Part 12 - Laying up treasures, eye is the lamp of the body, serving two masters
Sermon on the Mount
The Christian Character
Matthew 5:3 - 7:27
(Cf. Luke 6:20-49)
This is Part 12 in a 14-part series of studies I call “The Christian Character” as described by Jesus to a crowd of people on a Galilean hillside as he delivered what is more familiarly known as the “Sermon on the Mount.”
The 14 parts are as follows:
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Beatitudes – the poor in spirit
Part 3 - Beatitudes – those who mourn
Part 4 - Beatitudes – the meek, and those who hunger and thirst
Part 5 - Beatitudes – the merciful and the pure in heart
Part 6 - Beatitudes – peacemakers
Part 7 - Beatitudes – the persecuted and insulted
Part 8 - Salt of the earth and light of the world
Part 9 - Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees; divorce, oaths
Part 10 - Eye for eye, loving neighbor and hating enemy, being perfect
Part 11 - Three things to do, not to be seen by men and a model prayer
Part 12 - Laying up treasures, eye is the lamp of the body, serving two masters
Part 13 - Do not judge, do not give what is holy to dogs and pigs
Part 14 - Ask, seek, and knock; the narrow gate; false prophets; building on the rock
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Review
Last week we discussed three things Jesus warns against doing for the sake of being seen as religious. For those who do so, being seen is the extent of the reward.
Matthew 6:1-18 - Read
In each of these illustrations - giving to the needy, praying, and fasting - Jesus teaches that we should do them, assumes that we will, and distinctly says they not to do them to be seen by other people.
Last week we discussed the suggestion that this teaching conflicts with what Jesus had said a couple of minutes earlier:
Matthew 5:14-16 ESV You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
How is it possible to conceal and display our good deeds at the same time?
The trip wire is self - doing good things – the 3 Jesus mentions and others - for selfish purposes.
I believe the harmony of these verses lies in our own motivation. If my righteous acts are to gain the appreciation of people, then I’m really doing them for me. If they are for me, then I fail to meet those touchstone passages that define our standard:
• achieve a righteousness exceeding that of the Pharisees (and that means I will not enter the kingdom of heaven)
• be perfect, as the Father is perfect.
Whatever good works proceed from a person who is attuned to the will and the words of God, are a glory to God and not to the person.
We learned in the beatitudes that we are to be poor in spirit, meek, and have attitudes that are exhibited only by humble people - poverty of spirit, mourning for losses suffered by us and others, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, enduring persecution for righteousness…
A person filled with the beatitudes will have no inclination to do good things for selfish purposes.
Having described the useless prayers of the Gentiles, Jesus taught the multitude how to pray:
Matthew 6:9-13 ESV Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Last week we did not go into a phrase by phrase scrutiny of this prayer. It deserves its own mini-series, and we didn’t take the time for a detailed examination of it here. Instead, we made some observations about it, and considered this: the fault of the hypocrites was not that they failed to pray. Their faults were in the MANNER of their praying. He said, “In this manner, therefore, pray” What did Jesus mean by “In this manner?” What is there about this prayer that Jesus wanted his listeners to imitate?
• Does “pray in this manner” mean this is an “authorized” prayer he commands us to recite?
• Or are we at liberty to paraphrase this prayer, or pray some other prayer, or to express other thoughts and words?
• Since Jesus mentioned the hypocrites’ long prayers, does he mean prayers should be about as long as this one?
• Does this prayer “cover the waterfront” of content that is appropriate for our prayers?
• Or instead, does this prayer reflect an attitude we should seek to imitate?
On another occasion, Jesus observed and contrasted two prayers (neither of which contained the words in this exemplary prayer). Luke 18:9-14 is a parable of two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee’s prayer was full of himself, packed with the first person singular pronoun “I,” a dead give-away the his was a self-centered, self-congratulatory prayer. The tax collector used the first person singular pronoun “me” only once – and then to call for God’s mercy.,
We have great latitude in what we express to God, provided it is the genuine expression of a contrite heart. The teaching here is that we are not to pray to gain mens’ admiration.
One of the things Jesus prayed for is:
Your kingdom come.
In some parts of the church, this phrase has provoked much discussion about whether we ought to pray for the coming of a kingdom when we already enjoy citizenship in it. I refer readers to Part 11 of this series, where that question is probed at some length.
