Matthew 6:19-24

The Gospel Of Matthew  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Scripture Reading: Luke 12:16–21 & 1 Tim 6:8-11

LAST TIME

We Started Chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount
Theme of the Sermon: How to Have Greater Righteousness Than the Scribes and Pharisees
In Order toBe a Citizen of Jesus’ Kingdom, We Must have Greater Righteousness Than Them
In Chapter 5, Jesus Taught His Listeners How to Rightly Interpret and Obey the Law From the Heart
In Chapter 6, Jesus Begins Teaching His Listeners How to Live Out Their Righteousness
We Shouldn't Practice Our Righteousness Like the Scribes and Pharisees
Jesus Calls Them Hypocrites
They Only Give to the Poor, Pray, and Fast For the Purpose of Being Seen
These 3 Practices are Representative of the 3 Areas of Life in Which We are to Practice Righteousness
We are to Love Others and Show That Through Our Actions Toward Them
We are to Love God and Have a Sincere Relationship With Him
We are to Work on Self-Improvement in Becoming More Like Jesus
Jesus’ Disciples are to Practice Their Righteousness in Each of These Areas With Sincerity

Matthew 6:19-24

Jesus is Going to Continue Showing Us How to Practice Our Righteousness
He is Now Going to Address a Topic That Most of Us as Americans Really Need to Hear
This Lesson From Jesus Challenges and Confronts Me
And if You Will Be Honest With Jesus For the Next Few Minutes, He Will Challenge and Confront You as Well
Jesus is Going to Talk About Our Money and Possessions
But Even Deeper Than That…
He is Going to Talk About Our Relationship to Our Money and Possessions
And if We Want to Be Citizens of His Kingdom and Receive All the Blessings That Come With That…
We Need to Take a Long Hard Look at Our Relationship to Our Money and Possessions
Matthew 6:19 (NASB)
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Is Jesus Saying it is Wrong to Have Wealth and Material Possessions?
No, We Have to Be Careful Not to Take a Verse and Automatically Assume its Most Extreme Interpretation
Many of the Most Righteous Individuals in the Bible Were Very Rich People…
For Us to Assume Jesus is Saying Having Wealth and Possessions is Sinful Would Seem to Contradict the Scriptures
Nowhere Does the Bible Condemn:
Having Possessions
Saving For a Rainy Day, Retirement, or to Provide For Our Families in the Future
Those Who Don’t Take Measures to Provide For Themselves and Their Families are Condemned in the Scriptures
The Greek Word For “Store Up” is the Verb Form of the Word For “Treasure” in This Same Sentence (Store Up = thēsaurizō) (Treasures = thēsauros)
“Don’t Treasure Treasures For Yourself On Earth”
Jesus Isn’t Condemning Having Possessions…
He’s Condemning the Heart That Views Wealth and Possessions as its Treasure
He’s Condemning the Selfish Accumulation Worldly Goods
There’s a Difference in Saving and Hoarding
There’s a Difference in Thinking About the Future When Dealing With Your Money and Covetousness
The Thing About Treasures on Earth is That They Don’t Last
Moths Will Eventually Destroy Your Clothing
“Rust” = Eating
This Can Refer to Rust Eating Away at Metals, Bugs and Rats Eating Away at Food Supplies, etc.
“Break in” = Dig Through
This Refers to How Thieves Would Dig Through the Mud/Clay Walls of the Average House of That Day
The Greek Word For a Burglar Meant “Wall-Digger”
Jesus’ Point is This:
“Why Make Earthly Wealth and Possessions Your Treasure That You Seek to Selfishly and Covetously Accumulate For Yourselves?”
“These Things Will Never Last!”
Matthew 6:20 (NASB)
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
Instead of Your Focus in Life Being On Accumulating Earthly Treasures…
Jesus Tells Us to Focus On Accumulating Heavenly Treasures
There is No Moth or Rust or Rats or Pests or Thieves or Anything Else That Can Take That Treasure Away
What Kind of Treasures is Jesus Referring to?
We Aren’t Told Specifically…
But We Already Know They are Better Than Any Treasures We Could Accumulate Here
They Will Last Forever
Which Abundance of Wealth and Possessions Should We Work Toward…
The Kind That We Get to Keep For a Short Amount of Time?
Or the Kind That We Get to Keep and Enjoy Forever?
Which Should We Treasure More?
We Have a Choice in Which Treasure We Seek to Accumulate
It’s Obvious Which Treasure Has the Greatest Value
But Most People Choose the Treasure That Won’t Last
Why?
For a Number of Reasons
Because it’s Much More Immediate
Because Most People Would Rather Live For Today Rather Than Tomorrow
Because It’s Visible (the Other Takes Faith to See)
Jesus Then Tells His Listeners That the Treasure We Choose Says a Lot About the Kind of Person We Are
Matthew 6:21 (NASB)
for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What Does This Mean?
The Location of Your Treasure is Where You Heart/Mind Will Be Focused
If Your Treasure is Earthly, Then Your Heart/Mind Will Be Focused On Earthly Things
If Your Treasure is Heavenly, Then Your Heart/Mind Will Be Focused On Heavenly Things
And Your Choices and Actions are Shaped By What Your Heart/Mind Treasure/Cherish the Most
If You’re After a Worldly Treasure, You’re Going to Behave in Worldly Ways
But if You’re After a Heavenly Treasure, You’re Going to Behave in Heavenly Ways
Our Behavior, Choices, and Actions are Proof of Where Our Hearts Are
