Matthew 6: 19 – 34
How Much Is That Worth To You?
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. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
There is another Gospel that covers this same subject. The disciple Luke some 15 years after Matthew penned his Gospel wrote about this teaching of our Lord, so let’s see what he had to say.
Luke 12: 22 -34, “22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. 32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
I think many bible teachers make the mistake of trying to do topical sermons. In many cases if something happens to them during the week or is in the news, then that is what they will address. For example Sunday was ‘Father’s Day’. When you look up some of the sermon sites you find numerous sermons devoted to ‘Fathers’. I am sure if you made your rounds to some different church’s you would most likely receive the same topic relative to Fathers.
I like it when you just follow the bible to wherever it leads you. After you finish one portion of chapter, then you know easily what to study for next week. You do not have to check your calendar to see what man created special day in which to preach on. Do you know what I am saying?
I have mentioned in previous studies that I see in the Gospels the amazing work of our Wonderful Holy Ghost. If you take your time you can see how He guided our Holy Adoni Yeshua into situations in which it would demonstrate some characteristic in which our Lord fulfills the prophecy of being the Messiah.
As you take a look at both Gospels do you see anything that catches your eyes? I do! To me they both seem to say the same exact message, yet it appears that in Luke’s version he reversed Matthew’s account of our Lord’s teaching. Why do you think this is so?
I guess we can only guess until we meet them both in Heaven. But I would like to give it the college try and give you my thoughts on why this teaching is reversed.
I treasure books. For one thing they cost so much money in college to purchase that when they offered to buy them back for a couple of bucks, I said, ‘no way’. Since then I have held onto every book I have come into possession with. However, since I found the wonder of the bible, all the other nice books to me are decorations on a book case.
Now if there are books that give me more information about situations or places in the bible then I am interested. In addition, the internet, if used properly, is of enormous benefit. If you research information regarding the Gospel of Matthew you will find that he wrote this book around 50 AD.
Now what Gospel was next written? – Mark. We are fortunate that those who put the Gospels in our Bibles placed them in the order that they were written. Therefore Luke wrote the third and then lastly John penned his.
Mark was given all his information from the apostle Peter. He put down this report about 5 years after Matthew had written his Gospel. Now, if you look up Luke you find out that he wrote his Gospel a little over 10 years after Mark’s Gospel. So, this is around 65 AD. Does this time now bring any thoughts to you? Well let’s kick this time up a few years and list the year 70 AD, does this time mean anything to you? This is the year that the Roman Army under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.
When Luke penned his Gospel things in the world were heating up. The Roman Empire were fed up with all the problems being constantly stirred up by the Jews so they sent their army to deal with this rebel nation. This is why during the time of our Lord Jesus when Matthew was in our Lord’s very presence and heard these words where our Lord spoke of the near future disasters as described in chapter 24, “24 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
Now what we read in chapter 12 of the Gospel of Luke compared to Matthew’s version take on some new understanding. Our Lord has warned all the people now reading both Luke’s and Matthew’s Gospel that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. If the people wanted to save their families lives then they needed to flee soon. Put yourselves in their position. Will the destruction come in their lifetimes or is it speaking about some distant period in human history. The people were concerned about all that they had invested in with their property, positions, and possessions. So, our Lord is teaching them about how to think properly look again at what He says about all the worldly pursuits.
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. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What is more important than life?
I like to watch the history channel and it amazes me how evil humans have been to each other. I am especially dumbfounded over the rise of the Nazi’s. How could an entire nation follow such a demonic person who came out of no where and imposed such brutal dealings with other human beings. If you were a Jew during this time would you really be concerned with earthly items. No, you want to get somewhere safe. You do not want anything to weigh you down.
This is what our Holy Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – was preaching to the people. He was saying to them, ‘Trust Me. I AM telling you ahead of time of what evil is going to happen. Listen and follow My directions and you and your family will be safe. Seek Me, My Kingdom, and My Righteousness, and I will take care of all your needs.’
This is why I believe that He goes on to encourage the people to ‘Trust’ Him. To me this is our biggest problem and that is turning over everything to His Rule and Authority.
Our Holy Jehovah Jireh – The Lord our Provider – is telling these people and to us to not hold onto things that will weigh us down. For we also, are not suppose to take up root and settle in here on this earth. For we are passing through unto a city whose Maker is our God.
