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TEXT: Matthew 6:19-34
SUBJECT: Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount #16: Money
The subject of this paragraph is money. It was of great interest to our Lord's first audience. And to us. What does He say about money? Two things: (1) Don't love it; (2) Don't worry about it. Nothing could be easier to understand--or harder to obey. Yet obey it we must. God give us the grace.
In vv.19-24, Christ forbids the love of money. He does it by drawing three vivid word-pictures.
The first is a storehouse. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal". Like us, these men locked up their valuables. And they hoped, behind lock and key, they would be safe. But were they? They weren't. Why not?
1.Because the "moth" could always get in. A man buys an expensive suit to wear for a special occasion. The day comes, the suit is put on, and he finds it moth-eaten! Moths are not discriminating in their diet. They'll eat cashmere as well as cotton. The man who has put everything into his suit of clothes will have nothing in the end.
2."Rust" takes its toll. The word doesn't refer to the corrosion of metal, but rather the "eating away" of insects, vermin, and mildew. A man might have his barn full of crops. But what if worms get into the fruit? What if mice burrow into the grain? Then what does he have? Nothing. His wealth is "eaten away".
3."Thieves break in and steal". What the moth or the mouse or the worm or the fungas can't eat, robbers can always haul off. Your money is not safe. Not in a bank; not in an S.& L.; not in the stock-market; not in an IRA; not in real estate; not even buried in your own back yard.
To invest your life in money, therefore, is a risky investment. "Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly like an eagle toward heaven", Proverbs 23:5.
A better investment is heaven. "...but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth not rust destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also". Investments in heaven cannot be lost. Moths cannot eat our "garments of salvation". No worm ever got into its "twelve fruits". Thieves can't sneak over, under, or through its "pearly gates".
How do we invest in heaven? By developing the character described in the Beatitudes. "Godliness with contentment is great gain". The added blessing: when we live for heaven, our hearts will be there too. Colossians 3:2.
The second word-picture is the eye. Christ does not want us to love money because "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore, your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 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".
The contrast is between focused eyes and crossed eyes. When your eyes are clear, you make the right decisions. You walk through the door and not into it. But if your eyes are crossed, you make the wrong decisions. You bumb into people you were trying to pass.
What it means is this: when you have one eye on God and the other on money, you're sure to go wrong. The most important decisions in life will be informed--not by "Lord, what would you have me to do?" only--but also by "How much will it cost me?" Or "What's in it for me?"
The love of money, therefore, guarantees a life of chaos. The man who loves money is more spiritually blind than the man who's never seen the light of day.
The third word-picture is slavery. The Lord does not want us to love money because it will master us. "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon".
If you love money, you will prefer its company to God's and take its claims more seriously than His. A slave cannot belong to two masters at the same time. Neither can you love God and money.
Because love for God and love for money are incompatible, one or the other must be chosen. Which have you chosen? You say you haven't chosen yet? Yes you have. Every day you choose. Your every decision is either for God or for Mammon. The Lord save us from this love of money!
The love of money is often associated with rich people. The words "lay up" can also be translated "hoard". This is why a rich has such a hard time getting into heaven. "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God". But the love of money is not all the Lord has to say on the subject. In vv.25ff. He has a word to those who aren't rich. These are not people piling up treasure, but worried about where their next meal is coming from! What does the Lord say to them?
He say, quite simply: Don't worry about it. "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about you life..." The "life" He speaks of is a pretty basic life: "what you will eat, what you will drink, what you will wear".
The word "worry" means "to divide the mind". It's not that different from what we've seen before. Whereas the rich man has one eye on God and the other on his wealth, the poor man is likely to have one eye on God and the other on his poverty. In either case, however, God is not the supreme object of his devotion. Money is. One wants to "get more"; the other wants to "get some". But both think more of money than of God.
What's the cure for this worry?
1.We must recall that money is not the primary issue of life, v.25b: "Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Of course it is. If so, why do we spend so much time puzzling over "what shall I eat, what shall I drink, what shall I wear?"
2.We must recall the futility of worry, v.27: "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" Anxiety accomplishes nothing. It doesn't put food on the table or clothes on the back. And worse: it cripples the life of the spirit. Our devotion to God and our brotherly love are washed away by the torrent of worry. Obsessing over material things does no good and much evil.
3.We must recall God's Fatherly care, vv.26,28-30: "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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?" Who is more important to God: a sparrow or His child? Does He feed the sparrows? Yes He does. Then why do you fear going hungry? What is more important to God: a flower or His child? Does He clothe the flowers? Yes He does. Then why do you fear going naked? What is more important to God: grass or His child? Does He take care of the grass, the grass that will soon be burned? Yes He does. Then why do you doubt He will take care of you? The chief cause of worry (for the believer) is unbelief. He fears having nothing because He does not trust His Father in Heaven.
4.We must recall the sort of people who do worry, v.32: "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows you need all these things". The Gentiles (or pagans) worry because their gods are unworthy of trust. "Baal is love" is not in the Amorite Bible. No Philistine ever said: "As a father pities his son, so Dagon pities those who fear him". The Greeks never considered "lying on the bosom of Olympus". These gods are cruel and uncaring. But our God is worthy of all trust. "Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you".
5.We must make the things of God supreme in our lives, v.33: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you". The worrier is self-centered: "What shall I eat? What shall I drink? What shall I wear?" But we're to be God-centered! As we think of Him and His cause, we find ourselves no longer worried. But, in putting Him first, do we go without? No we don't. "All these things will be added to you". What things? The things we most worry about: food, drink, and clothing.
6.We must stay focused on our present duties, v.34: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble". When we concentrate on what needs to be done now, we won't worry about "what may happen tomorrow".
With these words, the Lord Jesus describes His people and their money. They may have a little; they may have a lot. But whatever they have, they don't love it; they don't worry about it. Or do they? I do. Maybe you do too. But we shouldn't. If we do, we're no better than the heathen. If we do, our righteousness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees.
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