Matthew 6:22 (NASB)
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
This Verse Always Confused Me
First, Because it’s a Difficult Verse to Understand
Second, Because it Seems Like Jesus Completely Switches Topics
This Verse is a Little Difficult to Understand, But Jesus is Not Switching Topics
He is Still Dealing With the Topic of a Wealth
He Tells Us the Lamp of the Body is the Eye
Our Eye Gives Light to Our Body
If Our Eye is Clear/Healthy/Good/Sincere/“Single”…
Then Our Whole Body Will Be Full of Light
That Still is Kind of Confusing Though, Isn’t it?
In Jewish Writings, the Eye and the Heart Were Often Used Synonymously
And a Good Eye Represented a Generous Attitude
In Essense, When Our Eyes/Hearts are Sincerely and Singularly Focused on the Treasures of Heaven…
Our Whole Bodies Will Be Filled With Light
That is to Say, as With the Previous Verses, When Our Hearts are Fixed on the Proper Treasure, Our Actions Will Prove it
Matthew 6:23 (NASB)
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Just as a Good Eye Represents a Generous Attitude…
A Bad Eye Represents a Stingy, Greedy, Covetous Attitude
And When a Person’s Eye/Heart/Light of the Body is Dark, Then Their Whole Body is Full of Darkness
This is the Person Whose Eye/Heart is Focused On Accumulating Earthly Treasures
That is a Dark Path Where No Light Shines
They Are Blinded By Their Covetousness and Greed
And Their Behaviors, Choices, and Actions Prove it
Dark and Terrible Things are Caused By Those Who Treasure Earthly Gain
They Can’t See That the Path They are On Will Only Lead to Loss, Destruction, and Death
Matthew 6:24 (NASB)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Jesus is Now Using Slavery as an Illustration
A Slave Cannot Wholeheartedly Serve 2 Masters
Slavery Demands Total and Undivided Loyalty and Service to the Master
Jesus Says it is Impossible to Serve God and Mammon (Aramaic For Money and Possessions)
By Using an Aramaic Word, He is Personifying Wealth
He is Contrasting Service to the One True God With Service to the False God of Covetousness (Colossians 3:5 - Greed/Covetousness is Idolatry)
You Can’t Have a Divided Loyalty Toward God and Anything or Anyone Else
To Be His You Must Be Totally Devoted to Him
If You Choose to Serve, Love, and Devote Yourself to God…
You Will Find That Wealth Becomes Nothing to You
But if You Choose to Serve, Love, and Devote Yourself to Wealth…
You Will Find That God Becomes Nothing to You
There are Many People Who Disagree With Jesus On This Subject
They Believe it is Possible to Be Truly Devoted to God and Devoted to Accumulating Great Wealth For Themselves On Earth
But Here’s What That Always Ends Up Looking Like:
They Serve God On Sundays and Wealth On Weekdays
Or They Serve God With Their Lips and Wealth With Their Hearts
Or They Serve God in Appearance and Wealth in Reality
There is Never True Devotion to God in Such Cases
Sadly, a Lot of Christians Think Like the Old McDonalds CEO
He Was Once Asked What He Believed in:
Ray Kroc - “I believe in God, family, and McDonald’s. And in the office, that order is reversed.”
Isn’t That How Many of Us Think?
Our Loyalty and Devotion Can Change Depending On the Time, Place, and People We are Around
Many People in America are Afraid of the Many Prevailing Ideologies That are Being Proclaimed in Our Country
They Believe These Ideologies Pose a Great Threat to Christianity
Ideologies Like Marxism, Communism, Islam, Humanism, Atheism, LGBTQ Activists, the Community Church Movement
Many of These Ideologies Do Pose a Threat to the Free Practice of True Christianity…
But the Greatest Threat to Christians in Our Country Today is Not Any of These
Our Greatest Threat Isn’t Outsiders Seeking to Stop Us
It is Our Own Hearts Being Turned Away From Christ and Toward the Riches That are So Easily Attained in Our Society
When We Looked at the Book of Lamentations in Bible Class a Few Months Ago…
We Talked About Literary Devices Found in the Bible Called Chiasms
Chiasm = A Literary Device in Which a Sequence of Ideas are Presented and Then Repeated in Reverse Order
“When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going”
“If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail”
There are Many Chiasms in the Bible, and This Verse in One of Them
Here’s How They are Structured:
A - No one can serve two masters
B - for either he will hate the one
C - and love the other,
C - or he will be devoted to one
B’ - and despise the other.
A’ - You cannot serve God and wealth.
The Important Thing to Know About Chiasms is That the Main Point is Always in the Middle
In Typical Writing Styles, You Always Put the Main Point at the Beginning and End
But in Chiasms, it’s the Opposite
Jesus’ Main Point Here is Love and Devotion to God
It’s Easy For Us to Focus On the Serving 2 Masters Part of the Verse Because That’s How the Verse Begins and Ends
But in a Chiasm, the Main Point is in the Middle
What's One Thing That God Wants More Than Our Service to Him?
Our Love and Devotion to Him
People Can Serve God Without Truly Loving or Being Devoted to Him
But Everyone Who Loves and is Devoted to God Serves Him
In This Text, Jesus is Telling His Followers to Love and Be Devoted to God
And to Seek to Accumulate Heavenly Treasures, Not Earthly