We spent some time last week considering the third of the examples of things Jesus warns against doing to be seen – fasting. We delved into it because there is a certain curiosity about whether we should fast¸ since many don’t. The conclusion we reached is that fasting – generally associated in scripture with mourning, weighty decisions, and significant actions, is voluntary and beneficial on some occasions. If one fasts, God takes note of it and is pleased or displeased, depending on the way one does it. Jesus shows it to be an individual and private act. If one makes an outward show of it, it violates its real purpose and also Jesus’ teaching, and God is displeased. That consideration, though legitimate, threatens to eclipse the point Jesus was making in v1-18. There Jesus illustrated in three ways that the devout life is not for show. Devout acts, though otherwise noble and useful, are wrong and harmful if they are undertaken with the motive of impressing people with one’s own righteousness.
In opening the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Poverty of spirit is not consistent with making a show of giving, praying, fasting, or whatever we do, to gain the admiration of men.
End of review
Part 12 - Laying up treasures, eye is the lamp of the body, serving two masters
Jesus now moves to another doctrine. In a moment we will see that it is related to what he has said before. In Matt 6:19-34 Jesus tell us to lay up “treasures in heaven” and “not to worry” about life’s necessities. (Read it.)
In the original language, “lay up” is defined as “set aside” or “store up”. It is the same word Paul used in 1 Cor 16:2 -
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store (KJV)
“Store” in the Corinthian letter is from the same word in the original language as “lay up” in Jesus’ sermon in Galilee.
The expression “lay by in store” has become and idiom of speech in the church, meaning “place your contribution in the tray as it passes by,” so that the work of the church may go on. But in the Corinthian passage, the NASB says “put aside and save,” and ESV says “each of you is to put something aside and store it up” both of which are more expressive of the original. The purpose there was that those stored up gifts were to be given to Paul when he came to Corinth to be transported to Judea for the Christians suffering under a famine.
Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
The Christian character as it pertains to this teaching is well described by A. W. Tozier in his amazing book, The Pursuit of God - Chap 2 “The blessedness of possessing nothing” -
“God created the heavens and the earth with ten thousand and more useful and pleasant
things for man’s sustenance and delight. And when God created man, within man was a heart, which could feel and love. Within man’s heart there is a shrine into which no one but God is worthy to come. It was made for God alone. Outside man, those ten thousand and more precious gifts shower daily upon us, every one being an instance of God’s love and caring for man. But sin introduced complications and made those very gifts of God a source of ruin to the soul. Our woes began when God was forced out of his shrine and things were allowed to enter. Within the human heart, things have taken over. Men no longer by nature have peace within their souls, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.”
“This,” says Tozer,
“is not just a metaphor, but an accurate analysis of the spiritual trouble of man.”
I agree. And I believe that all of Jesus’ teaching in Matt 6 and Matt 7:1-6 rest on the truth of that analysis, for it reflects that tug-of-war between what we know we should value--in summary, God enthroned within our hearts--and what we really value.
Those values – or treasures – drive our motivations, and our motivations drive our actions.
If what we really value the transitory blessings, and not their giver, we have allowed things to enter God’s place; i.e., possessions, comforts, entertainment, or prestige (the approval of men).
The Colossians were bidden to be mindful of heavenly things, because their own lives were hidden:
Colossians 3:1-3 ESV If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
We cannot completely avoid using of temporal goods. We need some of this world’s goods and must have them in order to live; but there is a blurry and shifty boundary between our needs and our wants. Jesus wore clothing and ate food, but he did not place a high value on earthly things beyond what he needed to sustain life and achieve his mission.
Continuing with the next part of the sermon on the mount:
Matthew 6:22-24 ESV The eye is the lamp of the body. So, 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. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 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.
Jesus had been talking about laying up incorruptible treasures. Now he switches to the eye being the lamp of the body. Is this teaching related to laying up treasures in heaven – or is it an abrupt change of subject? Let’s examine it and see.
The eye is a window. It is the port of entry by which light enters our bodies. Like a mirror, the window has a lot to do with the way things appear. If it is colored, dirty, bent, or cracked, it affects the appearance of what we look at through it.
When Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees as “blind guides,” (twice in Matthew 23) he didn’t mean they were literally blind. He meant they saw things in a different “light,” – a light that is not a light at all, but darkness. According to v23 above, the “light within them was darkness.” And, Jesus says,
“How great is that darkness.”
I suggest that while this is literally true, it is to be understood figuratively. The light that gets into a person’s heart and soul is affected by the spiritual state of the eye through which it passes. It seems similar to Jesus saying on another occasion to John in the revelation on Patmos Island, writing these words to every one of the 7 churches:
“He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The meaning is clear. If you have ears attuned to the things of the Spirit, you will listen to what the Spirit says.