Let us now that a more thorough look at today’s Scripture.
Having described how His disciples are to behave towards the Law in chapter 5 verses 21-48, and having considered his followers attitude towards charitable giving, prayer and fasting that we read about last time in chapter 6 verses 1-18, our Lord Jesus Christ now turns to consider:
• 1). What they should do about material wealth in verses 19-24.
• 2). How they should provide for their necessities in verses 25-34.
In each case He warns against the negative approach, which can only lead to concern and worry, and emphasizes the positive spiritually acceptable approach which will bring the approval of their Father.
In each of these cases the question is dealt with by contrasts, by a thesis followed by an antithesis. Firstly they are not to lay up treasures on earth but to lay them up in Heaven, for they cannot serve God and Mammon. Secondly they are not to be anxiously seeking food and clothing, but are rather to be earnestly seeking the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness, for a days earthly problems are quite sufficient for each day.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal.”
The present tense might be seen as signifying, ‘Do not be like those who --.’ For a choice lies before all disciples as to what they will do with any possessions that they gain. They may use them for the purpose of building up ‘treasures’ and storing them away for the future on earth, but that is a choice that Jesus does not want the person to make. Here we are considering treasures which can be laid up on earth. It may be in the form of gorgeous clothing or brocades, curtains, or jewels, gold, and other metals etc. or it may be wealth of a simpler form of attractive clothing and baser metals. All can have their hold on the heart. But His point is that no matter what they are, such possessions are temporary and passing, for in each case they will be susceptible to some form of attack, either by moth, or rust, or human predators. Notice that the stress is on natural things which make a personal attack on their possessions. It is not just a matter of them fading or disintegrating, although that could easily happen as well, but of their being positively attacked either by being consumed by insects, by being ‘eaten up’ by rust or by mice, or by being stolen by thieves. Thus there is always the danger for those who have possessions that violence will be done to their possessions in one way or another. For possessions attract violence and trouble. Whereas, those who have stored up their treasures in Heaven will avoid such problems.
These are, of course just some of many ways in which wealth can be lost. They are intended to illustrate the vulnerability of physical possessions, and their openness to attack, rather than to be an exhaustive list of all ways in which possessions could be lost. They are simply a reminder that all that a man lays up on earth might be lost simply because they are vulnerable to natural effects, or attacks of nature, or the dishonest onslaught of man, and that that is even without considering the additional problem of such things as wars or sudden death. For elsewhere the alternative is propounded that while a man’s possessions might survive all the above, he will anyway have to leave them behind when he dies, and thus one way or another they will certainly be lost to him. But this last is not in mind here. What is in mind here is the vulnerability of their possessions to the attacks of nature and to sinful man. And our Lord Jesus’ purpose is thus to stress the temporary nature of physical things in contrast with heavenly things which are invulnerable, by forceful illustrations which were familiar to all, so that the value of heavenly things might shine through.
This is not a total condemnation of wealth. It is a warning against seeking to build up wealth for its own sake, because of the dangers that that involves. For as men begin to build up wealth they often forget what is more valuable. Whereas if they use any possessions that they obtain wisely it will actually benefit them spiritually and turn their thoughts towards their Father, both in this world and the next.
The clear message is that we are to recognise that as disciples of Jesus what we possess is not to be kept for ourselves, but is to be distributed under God to others, with the great consolation of knowing that what we are giving away is in fact only of a temporary nature, and therefore not worth keeping in the long run, whereas by saving it in Heaven we will be maintaining and increasing its value. Far better is it for us therefore, to have our treasure where nothing can harm it or take it from us.
For as He will point out in the passage that follows, all that we do need for the future will be provided for us by our heavenly Father who will give us His treasures from Heaven. We do not therefore need to worry about possessions. Instead of moth-eaten clothes He will clothe us with a glory greater even than the lilies of the field, whose clothing puts Solomon to shame.
