Kingdom First
Recapping Sunday:
Background for Text:
Teaching Text:
Treasures in Heaven Vs. Earth (v19-21)
19 “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.
Exhort/Challenge: Value is Shown By Allocation of Resources
The Eye: The Lamp of the Body (v22-23)
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!
The “evil eye” in the ancient world is an eye that enviously covets what belongs to another.
The Inability to Serve 2 Masters (v24)
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.
Not Anxious About Food (v25-27)
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?
Exhort: Humankind Made in God’s Image
Not Anxious for Clothing (v28-30)
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?
Anxiety Replacement: Seeking the Kingdom & His Righteousness (v31-33)
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.
For God is both Sovereign & Father.
(V33) SEEK HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS—
Powerful Background: People of that day:
Much of their daily routine was spent trying to get enough supplies for day-to-day existence. The poor especially did not have extensive supplies, so the question of what one would eat tomorrow was very real, especially with the vagaries of seasonal famine, fire, or flood.
Conclusion: Not Anxious for Tomorrow (v34)
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
