Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 6:19

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

( d) Earthly possessions and daily cares, 19 34.

19. treasures upon earth ] Love of amassing wealth has been characteristic of the Jews in all ages.

moth and rust ] Oriental wealth consisted to a great extent in stores of linen, embroidered garments, &c., which were handed down and left as heir-looms.

moth ] The English word = “the devourer.”

rust ] Money was frequently buried in the ground in those unsettled times, and so would be more liable to rust. Banks in the modern sense were unknown. Rust, lit., an eating away, it is not confined to corrosion of metals.

break through and steal ] An expression applicable to the mud walls of Oriental huts.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth – Treasures, or wealth, among the ancients, consisted in clothes or changes of raiment, as well as in gold, silver, gems, wine, lands, and oil. It meant an abundance of anything that was held to be conducive to the ornament or comfort of life. As the Orientals delighted much in display, in splendid equipage, and costly garments, their treasures, in fact, consisted much in beautiful and richly-ornamented articles of apparel. See Gen 45:22, where Joseph gave to his brethren changes of raiment; Jos 7:21, where Achan coveted and secreted a goodly Babylonian garment. Compare also Jdg 14:12. This fact will account for the use of the word moth. When we speak of wealth, we think at once of gold, and silver, and lands, and houses. When a Hebrew or an Orientalist spoke of wealth, he thought first of what would make a display; and included, as an essential part, splendid articles of dress. The moth is a small insect that finds its way to clothes and garments, and destroys them. The moth would destroy their apparel, the rust their silver and gold; thus all their treasure would waste away. The word rendered rust signifies anything which eats into, and hence, anything which would consume ones property, and may have a wider signification than mere rust.

And where thieves break through and steal – The houses in the East were not unfrequently made of clay hardened in the sun, or of loose stones, and hence it was comparatively easy, as it was not uncommon, for thieves to dig through the wall, and effect an entrance in that way. See the notes at Job 24:16.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 6:19

Treasures upon earth.

-This does not discourage diligent endeavour for the body which is necessary; industry, which is one part of duty. We are not to over-value even these valuable possessions.

I. Here is an exhortation to duty.

1. What are these treasures?

2. What is implied by laying up treasures in heaven?

(1) By fleeing from the wrath to come, the Christian is laying up heavenly treasure.

(2) By endeavouring to secure an interest in Christ.

(3) By setting his affection on things above.

(4) By having his conversation there.

II. The encouragements reenforce the duty of laying up treasure in heaven.

1. No thieves deprive them of their property.

2. Are you trading for that better world? (Dr. Fisher.)

Treasures in heaven

The love of accumulation is a principle in our nature; no man free from its fascination. The only true investment for an immortal being must be in eternity. Everything done for Gods grace and glory is like something planted out of this world into the soil of another state. It is a deposit which will appear again. Take an instance of the way in which Christians may lay up treasures in heaven.

1. By selecting for our friends and companions those who are children of God, so that each departing one is an actual increase of the holy treasure which is awaiting us in another state. To Christian man, death only sweeps the field to house the harvest. The treasures of his heart are only locked up from him for a little while, to be opened presently, in greater loveliness, where everything is real, and every reality is for ever. It will be our greatest joy to meet in heaven those to whom we have been useful in this life.

2. The motive of any action will carry it higher than its present and visible scope. Every man has his time, talents, influence, and money, as working materials. If he so use these that he is constantly considering their value for eternity, he is putting treasure in Gods bank.

3. It is the power of faith to appropriate everything it grasps. You send on your affection to occupy heaven; you have a present enjoyment of your reversion. You increase your treasure in heaven by continued acts of faith in Jesus Christ.

4. By thus throwing yourself into another world this life will appear an impoverishment thing. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Earthly and heavenly treasures

I. The treasures referred to.

1. The treasures of earth are evanescent.

2. The lawful possession of earthly treasures is no sin.

3. The text does not object to your getting rich in a righteous way.

II. Lay up treasures in heaven.

1. Because its bank is strong in its independence. Banks and firms are much like ninepins with which children play; when one pin falls the others fall also. But as for the bank of heaven, it is strictly independent; it is the only bank of its kind in the universe.

2. Because the omniscience of the Banker is the very best security. Could men foresee financial disaster they would avoid it.

3. Because this bank can never be broken into.

4. It is the only bank that can help you at death. You cannot very well trade in France with English money. You must change it into French money. But no earthly bank can change its coin so as to ferry you across Jordan.

5. Bank not with evil any longer. (J. O. Davis.)

Toys must not be counted treasures

A lady once asked two little boys who were amusing themselves with some beautiful playthings, Well, boys, these are your treasures, I suppose-your greatest treasures. No, maam, said the elder boy, these are not our treasures, they are our playthings; our treasures are in heaven. A noble answer from a child. Oh, my congregation, let us treat gold and silver and precious stones as toys, and let us treat moral goodness, spiritual beauty, righteousness of heart, Christlikeness, Godlikeness, as our only treasures worthy the name! (J. O. Davis.)

Treasures in heaven

Have a deposit on earth, if you must or can; but let your chief banking be in heaven. (H. W. Beecher.)

Heavenly mindedness

I. The conduct prohibited.

1. The heart of man is the governing principle of his actions.

2. This too high estimation of the things of the world leads to an undue degree of solicitude for their acquisition, which the precept under consideration is designed to repress.

