(upbeat music) - Well, yesterday we started the week, week number 500 on the podcast, by the way, it's amazing. We started this 500th week on the podcast looking at Christian love and how that love differs from the love of the world. And I want to carry that discussion over today because there's another key factor that distinguishes our Christian love and it's about money, the fear of money, specifically the fear of not having enough money.

Money fears kill our love and money fears kill our worship. Key points made by John Piper in a 1997 sermon on Luke 12. Here's Pastor John to make those connections. - So Luke 12, 32 to 34 of the dozens of texts I could have chosen is all about worshiping God with your money.

There are four points I want to make. Many more could be made. I think I counted about 10 sermons I'd like to preach on these three verses, but I'll preach one and make four points. Number one, in verse 32 in particular, the first point is God commands us not to be afraid about money, not to have fear about money.

When it comes to money things, we're not supposed to be anxious. Don't worry, don't be afraid, he says, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. That little verse there is sandwiched before and after with money. Verses 22 following are all about money, things, clothing, house, and whether you're anxious about them and then it's followed by selling possessions and giving alms and laying up treasures in heaven instead of on the earth.

So this little verse, this beautiful, magnificent promise verse, the first point is don't be anxious, don't be afraid. But now there's a deeper point in this verse and the deeper point is that when you're not afraid concerning money, you magnify five things about God. And that's worship. When you're not afraid or anxious or fearful about money, you magnify five things about God in this one verse.

And when you magnify God through not being afraid about money, you worship. Here are the five things. These are precious things that we want to magnify about God. Number one, when we're not afraid about money, we magnify God as our shepherd. Do not be afraid, little flock. The word flock means we've got a shepherd and we are sheep.

And therefore Psalm 23 kicks in, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not what? Want. That word is the old Elizabethan word for lack. I shall not lack, I shall not be in want. That is, if I have a shepherd like this who loves to give me the kingdom, I will not lack for what I need.

Therefore, if I believe that and thus exclude fear, I will magnify his shepherd love. Number two, if I do not fear concerning money, I show that I treasure God as my father. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. So not only am I or are we sheep who have a shepherd, we are children who have a father.

He's multiplying images for us here to get rid of fear. That's what he's doing. Don't be afraid, you're sheep who have a shepherd. Don't be afraid, you're children who have a father. Now, what does that imply? Well, verse 30, two verses earlier, makes pretty plain what it implies. All these things, eat, drink, wear, money things, all these things, the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your father knows that you need these things.

Now, he didn't say that to mock us. He said that because knowing that we need these things, he'll work to provide what we need in order to magnify his fatherhood. But now be careful. Do not come to God with an agenda defining for him what you need. Come to God and learn from him what you need.

The word need today in America is so inflated that it scarcely has any meaning in a universal context anymore. So if we are fearless about money, we magnify him as shepherd, we magnify him as father, and that is worship. Thirdly, if we're not afraid concerning money, we show that we treasure God as our king.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the what? Kingdom. Who has right and authority to give us the kingdom? No peon disposes of the kingdom. The king disposes of the kingdom. And therefore, not only is he a shepherd loving us as sheep, father loving us as cattle, children, he is king, ruling us, providing for us, exerting sovereignty and power on our behalf as subjects against our enemies, including the lack of things we need.

So if we trust him as king and shepherd and father and thus overcome our fear of not having enough money, then we magnify him and he is worshiped. Fourth, if we are fearless with regard to our money, we magnify him as free and generous. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom, not sell you the kingdom, not rent you the kingdom, not lease you the kingdom for payments, mortgage payments, rent payments, lease payments.

He will give you the kingdom. He loves to give you the kingdom, which means he's generous. And therefore, if we let his shepherd-like, fatherly, kingly generosity work on our fear, our anxieties, and I'm talking a battle here. You know I'm talking a battle here, right? We're not talking something that happened yesterday and doesn't happen tomorrow.

We're talking a weekly thing, a paycheck by paycheck thing, or unemployment check by unemployment check thing. We're talking a battle here. The way we battle is by preaching to ourselves what I'm preaching right now. That's the way I do it. It ain't automatic for John Piper to be fearless about money, though I get paid plenty, way plenty.

It isn't automatic for me. It isn't automatic for you. We are battling fear and anxiety every day, not to mention greed. And we do it by saying, he's shepherd to me, he's father to me, he's king to me. And he's not as shepherd, father, and king, folding his arms, standing off in the corner, saying, maybe, maybe you'll get the kingdom.

I'll watch your performances. It's not the way he does it. Give, give, give, free, free, free is what the Lord does. And fifthly, when we overcome our fear and live free of fear, we magnify our God as happy. In his giving. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

Or it is his good pleasure, another version says, to give you the kingdom. Or another version, it pleases him. He's pleased to give you the kingdom. He wants to do this. He is not selfish. Simony is not his virtue or vice. He is a generous God. So, the first point of this message is, trust him as shepherd.

Trust him as father. Trust him as king. Trust his generosity and trust the fact that it's lavish because he loves to do it. Preach these things to yourself and attack fear and anxiety in your life with these truths so that when you overcome fear about money, God gets the glory.

These five glorious things shine out of your life. And if anyone asks you, I know that you're in financial straits and yet at work you seem to be caring about others and fairly happy. How is that? Then you say, can I share five things with you about my God?

And he is worshipped. He is worshipped. - What freedom, what freedom. - To worship God free from the fear of money. Others will notice that. This sermon clip was taken from John Piper's message on Luke 12 titled, "Magnify God with Your Money" and preached on December 14th, 1997. If you have a sermon clip to share, email me.

Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio and make a note of what stands out to you. Put the word clip in the subject line of an email and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. That's our email address. Askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

Well, Friday we close out the week with a Bible question about how the new birth works. The sharp question, as you would expect. I'm your host Tony Rehnke. We'll rejoin in studio with Pastor John on Friday. We'll see you then. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)