
culture, including the arts. In fact, it is virtually impossible
not to be a part of our modern, western culture, and if you do not
think in terms of measured appropriation, biblical evaluation, and
thoughtful transformation, you will probably be consumed by the
culture, and won’t even know that you are more American than
you are Christian.

So, yes, by all means, use all the images of Scripture (not just
war) to shape your life. And then let your radically Christian,
God-enthralled, Christ-treasuring, giving-oriented, sacrificial
life of love engage and shape your culture.

2. Response to Question about Whether These Texts Can
Legitimately Apply to Building Funds

And in response to the other question: Yes, my application last
Sunday was lopsided. The message was about open-handed,
free-hearted, sacrificial, joyful giving. The texts focused on
giving to the poor, and I focused on the building side of Education
for Exultation. I said more clearly in the first service than in
the second, "If you must choose between giving to the poor and
giving to Education for Exultation, then by all means give to the
poor. But I also said that most Americans do not have to make that
choice. And if you meditate on the teachings of Jesus in prayer, he
will make it plain what you should do.

What I didn’t stress (but I do now!) was that those texts
(Luke 12:32-34; Luke 14:13-14; etc.) show how much Jesus really
cares about our ministry to the poor and what a crucial role it
should have in our overall priorities and what a long way we have
to go as a church to be all that God wants us to be in personal and
structural engagement with the poor here and around the world.

My hope and prayer is that two things will motivate you to give
generously and sacrificially this year to get us into that building
debt-free next January, precisely because you ponder those texts
about giving to the poor.

1. One is that an utterly crucial part of those texts has to do
not just with what kind of ministry you are giving to, but also
what kind of heart you are giving from. In other words, the texts
call us to a radical freedom from insecurity – a radical
liberation from fear and anxiety, and a passion that Christ be
exalted in our sacrificial lives of generosity. I hope that will be
your experience if you never give a dime to the ministry of this
church. Far more important than giving to this ministry, is that
you give from that kind of heart somewhere, especially to the poor.
And may God give you the grace to make it at least ten percent of
your income – you who have tasted the preciousness of Christ
who gave everything for you.

2. The other thing that I hope motivates you to give to
Education for Exultation is the trust and the conviction that all
the education and prayer and urban dreaming and global strategizing
that goes on in that new building will bring a hundred years of
blessing to the poor in Minneapolis and in the nations of the world
– indeed
not just a hundred years, if Jesus tarries, but a
hundred ages of years as the poor are helped now and made rich in
Christ.

In other words, I am asking you to ponder seriously whether you
believe, what I believe, namely, that there is a correlation
between providing a home for this ministry called Bethlehem –
spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the
joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ – and the emergence
and sustaining of people and vision for gospel ministry among the
poor, here and around the world.

If there is no correlation in your mind between this $8,000,000
building and the alleviation of suffering – temporal and
eternal – for the poor and all others, then don’t give
to this vision. But if you believe, as I do, that there is a deep
and hope-filled correlation between building a strategic
nerve-center as a base of operations for sixty employees
(ministers!) and as a place for preparing 10-15 TBI pastors and
missionaries each year, a place for planning and supporting
extension sites like Roseville, and a place to turning squirrelly
six-year-olds into radical, God-centered world Christians ready to
lay their lives down for the unreached poor, if you believe in that
correlation, then I hope you will make the pledges I called for
last week. Indeed, I pray that you will do that and stretch your
regular giving so that we can fulfill that vision embodied this
year in a budget increase of 26%.

Where does someone like Jon – whom we just commissioned
this morning to bring the gospel of Christ to an unreached people
– come from? Well, primarily he comes from a work of
sovereign grace in his life. And then he comes from a family
– Randy and Muriel and Amy. And then he comes from a life of
relationships and schooling. And finally he comes from a lifetime
of meeting God week after week at Bethlehem – one of those
squirrelly six-year-olds who is now ready to risk his life for the
poor. If I did not believe there would be a correlation between
this new building and that, I would not give, indeed I would not
survive in the ministry here.

My aim last week and this week is to motivate you to seek the
kingdom of God first, from a heart that is not shriveled up with
anxiety, but is free to give – however God leads you to
give.

And so I promised that today we would look at the reasons Jesus
gives not to be anxious. Three times in verses 25-34 Jesus says,
"Do not be anxious." Verse 25: "Do not be anxious about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what
you will put on." Verse 31: "Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What
shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or
‘What shall we wear?’" Verse 34: "Do not be anxious
about tomorrow."

Clearly, Jesus wants his disciples to be free from enslaving
anxiety. That’s why he gives at least eight reasons to help
us fight the fight of faith. He knows this is a battle. He knows
you are going to wake up from time to time with irrational anxiety
attacks. He knows that there will be wars and rumors of wars
(Matthew 24:6). He knows he is sending us out like lambs in the
midst of wolves (Luke 10:3). He knows that the time will come when
those who kill you will think that they are serving God (John
16:2). And in spite of all that, indeed in all of that, Christ
wants his people to have peace not anxiety – so much peace
that we are free to keep giving – giving to the poor, giving
to the cause Christ in the midst of great calamity and stress. To
quote Randy Alcorn again: "God prospers me not to raise my standard
of living but to raise my standard of giving." The same thing can
be said of why he gives us peace.

So let’s look at Jesus’ reasons not to be
anxious.

Jesus’ Eight Reasons Not to Be Anxious

1. Life Is More Than Food; The Body Is More Than Clothing (v.
25)

Verse 25. I am passing over the reason found in the word
"therefore" at the beginning of the verse and going straight to the
reason found in the last part of the verse: "Therefore I tell you,
do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you
will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. [Here comes
the reason] Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing?"