II. The opposite duty which we are required to discharge.

1. The objects exhibited to our attention-Treasures in heaven.

2. The exhortation to secure an interest in this felicity.

III. The satisfactory reasons on which these directions are founded.

1. The uncertainty of earthly good.

2. The reality of that which is Divine.

3. And the powerful influence which our possessions have over our affections. Learn:

1. The folly of the worldly-minded man.

2. The wisdom of true piety. (J. E. Good.)

Our treasures to be raised higher

The Rev. Ashton Oxenden quotes from an old writer an illustration of this precept. He says, We need not lose our riches, but change their place. Suppose a friend should enter thy house, and should find that thou hadst lodged thy fruits on a damp floor; and suppose he knew the likelihood of those fruits to spoil, and should therefore give thee some such advice as this-Brother, thou art likely to lose the things which thou hast gathered with great labour. Thou hast placed them on a damp floor. In a few days they will corrupt. You would inquire, What shall I do? And he would answer, Raise them to a higher room. If wise, you would instantly act upon this advice. So Christ advises us to raise our riches from earth to heaven.

No man ever went to heaven whose heart was not there before

These words.

I. As an entire proposition in themselves.

1. Every man has something which he accounts his treasure or chief good. This is apparent-

(1) From the activity of mans mind;

(2) From the method of his acting,

2. Whatsoever a man places his treasure in, upon that he places his heart also.

(1) A restless and laborious endeavour to possess himself of it.

(2) He places his whole delight in it.

(3) He supports his mind from it in all his troubles.

(4) For the preservation of that he will part with all else besides.

II. As an argument. Two rivals for the affections; man cannot fix on both.

1. Consider how far inferior the world is to mans heart. Its enjoyments are

(1) Indefectible;

(2) Endless;

(3) Not to be taken away. (Dr. South.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth] What blindness is it for a man to lay up that as a treasure which must necessarily perish! A heart designed for God and eternity is terribly degraded by being fixed on those things which are subject to corruption. “But may we not lay up treasure innocently?” Yes.

1st. If you can do it without setting your heart on it, which is almost impossible: and

2dly. If there be neither widows nor orphans, destitute nor distressed persons in the place where you live.

“But there is a portion which belongs to my children; shall I distribute that among the poor?” If it belongs to your children, it is not yours, and therefore you have no right to dispose of it. “But I have a certain sum in stock, c. shall I take that and divide it among the poor?” By no means; for, by doing so, you would put it out of your power to do good after the present division: keep your principal, and devote, if you possibly can spare it, the product to the poor; and thus you shall have the continual ability to do good. In the mean time take care not to shut up your bowels of compassion against a brother in distress; if you do, the love of God cannot dwell in you.

Rust] Or canker, , from , I eat, consume. This word cannot be properly applied to rust, but to any thing that consumes or cankers clothes or metals. There is a saying exactly similar to this in the Institutes of MENU: speaking of the presents made to Brahmins, he says, “It is a gem which neither thieves nor foes take away, and which never perishes.” Chapter of Government, Institute 83.

Where thieves do not break through] , literally dig through, i.e. the wall, in order to get into the house. This was not a difficult matter, as the house was generally made of mud and straw, kneaded together like the cobb houses in Cornwall, and other places. See Clarke on Mt 7:27.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A treasure (according to the notation of the word) signifieth something laid up for tomorrow, for future time; more largely it signifieth any riches, or what we judge a valuable portion. Make not the things of the earth your riches, or portion, with reference to future time; for all the riches of the earth are perishing, contemptible things; silver and gold is what rust will corrupt, clothes are what moths will spoil, any other things are subject to casualties, and, amongst others, to the violence of unreasonable men, who, though they have no right to them, will ordinarily take them from you. But let your riches, your treasure, be that which is heavenly, those habits of grace which will bring you to heaven, the things which accompany salvation, Heb 6:9, which make you meet to be partakers of the saints in light, Col 1:12; be rich in good works, laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life, 1Ti 6:18,19; Mt 19:21; 25:34; Luk 18:22. Those treasures will not be liable to such accidents as all earthly treasures are. Wherever you fix your treasure, your heart will be there also, thinking upon it, delighting in it. &c.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Lay not up for ourselvestreasures upon earthhoard not.

where motha”clothes-moth.” Eastern treasures, consisting partly incostly dresses stored up (Job27:16), were liable to be consumed by moths (Job 13:28;Isa 50:9; Isa 51:8).In Jas 5:2 there is an evidentreference to our Lord’s words here.

and rustany “eatinginto” or “consuming”; here, probably, “wear andtear.”

doth corruptcause todisappear. By this reference to moth and rust our Lord would teachhow perishable are such earthly treasures.

and where thieves breakthrough and stealTreasures these, how precarious!

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,…. Meaning either treasures that are of an earthly nature and kind, the more valuable and excellent things of the earth, worldly wealth and riches; or the things and places, in which these are laid up, as bags, chests, or coffers, barns and other treasuries, private or public. Christ here dissuades from covetousness, and worldly mindedness; an anxious care and concern, to hoard up plenty of worldly things for themselves, for time to come, making no use of them at present for the good of others: and this he does, from the nature of the things themselves; the places where they are laid up; the difficulty of keeping them; and their liableness to be corrupted or lost.

Where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal. Garments, formerly, were a considerable part of the treasures of great men, as well as gold and silver; see Job 27:16. So according to the m Targumist, Haman is bid to go , “to the king’s treasury”, and take from thence one of the purple garments, the best, and raiment of the best silk, c. and these were liable to be eaten with the moth, Jas 5:2. The word translated rust, does not here signify the rust of metals, as gold and silver by which there is not so much damage done, so as to destroy them, and make them useless; but whatever corrupts and consumes things eatable, as blasting and mildew in corn, or any sort of vermin in granaries: for gold and silver, or money, with jewels and precious stones, which make a very great part of worldly treasure, seem to be more particularly designed, by what thieves break through into houses for, and carry away. So that here are three sorts of earthly treasures pointed at, which are liable to be corrupted, or taken away: garments, which may be destroyed, and rendered useless for wearing; provisions of things eatable, as all sorts of corn and grain, which may be so corrupted by smut and vermin, as not to be fit for use; and money and jewels, which may be stolen by thieves: so that no sort of worldly riches and treasure is safe, and to be depended on; and therefore it is a great folly and vanity to lay it up, and trust in it.

m Targum Sheni. in Esth. vi. 10.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Sermon on the Mount.