With regard to the foregoing discussion about the location of our treasures, what Jesus seems to be saying is “He that has eyes, let him see,” and understand this teaching.
What kinds of things can blind us and turn light into darkness?
Prejudice, jealousy, fear, conceit, lust, greed, anger, hate…or simply money, as Jesus continues and illustrates the teaching for us:
Matthew 6:24 ESV "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.
How does one “serve money?” Money has no real meaning or value apart from its usefulness as a medium of exchange. As currency, it has a valid purpose and is not evil,. The possession of material things is not a sin. Material things are here for the support necessary to sustain our lives, but there is a point at which the acquiring of material things can become a preoccupation and our lives’ driving passion. That point is when we place our trust in those material things rather than the One who gives them.
The root of evil lies in inordinate and excessive craving for money – the evil is in the craving, not in the money craved. At that point, we make money our master, the inordinate desire for it controlling every thought and action. In this way, we serve money.
The two masters are really God and self. “Serving money” is serving self. God and self are incompatible masters. God requires that we deny ourselves--even put to death the old man.
God wants us to belong exclusively to Him.
There is no better description of a person’s god, than to say that his god is the power in which he puts his trust. Whether it is money, or renown, the approval of peers, or possessions - when something would deflect us from being totally in the service of God, it is ourselves!
Along with that thought, in the next verse Jesus says:
Matthew 6:25-34 - Read
In vs 25, 31, and 34, Jesus says “do not be anxious” about these thing. All three verses begin with the word "therefore.”
As we saw last week, “therefore” in this usage is an adverb. “Therefore” means that the foregoing words “build the case” for what follows. In these verses “therefore” modifies the verbs, “be anxious,” being preceded by the negative “do not.”
“Do not lay up treasures on earth,” then, makes the case for “do not be anxious.”
Does this mean we ought to make no provision for our bodily needs, and to make no plans for the day after today? Think about that, while we read two other passages.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 ESV - Read (If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.)
1 Timothy 5:8 ESV …if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
These passages teach us to act responsibly.
So in the sermon in Galilee, what is Jesus saying not to do?
The word translated “worry,” or “be anxious” is merimnao, which means to be filled with care.
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV do not be anxious (merimnao) about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The essence of Jesus’ teaching here is: act responsibly as you trust - not distrust - God for the things you need for your life. God gave you life, and he is able to sustain it. Jesus does not teach against planning and managing the affairs of our lives, but against being fretful and stressed out about things God has promised to supply.
Ninety years ago, when my father was 16 years old, there was an economic collapse in the US that had long-lasting worldwide impact. In October of 1929, the stock market crashed.
It was the most severe decline in US history. In today’s money, almost $400 billion in market value was lost in 4 days. Trust in the national economies here and abroad was practically non-existent.
The next year, banks began to fail, spurring a run on banks, with people demanding their deposits in cash – which couldn’t be given to them because the money wasn’t there as cash. Banks closed, and a general panic followed. Companies laid off employees for lack of money to pay salaries. Many closed their doors. Unemployment soared. Families struggled to keep food on the table.
It was about 4 years until the economy began to stir and awaken – and it was much longer than that before the economy was thriving again.
Some of the children who lived through the great depression overlapped the lives of some of the more mature ones here today. In fact, we have one person present today who lived through what I have just described. Like my father and mother, your parents or grandparents may have lived through it.
Certain things seem to be characteristic of those “depression children.” They came out of the depression with a tremendous sense of financial responsibility. They were not extravagant or wasteful with the use of money. They didn’t buy things they didn’t need, or make purchases on credit. When my Dad turned loose of a dollar, he made it promise to come back as a dollar’s worth of something of equal value, and maybe bring back a few cents or another dollar with it.
They appreciated what they had. They saved money. After the great depression, they lived in financial security.
Question: Did those “depression children” worry too much about food, clothing, and shelter as Jesus said not to do? Or were they simply conducting themselves responsibly?
The answer could go either way. Achieving financial “independence” became an obsession with some. But as Job’s experience shows, there’s really no such thing as financial or any other kind of independence, for it can all be destroyed in a moment. In my parents’ case, I believe they conducted their lives in a financially responsible way, but they never lost sight of the Giver of every good gift, or let his gifts, which he gave generously, replace God on his throne in their hearts.
