God and Possessions

Introduction:

SotM

Jesus is describing what a citizen of his kingdom looks like

Last several weeks

How we relate to the law

We don’t follow it just too keep it but true obedience comes from the heart

We don’t perform ‘religious acts’ (giving, prayer, fasting) to be seen by others

But we do them because they draw us closer into relationship with God

And we are promised a reward in heaven for our faithfulness

Today

We are wrapping up this section with a strong warning from Jesus alongside a very comforting truth

Jesus tells us that if we are to follow him, we must give ourselves completely to him

And that this way of living provides promises of eternal rewards and treasures

Jesus comforts us not to worry

He doesn’t come down on us about our worry and anxiety

But he points us to the comfort of the Father and shares with us why we have no reason to worry

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 6:19–34 (CSB)

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What we Treasure in our Hearts

Matthew 6:19–23 (CSB)

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

Make the best investment of time/energy/resources

The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary Matthew 6:19–21

It is not a matter of if human treasures will eventually be lost somehow but only a matter of when.

Lamp/Eye

How we see view the world

Light

We see everything as an opportunity to glorify God and bless others

Darkness

We see everything as an opportunity for profit and to serve our self

What we desire changes who we are

If you live for treasures here on earth you will get them

If what we see and focus on are the treasures of this world our heart is set on this world and not in heaven

We have two options

Earthly Treasure vs Heavenly Treasure

Darkness vs Light

Jesus continues with the idea of serving two masters

Serving Two Masters

Matthew 6:24 (CSB)

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We cannot be double minded

If we serve money we will despise God

If we serve God we will despise greed/money

This is extremely relevant to the world we live in today:

Have you heard of the American Dream?

Do you believe in the American Dream?

Have you planned your whole life out in response to the American Dream?

Two Sociologists named 4 defining characteristics of the American Dream:

Achievement, individualism, universalism, and materialism

Achievement

People are encouraged to make something of themselves, to set goals, and to strive and reach for them. With that being said, personal worth tends to be evaluated on the basis of the outcomes of the efforts to achieve one’s goals. Ultimately, success is the most influential measure of a person’s value. In turn, an individual who fails to achieve is a person who fails to make any meaningful contribution to society.

Individualism

Americans are deeply committed to individual rights and individual autonomy and this obsession, when combined with the strong achievement orientation, intensify the tendency toward anomie. While pursuing success, people are encouraged to make it on their own by beating competition and achieving as many social rewards as possible, which will ultimately validate the individual’s personal worth.

Universalism

The socialization of individuals within society and their cultural goals have a democratic quality to them. Everyone is encouraged to aspire to social ascent, also known as climbing the social ladder. At the same time, everyone is susceptible to evaluation on the basis of their individual achievements. In addition, an important aspect of this value foundation is that the hazards of failure are also universal.

Materialism

Success is signified based on the accumulation of monetary awards. Money is a fetish in society, it is something that quite literally everyone wants to have more of if possible. Money is a value that can be used for many things, but many will use it as an enhancement of power. This value highlights the role of money and it being used as a “metric” for success. Overall, the American Dream offers that there is no “final stopping point” in terms of achievement. The American Dream requires “never-ending achievement.”

And the hard part is that this is so deeply engrained in the way we think and make decisions

We see it in movies and TV

We see it all over social media

We hear it from our friends

We even hear it from our parents

We are all under an immense pressure to be successful individuals that make more and more money

This striving for success and money quickly becomes an idol

Workaholics

I’ve seen this in college

Being rich or having money isn’t bad in itself, but it must not interfere with our discipleship to Jesus

Rich Young Ruler

Mark 10:21–27 (CSB)

Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

They were even more astonished, saying to one another, “Then who can be saved?”

Looking at them, Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.”

1 Timothy 6:5–10 (CSB)

...among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Jesus is calling us to a different way of living

He is calling us to not be enslaved to success and money

He is inviting us into a life of dependency on our Father not our trust in our own riches

Jesus wants us to be content regardless of our wealth

At the end of the day, everyone will die, and everyone will lose every penny they have saved

Jesus is inviting us to receive eternal rewards that will never perish

With all of this, Jesus tells us not worry about these things: God will provide all that we need

Remember the Lord’s Prayer?

Don’t Worry - God’s care and provision

Matthew 6:25–30 (CSB)

“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?

The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Matthew 6:25–34)

Thus, the solution to anxiety is not a simplistic “Stop worrying,” but a redirecting of the disciples’ vision to the proper heart orientation, accompanied by a promise of provision.

2 Examples:

Birds

Flowers

Seek First the Kingdom

Matthew 6:31–34 (CSB)

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Here Jesus says:

“Why are you worrying about these things? The unbelievers are searching after these things always striving for more. But why are you acting like them? God knows what you need, God knows that you need food, shelter, water, clothing. He made us to be dependent creatures not to exist independent from him. Come to the Father, he will give you everything you need.”

Don’t worry about chasing the American Dream of success

It may seem attractive, but it won’t end well

The primary thing we are to seek is the Kingdom of God and his righteousness

What does this mean?

It seems counter intuitive

We want to seek our kingdoms first so that we can have all of our needs provided for

Jesus here is telling us to seek his kingdom and everything else will be provided

My life: A Companion - Seek First

Conclusion

This passage has a lot to say to people living in our day and age

Being mastered by money and wealth

Anxiety

We’ve talked about how we are pressured with being successful...

I want to wrap up today with a few words about anxiety

It’s very hard to talk about anxiety because we all experience it, in different amounts and in different ways

I have a lot of anxiety from Jr. High - College

And my experience is different than yours

Some people are naturally more prone to anxiety than others

And some people are better at hiding their anxiety than others

This passage is gold when it comes to Jesus’s teachings

I would highly encourage all of you guys to read this text throughout the week and meditate on it

To challenge your ambitions and motives

To look for Jesus in the middle of anxiety