      19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:   20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:   21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.   22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.   23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!   24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

      Worldly-mindedness is as common and as fatal a symptom of hypocrisy as any other, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a visible and passable profession of religion, than by this; and therefore Christ, having warned us against coveting the praise of men, proceeds next to warn us against coveting the wealth of the world; in this also we must take heed, lest we be as the hypocrites are, and do as they do: the fundamental error that they are guilty of is, that they choose the world for their reward; we must therefore take heed of hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness, in the choice we make of our treasure, our end, and our masters.

      I. In choosing the treasure we lay up. Something or other every man has which he makes his treasure, his portion, which his heart is upon, to which he carries all he can get, and which he depends upon for futurity. It is that good, that chief good, which Solomon speaks of with such an emphasis, Eccl. ii. 3. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing, which it has a complacency and confidence in above other things. Now Christ designs not to deprive us of our treasure, but to direct us in the choice of it; and here we have,

      1. A good caution against making the things that are seen, that are temporal, our best things, and placing our happiness in them. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. Christ’s disciples had left all to follow him, let them still keep in the same good mind. A treasure is an abundance of something that is in itself, at least in our opinion, precious and valuable, and likely to stand us in stead hereafter. Now we must not lay up our treasures on earth, that is, (1.) We must not count these things the best things, nor the most valuable in themselves, nor the most serviceable to us: we must not call them glory, as Laban’s sons did, but see and own that they have no glory in comparison with the glory that excelleth. (2.) We must not covet an abundance of these things, nor be still grasping at more and more of them, and adding to them, as men do to that which is their treasure, as never knowing when we have enough. (3.) We must not confide in them for futurity, to be our security and supply in time to come; we must not say to the gold, Thou art my hope. (4.) We must not content ourselves with them, as all we need or desire: we must be content with a little for our passage, but not with all for our portion. These things must not be made our consolation (Luke vi. 24), our good things, Luke xvi. 25. Let us consider we are laying up, not for our posterity in this world, but for ourselves in the other world. We are put to our choice, and made in a manner our own carvers; that is ours which we lay up for ourselves. It concerns thee to choose wisely, for thou art choosing for thyself, and shalt have as thou choosest. If we know and consider ourselves what we are, what we are made for, how large our capacities are, and how long our continuance, and that our souls are ourselves, we shall see it is foolish thing to lay up our treasures on earth.

      2. Here is a good reason given why we should not look upon any thing on earth as our treasure, because it is liable to loss and decay: (1.) From corruption within. That which is treasure upon earth moth and rust do corrupt. If the treasure be laid up in fine clothes, the moth frets them, and they are gone and spoiled insensibly, when we thought them most securely laid up. If it be in corn or other eatables, as his was who had his barns full (Luk 12:16; Luk 12:17), rust (so we read it) corrupts that: Brosis—eating, eating by men, for as goods are increased they are increased that eat them (Eccl. v. 11); eating by mice or other vermin; manna itself bred worms; or it grows mouldy and musty, is struck, or smutted, or blasted; fruits soon rot. Or, if we understand it of silver and gold, they tarnish and canker; they grow less with using, and grow worse with keeping (Jas 5:2; Jas 5:3); the rust and the moth breed in the metal itself and in the garment itself. Note, Worldly riches have in themselves a principal of corruption and decay; they wither of themselves, and make themselves wings. (2.) From violence without. Thieves break through and steal. Every hand of violence will be aiming at the house where treasure is laid up; nor can any thing be laid up so safe, but we may be spoiled of it. Numquam ego fortun credidi, etiam si videretur pacem agere; omnia illa qu in me indulgentissime conferebat, pecuniam, honores, gloriam, eo loco posui, unde posset ea, since metu meo, repetere–I never reposed confidence in fortune, even if she seemed propitious: whatever were the favours which her bounty bestowed, whether wealth, honours, or glory, I so disposed of them, that it was in her power to recall them without occasioning me any alarm. Seneca. Consol. ad Helv. It is folly to make that our treasure which we may so easily be robbed of.

      3. Good counsel, to make the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen that are eternal, our best things, and to place our happiness in them. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Note, (1.) There are treasures in heaven, as sure as there are on this earth; and those in heaven are the only true treasures, the riches and glories and pleasures that are at God’s right hand, which those that are sanctified truly arrive at, when they come to be sanctified perfectly. (2.) It is our wisdom to lay up our treasure in those treasures; to give all diligence to make sure our title to eternal life through Jesus Christ, and to depend upon that as our happiness, and look upon all things here below with a holy contempt, as not worthy to be compared with it. We must firmly believe there is such a happiness, and resolve to be content with that, and to be content with nothing short of it. If we thus make those treasures ours, they are laid up, and we may trust God to keep them safe for us; thither let us then refer all our designs, and extend all our desires; thither let us send before our best efforts and best affections. Let us not burthen ourselves with the cash of this world, which will but load and defile us, and be liable to sink us, but lay up in store good securities. The promises are bills of exchange, by which all true believers return their treasure to heaven, payable in the future state: and thus we make that sure that will be made sure. (3.) It is a great encouragement to us to lay up our treasure in heaven, that there it is safe; it will not decay of itself, no moth nor rust will corrupt it; nor can we be by force or fraud deprived of it; thieves do not break through and steal. It is a happiness above and beyond the changes and chances of time, an inheritance incorruptible.