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”
Here the emphasis changes. Wealth can be stored up in Heaven. This can be achieved, for example, by giving it to the poor and needy or to a genuine work of God, or by using it to do good. It will then be safe and secure for ever, and will not perish, and as long as it is given ‘secretly’ it will bring its own reward. The idea is not that we should keep records of how much treasure we have in Heaven, and thus still be possessed by the grip of ‘possessions’, even though it be heavenly possessions, but rather that, having devoted to God all that we could have retained for ourselves, we will enjoy His fullness of blessing, will have our hearts fixed on Him, and will thus possess what is everlasting.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
And for those who follow Jesus’ words in this regard there will be one very positive result, it will mean that their hearts are then set on heavenly things. For having stored up their wealth in Heaven, their hearts will not be detained by earthly things. Their hearts also will be fixed on Heaven, where their ‘treasure’ is - Jesus Christ our Lord. By the ‘heart’ is meant the total inner man, including mind, will and emotions. We should note that all these words are spoken as an assurance and incentive to those who have already come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven. They are not a bribe to the unconverted; indeed they would be folly to them. They would trample them underfoot. They are rather a promise of the fulfillment to believers.
“The lamp of the body is the eye, if therefore your eye is single, Your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is the darkness!
The ‘eye’ here is both the physical eye, which can look on physical things and be drawn by them, or gloat in them, and the spiritual eye which can be fixed on God, and on Heaven, and on the light that has come from Heaven, whereby His disciples can therefore be drawn by Him and rejoice in Him. What our Lord Jesus is really talking about here is what takes up our attention because of the direction in which we fix our gaze both physically and spiritually, in other words it is dependent on where we set our hearts, whether on earthly things or on our heavenly Father. The ‘single’ eye is the eye that is deliberately focused on one thing, and that is possible in this case because it is, at least partly, the spiritual eye. It has been opened to the light that has shone in the darkness , and if it remains single it will continually receive that light. The word later came to indicate a ‘sound’ eye, and if we take it in that way the principle is the same, the point then being made is that those with a sound eye would let in the light, whereas those whose eye was not sound would be left in darkness. But our Lord Jesus in this case clearly intends us to recognize that a disciple can humanly speaking choose whether his eye is sound or not.
The important thing in all this is that the ‘eye’ acts as the lamp to the body. It therefore either illuminates it or keeps it in darkness. For, it is the source or otherwise of light coming to the inner being.
This brings out that the next thing that the disciples have to beware of is being anxious about relatively unimportant matters. They are to consider that there is much more to life than food and clothing, and that their inner life is much more important than both. Thus they should not be clamoring about a seeming shortage of food and clothing, but concentrating on the satisfactory maintenance of their inner life.
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
The same principle can be applied to their clothing. Let them then consider that God not only provided clothing to the flowers, but He provided clothing more glorious than Solomon’s. Let them also consider that if He shows consideration to vegetation in this way, which has but a short span of life and was then used for fuel, how much more would He provide for those who trusted in Him, even if their faith was so little.
In view of what He has been saying about God feeding and clothing natural things anxiety about food and clothing is folly. It is not to trust their Heavenly Father. It is all very well for the Gentiles to chase after these things. They have no Heavenly Father. But His disciples do have a heavenly Father, and they must learn to be aware of it. Thus their concentration must be on the things of their Father. They must therefore put all their efforts into seeking His Kingly Rule, and putting that first, which, as He has already told them, is also in accordance with the way that they should be praying, and into seeking and fulfilling the effects of His righteous deliverance, resulting from the coming of His righteousness as promised by Isaiah. They are to seek them first of all in prayer, and then they are to seek their part in bringing them about. In this way not only will they be fed and clothed, but their inner beings will be fed and clothed as well, and they will be fed and clothed for eternity. The Gentiles go around their earthly chase with great anxiety, the disciples are to go about their earthly seeking with faith and trust, for it concerns heavenly things.
Both seeking His Kingly Rule and seeking His righteousness must here have a present significance, in the same way as seeking food and clothing has. While the Gentiles are daily busy seeking food and clothing, they are to be daily seeking His Kingly Rule and His righteousness.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
There is enough evil each day to be concerned about, without worrying about tomorrow’s that may never come. Thus they and us may pray to be delivered from today’s evil, and may depend on Him to do it, and that ‘evil’ includes lack of food and clothing. But because He is our Heavenly Father we need not then worry about it.
It is guaranteed that there will be constant troubles but that their Father will watch over us day by day so that they need not be concerned. Thus they can leave the future in His hands without being concerned about it. All concentration instead is to be on seeking His Kingly Rule over men’s lives and His righteous deliverance of His people.