Application

Again, We Have to Be Careful Not to Take Jesus’ Words to Extremes That He Never Intended
Jesus Isn’t Condemning Having a Great Job That Pays Well
Having Good Jobs and Making Lots of Money Isn’t Sinful
Trusting in Our Good Jobs and Loving Money is Where Sin Enters in
And What We Do With Our Money Proves Where Our Heart Belongs
Do We Selfishly Hoard All of Our Money to Ourselves?
Or Use it to Accumulate Lots of Possessions For Ourselves?
Or Do We Use Our Money For God’s Glory and For the Purposes of His Kingdom?
How Many of Us are Willing to Sacrifice Wealth and Possessions to Help Others in Need?
This Was One of the First Things the Early Church Did
They Gave Up What They Had to Help the Needy

How Do We Store Up Heavenly Treasures?

Jesus Tells Us to Store Up Treasures For Ourselves in Heaven
And the Opposite of That is Storing Up Treasures For Ourselves On Earth
So, in Order For Us to Store Up Heavenly Treasures, We Have to Stop Our Pursuit of Hoarding Riches and Possessions For Ourselves
When I Change My Mindset From Earthly Treasures to Heavenly Treasures…
I Will Begin to See a Greater Purpose For My Wealth
My Greed Will Turn to Generosity
Istead of Always Looking to Get More, I Will Be Looking to Give More
I Will Use My Wealth to the Glory of God and For the Building Up of His Kingdom
Remember What Paul Told Timothy to Tell the Rich?
1 Timothy 6:18–19 (NASB)
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
Do Good to Others
Be Generous
Be Ready to Share With Those in Need
That is How We Store Up Treasures For Ourselves in Heaven
And That is How We Recieve True Life

Invitation

Now the Only Question is:
Are We Going to Put This to Practice?
Are We Going to Practice Our Righteousness the Way Jesus has Just Described?
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