      4. A good reason why we should thus choose, and an evidence that we have done so (v. 21), Where your treasure is, on earth or in heaven, there will you heart be. We are therefore concerned to be right and wise in the choice of our treasure, because the temper of our minds, and consequently the tenor of our lives, will be accordingly either carnal or spiritual, earthly or heavenly. The heart follows the treasure, as the needle follows the loadstone, or the sunflower the sun. Where the treasure is there the value and esteem are, there the love and affection are (Col. iii. 2), that way the desires and pursuits go, thitherward the aims and intents are levelled, and all is done with that in view. Where the treasure is, there our cares and fears are, lest we come short of it; about that we are most solicitous; there our hope and trust are (Pro 18:10; Pro 18:11); there our joys and delights will be (Ps. cxix. 111); and there our thoughts will be, there the inward thought will be, the first thought, the free thought, the fixed thought, the frequent, the familiar thought. The heart is God’s due (Prov. xxiii. 26), and that he may have it, our treasure must be laid up with him, and then our souls will be lifted up to him.

      This direction about laying up our treasure, may very fitly be applied to the foregoing caution, of not doing what we do in religion to be seen of men. Our treasure is our alms, prayers, and fastings, and the reward of them; if we have done these only to gain the applause of men, we have laid up this treasure on earth, have lodged it in the hands of men, and must never expect to hear any further of it. Now it is folly to do this, for the praise of men we covet so much is liable to corruption: it will soon be rusted, and moth-eaten, and tarnished; a little folly, like a dead fly, will spoil it all, Eccl. x. 1. Slander and calumny are thieves that break through and steal it away, and so we lose all the treasure of our performances; we have run in vain, and laboured in vain, because we misplaced our intentions in doing of them. Hypocritical services lay up nothing in heaven (Isa. lviii. 3); the gain of them is gone, when the soul is called for, Job xxvii. 8. But if we have prayed and fasted and given alms in truth and uprightness, with an eye to God and to his acceptance, and have approved ourselves to him therein, we have laid up that treasure in heaven; a book of remembrance is written there (Mal. iii. 16), and being there recorded, they shall be there rewarded, and we shall meet them again with comfort on the other side death and the grave. Hypocrites are written in the earth (Jer. xvii. 13), but God’s faithful ones have their names written in heaven, Luke x. 20. Acceptance with God is treasure in heaven, which can neither be corrupted nor stolen. His well done shall stand for ever; and if we have thus laid up our treasure with him, with him our hearts will be; and where can they be better?

      II. We must take heed of hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness in choosing the end we look at. Our concern as to this is represented by two sorts of eyes which men have, a single eye and an evil eye,Mat 6:22; Mat 6:23. The expressions here are somewhat dark because concise; we shall therefore take them in some variety of interpretation. The light of the body is the eye, that is plain; the eye is discovering and directing; the light of the world would avail us little without this light of the body; it is the light of the eye that rejoiceth the heart (Prov. xv. 30), but what is that which is here compared to the eye in the body.

      1. The eye, that is, the heart (so some) if that be single—haplous—free and bountiful (so the word is frequently rendered, as Rom 12:8; 2Co 8:2; 2Co 9:11; 2Co 9:13; Jas 1:5, and we read of a bountiful eye, Prov. xxii. 9). If the heart be liberally affected and stand inclined to goodness and charity, it will direct the man to Christian actions, the whole conversation will be full of light, full of evidences and instances of true Christianity, that pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father (Jam. i. 27), full of light, of good works, which are our light shining before men; but if the heart be evil, covetous, and hard, and envious, griping and grudging (such a temper of mind is often expressed by an evil eye,Mat 20:15; Mar 7:22; Pro 7:22), the body will be full of darkness, the whole conversation will be heathenish and unchristian. The instruments of the churl are and always will be evil, but the liberal deviseth liberal things, Isa. xxxii. 5-8. If the light that is in us, those affections which should guide us to that which is good, be darkness, if these be corrupt and worldly, if there be not so much as good nature in a man, not so much as a kind disposition, how great is the corruption of a man, and the darkness in which he sits! This sense seems to agree with the context; we must lay up treasure in heaven by liberality in giving alms, and that not grudgingly but with cheerfulness, Luk 12:33; 2Co 9:7. But these words in the parallel place do not come in upon any such occasion, Luke xi. 34, and therefore the coherence here does not determine that to be the sense of them.

      2. The eye, that is, the understanding (so some); the practical judgment, the conscience, which is to the other faculties of the soul, as the eye is to the body, to guide and direct their motions; now if this eye be single, if it make a true and right judgment, and discern things that differ, especially in the great concern of laying up the treasure so as to choose aright in that, it will rightly guide the affections and actions, which will all be full of the light of grace and comfort; but if this be evil and corrupt, and instead of leading the inferior powers, is led, and bribed, and biassed by them, if this be erroneous and misinformed, the heart and life must needs be full of darkness, and the whole conversation corrupt. They that will not understand, are said to walk on in darkness, Ps. lxxxii. 5. It is sad when the spirit of a man, that should be the candle of the Lord, is an ignis fatuus: when the leaders of the people, the leaders of the faculties, cause them to err, for then they that are led of them are destroyed, Isa. ix. 16. An error in the practical judgment is fatal, it is that which calls evil good and good evil (Isa. v. 20); therefore it concerns us to understand things aright, to get our eyes anointed with eye-salve.