I take this to mean, since life can’t be sustained without
food and the body will freeze, or be shamed into oblivion without
clothes, Jesus must mean: life and body (literally "soul" and body)
are more than the physical life that is sustained by food and
adorned by clothing. In other words, don’t be anxious about
your soul and your body because those who might take your food and
your clothing, and even cause your death, cannot take your real
life or rob you of your resurrection body. The bottom line defense
against anxiety is: in Christ you are immortal, and to die is gain.
That’s why Jesus says in Luke 12:4, "Do not fear those who
kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do."
In other words, there is something far worse than death, and it can
never happen to you in Christ. So don’t be anxious.

2. You Are More Valuable Than the Birds That God Feeds (v.
26)

Verse 26: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Here the argument not to be anxious has two massive premises
leading to the conclusion. Premise one: God is so completely in
control of the natural universe that he may be said to feed the
birds of the air. Every berry eaten or insect snatched form the air
or worm pulled from the ground is provided by God. He does that for
birds. Premise two: you are of more value to God than they. God
values more and is more committed to his people who glorify him
with their minds and wills than he is to animals who have no
ability to consciously glorify God. As Peter says in 1 Peter 5:7,
"Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." Vastly
more than for the birds whom he feeds. So don’t be
anxious.

3. Anxiety Accomplishes Nothing (v. 27)

Verse 27: "And which of you by being anxious can add a single
hour to his span of life?"

Here is a simple, practical argument: anxiety
does no good. It accomplishes nothing. It doesn’t help.
Preach this to yourself: I am accomplishing nothing helpful by this
anxiety. It is only making a hard situation harder. I will listen
to Jesus and say no to this useless emotion. I refuse to be
mastered by a useless emotion!

4. The Grass and the Lilies That God Clothes Last for a Day,
But You Are Eternal (vv. 28-30)

Verse 28-30: "And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he
not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

This is almost the same as the argument from the birds of the
air. But not quite. The point there was that you are more valuable
than the birds that God feeds. The point here is that you are
eternal, and the grass and the lilies last for a day. Yet God
clothes them more beautifully than Solomon. Again the most amazing
truth for us is the truth that Jesus virtually takes for granted:
God’s sovereign rule over the world of nature extends to the
seemingly insignificant color of a lily and the white puff-ball of
a clover patch. These are not mere natural laws that God put in
motion and set loose to do good or bad things with no control over
them. These are his doing.

And the inference for our souls is: if God is so intimately and
lavishly involved with grass and flowers which are like a vapor,
then how shall he not care for his children who are eternal? So
trust him! Trust him! "O you of little faith." The issue is trust.
Anxiety is a trust issue (verse 30). Trust your Father. Come what
may, he will take care of you.

5. Anxiety Is Worldly (v. 31)

Verse 31: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What
shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or
‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after
all these things."

Here the argument is: if you are anxious, you are like the
world. This is what people do who don’t know God. Anxiety is
worldly.

Be careful that you not become cynical at this point and say,
"Piper you are naive. You think you can dispel this monster so
easily. Just remind us that the world is anxious. That will
help?"

To which I say: These are not my words. These are the words of
the Son of God. These are his prescription, not mine. Be careful
lest you speak ill of Christ. He is not naive. He knows the
monster of anxiety better than you do. And he knows best how to
fight it. And it is a fight. That is why he is multiplying weapons
for you. Sometimes one will work and sometimes another. Don’t
blow these off. Put them in your armory. The very one you mock
might someday save your life. Don’t
be anxious about things.
The Gentiles do that.

6. Your Heavenly Father Knows What You Need (v. 32b)

Verse 32b: "And your heavenly Father knows that you need them
all."

The argument is: Don’t be anxious because you have Father;
he is "heavenly" not earthly; and he knows exactly what you need.
"Father" means he loves you and you are on his heart as a child.
"Heavenly" means he is sovereign over all the earth and nothing can
stop him from doing good to you. "He knows that you need them"
means that he is never at a loss to know what is good for you and
he has all the wisdom it takes to meet your need. So rest in this:
Your heavenly Father knows what you need.

7. God Will Supply Everything You Need to Do His Will and His
Righteousness (v. 33)

Verse 33: "But seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

The argument is God will supply everything you need to do his
will and his righteousness. Yes he promises that some of us will be
imprisoned and that some of us will be beaten and some of us will
be killed. Paul says in Romans 8 that famine and nakedness will
come for some, but will not separate us from the love of Christ. In
all these things we will be more than conquerors through him who
loved us. We will have all the clothing and food and drink that we
need to do the will of God, including his time when his will is for
us to die. There is no guaranteed physical comfort in this world,
no guaranteed life on earth. But no trial will befall you for which
he will not give you all you need to endure to the end and be
saved.

8. God Does Not Overload Any Day with Trouble (v. 34)

Verse 34: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble."

The argument is that God does not overload any day with trouble.
Each day has its appointed amount. So don’t reach into
tomorrow and bring its troubles into today. The comforting point is
unsaid, but obvious: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great
is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). Each day has its own
appointed troubles, and there are new mercies appointed for us
every day so that you can bear the troubles. Trust him they will be
there.

These eight arguments are a gift to you from the Lord Jesus to
free you from anxiety and to make you a generous giver. If you will
receive him as Savior and Lord and Treasure of your life, you will
have his promises with him. Receive them. Believe them. Make them
the means by which you fight the good fight of faith every day. We
are walking into grave days. One group of people more than all
others should be free from anxiety: the people of Christ.