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Matthew 6:19-24 NASB

NT

Matthew 6:19-24

nasb

19 “ a Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves a treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for a where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “ a The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is 1 clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if a your eye is 1 bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “ a 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 1 b wealth.

notes

Main point summary

Live a life of love and generosity, following Jesus, storing up reward in our eternal kingdom where we long to be, and do not live a life of selfish ambition, maximizing your fleshly pleasures on this earth which ends in destruction, because you cannot do both. If you choose to maximize your selfish pleasure through wealth and possessions in this world, your only option is to reject Christ as your master and end up losing everything forever.

Arc**

editing

Matthew 6:19-24

mine

“ a Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

Do not live your life hoarding resources and money and time for yourself to be used on this earth,

where moth and rust destroy,

where stock markets crash and health is lost and houses burn and people die,

and where thieves break in and steal.

and where no wealth is truly secure from theft.

series

ground

But store up for yourselves a treasures in heaven,

But rather, live your life loving and serving God by loving and serving others and in so doing store up real eternal rewards for a life that will last a trillion ages,

where neither moth nor rust destroys,

where there is no fading or decay or diminishing of the treasure,

and where thieves do not break in or steal;

and where no one can EVERY separate you from your treasure (Romans 8:33-39).

negativepositive

for a where your treasure is,

Because, wherever your treasure is, either on this earth in money and stuff or in heaven with God as your treasure,

there your heart will be also.

there is where your allegiance and devotion and joy and excitement and true loyalty lies.

locative

“ a The eye is the lamp of the body;

The eye is what you use to see your path and to observe danger and obstacles and roads and sidewalks;

so then if your eye is 1 clear,

SO THEN if you eye is good and healthy and you are seeing the world rightly and possessions rightly and money rightly,

your whole body will be full of light.

your body will follow in paths of spiritual safety and choose obedience to Chris and love instead of destructive idols.

conditional

But if a your eye is 1 bad,

But if your eye is blurry and not clear and tainted with covetousness and idolatry,

your whole body will be full of darkness.

your body will follow those desires into sin and evil.

alternative

inference

If then the light that is in you is darkness,

Therefore, if you are full of the love of money and covetous and you are guided by that,

how great is the darkness!

how miserable and destructive that path will be! Rocks and pitfalls and snakes will be in store for your path and ultimately final destruction in hell.

“ a No one can serve two masters;

No one can serve two masters with loyalty and devotion and wholehearted service to both;

for either he will hate the one and love the other,

Because they will have contradictory commands and directions. You can't please both. You will hate money and love Jesus if God is gracious and gives you good eyes,

or he will be devoted to one

or you will be devoted to making money and guarding and maintaining and washing and polishing your possessions

and despise the other.

and despising God because He is commanding you to another lifestyle.

You cannot serve God and 1 b wealth.

It is impossible to submit to God and live like He commands we live and submit to the love of money and do what it takes to gain as much of it as we can.

bilateral

Live a life of love following Jesus in serving and giving and generosity, looking to the eternal reward because any place your heart wants to be but with God will end in destruction.

If you are full of the love of money and your affections are on money and possessions and your worldview is to maximize your pleasure on this earth, you are blind and your life will crash into destruction.

God's commanded lifestyle and the lifestyle required to maximize wealth are at odds. It is impossible to satisfy both masters. You have to choose which one to please. If you want to maximize wealth and pursue it, you will despise Jesus and lose everything for eternity!

discourse

Notes**

While so much of the social media ink is spilled over gender and sexuality, which are critical social issues at odds with God's commands and heart, the root of all of our sin is idolatry. When you look at the book of Romans in the very first chapter, you see that the fountainhead of sin is idolatry. We do not want God to be at the center of our solar system so we replace Him with ourselves as God. We exchange His glory and His honor and His authority for gods we can control and manipulate into serving US. Sexual sins and many other sins seem to be downstream evidences of God's wrath in giving us over to our appetites with all of the destructive consequences that come from it. In Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus exposes one of these competing idols that we, in our American culture, exchange God for. This idol is one of the most pervasive, yet socially accepted idols in our culture and, even more alarming, in our churches. This is the idol of wealth. If we serve money; if we work our fingers to the bone to earn and steal and maximize our wealth, then WE will be able to control our lives. We can meet our own needs and not have to depend on God for anything. We can control the god money and use it for whatever we like! But Jesus comes along and exposes and destroys that line of thinking. First He commands that we not focus our minds and energy on maximizing our resource stockpile on this earth and He tells us why: because it is like a house of cards! The first wind that blows can topple our fortune or topple the health we need to use it. It's fleeting and insecure. Then He offers an alternative investment program. If you follow Me and love and serve and are generous with your wealth, then you are actually storing up treasure that will NEVER fade away and will never be taken from you! This investment is 100% secure, backed and insured by God almighty. Then Jesus gives the reason why we should invest in heaven and store our treasure there. God knows that idolatry and misplaced affection is poisonous and deadly! He knows that the only safe place for our affection is Him! He is the only object of our desire and love that will never fail. He wants our hearts to Himself for OUR GOOD and for His glory! Jesus then gives this peculiar and somewhat difficult dialog about the eye. What I believe Jesus is helping us see here is that you cannot truly store up treasure in heaven without changed eyes. The investment option we just discussed is not even relevant if we can't see God as glorious and beautiful and worthy of our desires! If God doesn't wash the windshield of our eyes, the investment option of heaven will seem foolish and worthless (Isaiah 44:18-20). God must give us eyes to see the REALITY of the infinite orders of magnitude that kingdom investment is above earthly treasures. He is showing us that muddy eyes coated in covetous, selfish ambition will never find Jesus compelling and will end in destruction. So he lays down the options for us. He makes it clear that it is impossible to do both. It is impossible to follow Jesus' plan of loving and radical generosity while at the same time serving money to maximize our earthly resources. If you try to serve Jesus halfheartedly while trying to maximize your wealth, the Bible and the Holy Spirit and the Church will begin to exhort and reprove and spur you to love and serve and give. You will begin to become angry with those who try to help you out of this. You will distance yourself from people and teaching that truly reflects following Jesus. You will resent God for asking you to give your money and curb your lifestyle and either you will be convicted and repent and return to Christ and serve Him as your Master, or you will reject Him and find teachers and preachers who will sing you to sleep as you head for eternal destruction separated from Christ. We have to chose our investment strategy. Will will invest in the Kingdom of God and set our affection on God and live for later while experiencing joy in God in our loving and giving and serving. Or will we maximize our earthly pleasure serving money and possessions, all the while missing out on true joy on this earth and end up losing all that we have, even our own souls. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5 NASB