      3. The eye, that is, the aims and intentions; by the eye we set our end before us, the mark we shoot at, the place we go to, we keep that in view, and direct our motion accordingly; in every thing we do in religion; there is something or other that we have in our eye; now if our eye be single, if we aim honestly, fix right ends, and move rightly towards them, if we aim purely and only at the glory of God, seek his honor and favour, and direct all entirely to him, then the eye is single; Paul’s was so when he said, To me to live is Christ; and if we be right here, the whole body will be full of light, all the actions will be regular and gracious, pleasing to God and comfortable to ourselves; but if this eye be evil, if, instead of aiming only at the glory of God, and our acceptance with him, we look aside at the applause of men, and while we profess to honour God, contrive to honour ourselves, and seek our own things under colour of seeking the things of Christ, this spoils all, the whole conversation will be perverse and unsteady, and the foundations being thus out of course, there can be nothing but confusion and every evil work in the superstructure. Draw the lines from the circumference to any other point but the centre, and they will cross. If the light that is in thee be not only dim, but darkness itself, it is a fundamental error, and destructive to all that follows. The end specifies the action. It is of the last importance in religion, that we be right in our aims, and make eternal things, not temporal, our scope, 2 Cor. iv. 18. The hypocrite is like the waterman, that looks one way and rows another; the true Christian like the traveller, that has his journey’s end in his eye. The hypocrite soars like the kite, with his eye upon the prey below, which he is ready to come down to when he has a fair opportunity; the true Christian soars like the lark, higher and higher, forgetting the things that are beneath.

      III. We must take heed of hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness in choosing the master we serve, v. 24. No man can serve two masters. Serving two masters is contrary to the single eye; for the eye will be to the master’s hand, Psa 123:1; Psa 123:2. Our Lord Jesus here exposes the cheat which those put upon their own souls, who think to divide between God and the world, to have a treasure on earth, and a treasure in heaven too, to please God and please men too. Why not? says the hypocrite; it is good to have two strings to one’s bow. They hope to make their religion serve their secular interest, and so turn to account both ways. The pretending mother was for dividing the child; the Samaritans will compound between God and idols. No, says Christ, this will not do; it is but a supposition that gain is godliness, 1 Tim. vi. 5. Here is,

      1. A general maxim laid down; it is likely it was a proverb among the Jews, No man can serve two masters, much less two gods; for their commands will some time or other cross or contradict one another, and their occasions interfere. While two masters go together, a servant may follow them both; but when they part, you will see to which he belongs; he cannot love, and observe, and cleave to both as he should. If to the one, not to the other; either this or that must be comparatively hated and despised. This truth is plain enough in common cases.

      2. The application of it to the business in hand. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Mammon is a Syriac word, that signifies gain; so that whatever in this world is, or is accounted by us to be, gain (Phil. iii. 7), is mammon. Whatever is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is mammon. To some their belly is their mammon, and they serve that (Phil. iii. 19); to others their ease, their sleep, their sports and pastimes, are their mammon (Prov. vi. 9); to others worldly riches (James iv. 13); to others honours and preferments; the praise and applause of men was the Pharisees’ mammon; in a word, self, the unity in which the world’s trinity centres, sensual, secular self, is the mammon which cannot be served in conjunction with God; for if it be served, it is in competition with him and in contradiction to him. He does not say, We must not or we should not, but we cannot serve God and Mammon; we cannot love both (1Jn 2:15; Jas 4:4); or hold to both, or hold by both in observance, obedience, attendance, trust, and dependence, for they are contrary the one to the other. God says, “My son, give me thy heart.” Mammon says, “No, give it me.” God says, “Be content with such things as ye have.” Mammon says, “Grasp at all that ever thou canst. Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem–Money, money; by fair means or by foul, money.” God says, “Defraud not, never lie, be honest and just in all thy dealings.” Mammon says “Cheat thine own Father, if thou canst gain by it.” God says, “Be charitable.” Mammon says, “Hold thy own: this giving undoes us all.” God says, “Be careful for nothing.” Mammon says, “Be careful for every thing.” God says, “Keep holy thy sabbath-day.” Mammon says, “Make use of that day as well as any other for the world.” Thus inconsistent are the commands of God and Mammon, so that we cannot serve both. Let us not then halt between God and Baal, but choose ye this day whom ye will serve, and abide by our choice.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Lay not up for yourselves treasures ( ). Do not have this habit ( and the present imperative). See on Mt 2:11 for the word “treasure.” Here there is a play on the word, “treasure not for yourselves treasures.” Same play in verse 20 with the cognate accusative. In both verses is dative of personal interest and is not reflexive, but the ordinary personal pronoun. Wycliff has it: “Do not treasure to you treasures.”

Break through (). Literally “dig through.” Easy to do through the mud walls or sun-dried bricks. Today they can pierce steel safes that are no longer safe even if a foot thick. The Greeks called a burglar a “mud-digger” ().

