The first thing to point out here is that all the “you”s in this passage in Luke are plural. Yeshua is literally talking to a flock of people, not individual sheep.

He is telling the flock, who will become his church on Earth… Don’t worry about food, clothing, even your life.
Yahweh has you covered. He will look after you (pl).
So as a flock, as a church, don’t spend all your time trying to store up things to provide for your future.
All that does is increase your stress. He already knows what you need, and he’s already worked out a way to provide for you.

You, (the flock/church), focus on the kingdom of God, and leave all that other stuff to him.

Like when he led his people out of Egypt. They didn’t know where they were going.
They didn’t know for sure that Yahweh had a land for them to live in. But they believed he did, and they trusted him to do that.
And they had to live like that for forty years before they could sit back and say, “See! We told you Yahweh had us covered”.


Have you ever read about George Müller? A dedicated Christian man in Britain back in the 1800’s.
He believed God was asking him to care for the little children.
At that time there were thousands of orphans in the UK. And he opened a home for some of them.
Then another. Then another. Five homes altogether.
In the end he cared for over 10,000 orphans.
But he never took a salary, (wow, that wouldn’t fly with most churches these days eh). He never went into debt.
And God always provided. Always.

One morning the orphanage had no food, but Müller gathered the children at the table, to give thanks as usual.
Moments later, a baker knocked on the door, saying he had felt God prompt him to bake extra bread that day.
Shortly after, a milk cart broke down in front of the orphanage, and the milkman gave them all the milk before it went off.

I know of another church in Australia which was running out of money, (about 40 years ago).
The leaders gathered together to pray about it. One of them literally prayed, “Lord, we know from Psalm 50 that you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Would you please sell some of them to pay our debts.”
Seriously what a weird prayer.
There was a knock at the door. One of their church members.
“I heard you guys were meeting here tonight, and today I sold my cattle farm, and I want to give 10% to the church.”
This is a true story! It was way more than enough to pay the church’s debts and then some.

And stories like L’Abri by Francis Schaefer, or the Hudson Taylor story.

”Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria? And not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God. And even the hairs on your head have all been numbered. So then, don’t be afraid — you are of more consequence than many sparrows.”

Yeshua went on to say…
“Don’t be afraid little flock, because your father was delighted to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings, and give as an act of charity. Make money bags for yourselves that won’t become old, ongoing treasure in the heavens, where a thief doesn’t come near it, nor a moth destroy it. For wherever your treasure is, your heart will be there too.”

Yahweh has given us his kingdom! In fact, he was delighted to give us his kingdom.
That’s no small thing. And he will provide whatever we need to run that kingdom on his behalf. To ensure its prosperity, its growth, its witness to the world.
We don’t need members to promise so we can budget the way a business does.
And we don’t need an angelic visitor either.
We just need to trust that he will provide and make our decisions accordingly.

How about your church?
So, where is your church’s treasure? Where is its heart?
What are you all anxious about?

How about you personally?
Where is your treasure? Where is your heart?
What are you anxious about?

What is your money bag made from? Are you worried it’s going to break?
Are you worried about thieves?

You don’t need to be.