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Lay not up treasures [ ] . Lit., treasure not treasures. So Wyc., Do not treasure to you treasures. The beautiful legend of St. Thomas and Gondoforus is told by Mrs. Jameson (” Sacred and Legendary Art “) : “When St. Thomas was at Caesarea, our Lord appeared to him and said, ‘The king of the Indies, Gondoforus, hath sent his provost, Abanes, to seek for workmen well versed in the science of architecture, who shall build for him a palace finer than that of the Emperor of Rome. Behold, now I will send thee to him. ‘ And Thomas went, and Gondoforus commanded him to build for him a magnificent palace, and gave him much gold and silver for the purpose. The king went into a distant country and was absent for two years; and St. Thomas, meanwhile instead of building a palace, distributed all the treasures among the poor and sick; and when the king returned he was full or wrath, and he commanded that St. Thomas should be seized and cast into prison, and he meditated for him a horrible death. Meantime the brother of the king died, and the king resolved to erect for him a most magnificent tomb; but the dead man, after that the had been dead four days, suddenly arose and sat upright, and said to the king, ‘The man whom thou wouldst torture is a servant of God; behold I have been in Paradise, and the angels showed to me a wondrous palace of gold and silver and precious stones; and they said, ‘This is the palace that Thomas, the architect, hath built for thy brother, King Gondoforus. ‘ And when the king heard these words, he ran to the prison, and delivered the apostle; and Thomas said to him, ‘Knowest thou not that those who would possess heavenly things have little care for the things of this earth ? There are in heaven rich palaces without number, which were prepared from the beginning of the world for those who would purchase the possession through faith and charity. Thy riches, O king, may prepare the way for three to such a palace, but they cannot follow thee thither. ‘”

Rust [] . That which eats; from the verb bibrwskw, to eat. Compare corrode, from the Latin rodo, to gnaw.

Doth corrupt [] . Rev., consume. The same word which is used above of the hypocrites concealing their faces. The rust consumes, and therefore causes to disappear. So Wyc., destroyeth.

Break through [] . Lit., dig through, as a thief might easily penetrate the wall of a common oriental house of mud or clay. The Greek name for a burglar is toicwrucov, a wall – digger. Compare Job 24:16, “In the dark they dig through houses.” Also Eze 12:5. Wyc., Thieves delve out.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,” (me thesaurizete humin thesaurous epi tes ges) “Do not treasure up for yourselves (for your selfish use only) treasures upon earth,” do not grasp and hoard with selfish, covetous greed, that which is the root or “root-cause” of all evil, 1Ti 6:10; 1Ti 6:17-19. “Treasures” means anything that may be stored or hoarded, Psa 135:7; Pro 23:4-5; Pro 28:20; Pro 28:22.

2) “Where moth and rust doth corrupt,” (hopou ses kai brosis apanizei) “Where moth and rust eat away, corrupt, or removes;” A moth is an insect that gnaws on and eats holes in clothes. Almost overnight they may eat a suit of clothes to shreds, rending it so that it is unfit to wear. Rust is a metal corroding agency that eats away a metal vessel or instrument, weakening or rendering it useless, Psa 39:6; Psa 62:10.

3) “And where thieves break through and steal:” (kai hopou kleptai diorussousin kai kleptousin) “And where thieves dig through and steal.” When ancient houses were made of mud, dried dirt, the thief often marked by day the part of the house through which he would dig in the night to steal and plunder what he had his heart set on, Job 24:15-16; Mat 24:43.

Earthly things are all deteriorating, polluted, and polluting, corroding and corroded things, in which eternal values cannot be stored.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mat 6:19

. Lay not up. This deadly plague reigns everywhere throughout the world. Men are grown mad with an insatiable desire of gain. Christ charges them with folly, in collecting wealth with great care, and then giving up their happiness to moths and to rust, or exposing it as a prey to thieves. What is more unreasonable than to place their property, where it may perish of itself, or be carried off by men? (450) Covetous men, indeed, take no thought of this. They lock up their riches in well-secured chests, but cannot prevent them from being exposed to thieves or to moths They are blind and destitute of sound judgment, who give themselves so much toil and uneasiness in amassing wealth, which is liable to putrefaction, or robbery, or a thousand other accidents: particularly, when God allows us a place in heaven for laying up a treasure, and kindly invites us to enjoy riches which never perish.

(450) “ Ou bien perir d’eux-mesmes, encores que personne n’y touche;” — “or even perish of themselves, though nobody touch them.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 6:19-20. Lay not up lay up. An instance of the idiom of exaggerated contrast. A literal compliance with the negative half of this precept would discourage thrift, destroy commerce, and deprive the world of the manifold benefits of capital. It is plain that our Lord, in contrasting the two kinds of treasures, uses this emphatic idiom in order to point out in the most forcible way the kind which is beyond measure the more important (J. G. Carleton). Rust.Money was frequently buried in the ground in those unsettled times, and so would be more liable to rust. Banks in the modern sense were unknown (Carr).

Mat. 6:22. Light.Lamp (R.V.). The eye is not itself the light, but contains the light: it is the lamp or candle of the body, the light-conveying principle (ibid.). Full of light.As it were all eye (Benyel).

Mat. 6:23. Evil.I.e. affected with disease. The whole passage is on the subject of singleness of service to God (ibid.). How great is that darkness?As the conscience is the regulative faculty, and a mans inward purpose, scope, aim in life, determine his character, if these be not simple and heavenward, but distorted and double, what must all the other faculties and principles of our nature be, which take their direction and character from these, and what must the whole man and the whole life be, but a mass of darkness? (Brown).

Mat. 6:24. No man can serve two masters.The application of the foregoing. Mammon.Or mamon, was a common word in the East, among Phnicians, Syrians and others, signifying material riches or worldly wealth. It is here personified, as a kind of god of this world (Morison).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 6:19-24

The evils of covetousness.The great Teacher passes here from one snare to another; from the danger of thinking too much of the praises of men to that of thinking too much of the riches of earth. When we make them our treasurewhen we so delight in them that we always long to have more of themthat is the evil meant here. Against this covetousness, this craving for more, we are here warned, as being at once:

1. A great folly.

2. A greater danger.

3. A deadly offence.

I. A great folly.This folly is shown, first, in regard to that which this spirit seeks. Is it not foolish, indeed, to make that our treasure which we can never reckon on keeping; which nature herself is bent on corrupting by all sorts of agencies which cannot be guarded against by our powers; and which the envy and covetousness of other men always desires to appropriate (Mat. 6:19)? Probable disappointment, more probable loss, certain anxiety, are the necessary results of so doing. Next, in regard to that which it misses. It misses that treasure in heaven, which can always be attained through the gospel; which never decays because there is nothing to defile it (cf. 1Pe. 1:4), and is never stolen because there are none to steal it. Here is the vital difference between these two aims. In earthly riches my gain is another mans loss. In heavenly riches my gain is my neighbours gain too. As a mere question of prudence, therefore, seek earnestly for this heavenly treasure, and covet nothing beside.

II. A greater danger.When men do bring themselves, notwithstanding all this, to prefer earthly riches to heavenly, how is it done? It is done, as it can only be done, by shutting their eyes to the truth. The deceitfulness of such riches, to use the Saviours own words (Mat. 13:22), blinds their minds on the subject. In other words, they bring themselves to the conclusion spoken of, by contriving to see only what they wish to see in the matter; and so, in regard to it, are without that single eye of which the Saviour here speaks (Mat. 6:22). But this is a kind of process which cannot be made to terminate when and as we desire. If we thus pervert the instrument we look through in order only to see what we wish to see in one direction, it will inevitably, of course, do the same when we look in another. There is no direction, in fact, in which we can rely upon it, where such is the case; and no use we can make of it which, in the end, will not rather obscure than enlighten. Such is the result of trifling, in any way, with the light; and of wilfully looking at things, as covetousness does, as they are not. No darkness can be at once more complete and more dense (Mat. 6:22-23). Who can, in anything, trust a judgment which has brought itself thus to think of earth as being higher than heaven?

III. A deadly offence.We say this because there is more in this matter than mere perversion of judgment. Such intellectual misjudging implies also perversion of will. Devotion to wealth is more than an errormore even than such an error as leads to worse error in turnit is also a sin. It is a sin, first, because it robs God of His due. What we ought to live forwhat we ought to devote ourselves tois obtaining His favour. If we devote ourselves to money-getting instead, we make money-getting our god. This is why covetousness (or ) is so often spoken of in the Bible as idolatry (Eph. 5:5); and why both it and idolatry are so often compared in the Bible to the sin of unfaithfulness in the marriage relation (ibid.; 1Co. 5:11, etc.). It is like a mans taking away from his wife that exclusive love which he has promised to give her wholly all the days of his life. Also, this covetousness is sin because it transfers to the creature what it thus abstracts from the Creator (cf. Rom. 1:25); and because it does so, also, to a creature or idol of a peculiarly contemptible kind. Is not this true of this money-greediness, this craving to grasp, this utter concentration on self? And is not this proved, also, by the very name we give to a man utterly under its power. We call himand we call him rightlya miser or wretch. We call him so because it is to such a wretch of an idol that he bows himself down. Hence, therefore, the peculiar offensiveness of this kind of spiritual adultery, and the utter impossibility of combining it with the worship of God. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Mat. 6:24). Even if such double worship were possible in other cases, it would be out of the question in this.

This very difficult lesson, for such it is to us, may be further confirmed by remembering:

1. Who traversed it at the time.Viz. about the most unreliable teachers ever known in the world (see Luk. 16:14; Mat. 23:16-17; Mat. 23:19).

2. Who afterwards received it.Viz. the wisest teachers, after Christ, ever known in the world. Not at first, indeed, even they, when only partly knowing the truth (Mat. 19:23-25); but afterwards, when fully knowing the truth (Luk. 24:44-48; Joh. 16:12-13), acting on it in full (Act. 3:6; 1Pe. 1:18; 1Pe. 5:2); also, through their example (Act. 2:44-45; Heb. 10:34; Heb. 13:5); also in the case of one afterwards added to their number (1Ti. 6:5-10; Php. 4:11; Php. 4:18). And thereby, indeed, only reviving, and as it were countersigning, that ancient deed and distinction of Psa. 10:3, blessing the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth.

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 6:19-21. Warning against greed.Christ does not speak against material wealth; rather He implies in the text and words of similar meaning, that His disciples are not forbidden to accumulate the things of this world. Capital and property are necessary to social progress, civilisation, evangelisation, and the temporal well-being of mankind. But He does speak against making a god of them, and in all His teaching strikes deeply at the worldly-mindedness and disposition of those who are absorbed in greed of gain. Observe:

I. The treasures referred to.Two kindstreasures upon earth and treasures in heaven, The words contain an antithesis

1. As to their nature.The treasures upon earth are not only earthly, but earthy. They are but earth, and it is but upon earth they are laid up, including costly dresses and all worldly possessions. In eastern countries they treasured up gold, silver, precious stones, corn, wine, oil, and garments. To gain these the most sacred things often were bartered. So now. Character and most sacred rights have been and are sold to gain earthly treasures. But treasures in heaven are absolutely different in nature and tendency, and inestimably more valuable, and hence should be more diligently sought after.

2. As to their influence upon character.For where your treasure is etc. This is important, for it shows clearly that wherever the heart is the man is. The betting man is at the Derby, the mercenary in his office, the politician in the strifes of ambition, etc. But if the treasure be in heaven there is a transformation.

3. As to the nature of the places where these treasures are laid up.Which is the best place to treasure up inearth or heaven?

(1) Earthly treasures are precarious at best. Think of the risks, etc. Riches of grace and everlasting peace and happiness are in Christ, which are the true and lasting wealth and glory of the Christian man. Paulinus, when he was told that the Goths had sacked Noia and plundered him of all that he had, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Lord, Thou knowest where I have laid up my treasure. It was in heaventhe right place, the only safe place.
(2) Earthly treasures are perishablemoth and rust corrupt. But spiritual treasures are absolutely secure and imperishable.

II. The exhortation enjoined.Lay up. The love of accumulation is so strong in our nature that it behoves us to beware continually in laying up earthly treasures that we do not become avaricious and miserly. The prohibition, lay not has reference to that kind of spirit; for the more we gain and possess, the more we shall love that gain, until we become fully absorbed in it, make a god of it, and worship it. The whole of life is a treasuring up for eternity, either character unto eternal life, or wrath against the day of wrath. Use your time, your talents, your influence, your money, your life to this great and glorious endthe chief end of being.J. Harries.

Treasures in heaven.

I. The character of the covetous man.He lays up for himself treasures upon earth, and not in heaven.

1. Our hearts are too much set on the world if we are strongly bent and resolved to be rich (1Ti. 6:9).

2. If we make too much haste to be rich (Pro. 28:20).

3. If we look on our neighbours thriving and prosperity with envy and discontent.
4. When we contemplate our own wealth and flourishing circumstances with too much complacence and delight. Good men delight themselves in God.
5. When we come to put our trust and confidence in our wealth; like the rich man in the Gospel, who trusted more in his full barns than in God.
6. When our time, thoughts, projects, etc., are spent chiefly on worldly things.
7. When upon any great losses, or even poverty itself coming upon us, we grow angry, peevish, and discontented.

8. Whenever, to save or increase our wealth, we betray our duty and conscience (1Ti. 6:10; 2Ti. 4:10).

II. Our Saviours dissuasive from this practice of the covetous man.Lay not up, etc.

III. The reasons of this exhortation.

1. The one is an earthly, the other a heavenly treasure.

(1) The gross, earthly nature of these blessings. We may as well think to make fish feed upon grass and corn, and oxen live upon water and mud like fish, as to make men happy only with worldly things.
(2) But suppose they were ever so well fitted to make us happy during our stay in this world, how small a part of mans immortal duration is included in this present life!
2. The earthly treasure is liable to perishing by divers accidents.Some native, breeding in itself, such as moth and rust which corrupt it; some foreign, as thieves that break through and steal it; whereas the heavenly treasures are secure.

(1) They are fitted for our heaven-born souls.
(2) They last for ever.
(3) They are subject to no accidents, either of inward corruption or external violence.
3. If our treasures are upon earth they will draw our hearts after them and make them earthly too.Consider:

(1) The influence our treasure has upon our hearts, to draw them after it. The heart runs out naturally after that which it loves best.
(2) The influence the heart has on the whole man, to govern all his thoughts, words, and actions. As the mainspring of the heart goes, the man thinks, contrives, speaks, and acts.
(3) From whence the conclusion follows very naturally, that the laying up our treasure on earth makes us worldly, and forgetful of heaven; and that the laying up our treasure in heaven makes us of a heavenly temper, and reforms the whole heart and life.Jas. Blair, M.A.

Treasure.According to our Lords metaphor, His followers are to treasure up treasures in heaven. This cannot mean to wish for high seats in heaven, with great lustre and distinction for themselves, for such desires may indicate nothing more than a new form of selfishness. The treasure must be of a more spiritual character, and such as a lowly heart may crave. It must be riches towards God and in God. It must mean the satisfaction of longings of the human spirit which the world cannot meet. It must be treasure of a calm conscience and a holy mind, resting in the love of God and sustained by the fellowship of the Spirit. The portion of the wise deserves to be called treasure because it is:

I. Precious, as meeting not the fancy of a day or even the wants of the passing years, but the most profound requirements of the human soul, and that, too, when Divine regenerating grace has made it capable of eternal life and joy.

II. Secure, as laid up in heaven above the risk of loss.

III. Capable of indefinite increase.D. Fraser, D.D.

The passion for hoarding.In one of the best of his essays Montaigne tells how a passion for hoarding money possessed him at one period of his life, and plunged him in continual solicitude. After you have once set your heart upon your heap it is no more at your service; you cannot find in your heart to break it; tis a building that you fancy must of necessity all tumble down to ruin if you stir but the least pebble.Ibid.

Dr. Souths sermon.In the year 1699, Dr. South preached on this theme before the University of Oxford. The sermon appears in his works under the title, No man ever went to heaven whose heart was not there before.Ibid.

Mat. 6:21. The heart and the treasure.The heart follows the treasure, as the needle follows the loadstone, or the sunflower the sun.M. Henry.

Mat. 6:22-23. Singleness of aim in the kingdom of God.The text bears on what went before, which is, that the supreme attraction of the heart should be spiritual and heavenly and not secular and earthly. And it bears also on what follows, viz. that right and acceptable service in the kingdom of God must be a single service.

I. The truth here taught.The light of the body is the eye. This expression is misleading. Literally interpreted, it is not correct. The eye is not the light, but it is the medium of light to the body, it is the window that admits light. The human eye is the most striking feature in the human constitution. It is the closest to the soul. Hence, spiritually, the great truths suggested by the text. Notice:

1. The soul of man has perceptive facultiesthe spiritual eye of his moral constitution. Some say that this eye is the intellect, whereby we discover causes and effects, and trace their logical relation, processes, and products. But it is not the mere intellect that is suggested by the figure eye. Some say it is conscience, whereby we arrive at the knowledge of things unseen, the conception of God, of moral truth, and spiritual force, by which we judge of acts as right or wrong, and by which we discover the reality of the moral law and determine our character according to that law. But it cannot mean any one faculty, but the seat of all faculties and affections, purposes and inclinations; the undivided spirituality of our being, represented again and again in Scripture, as the heart.

2. The heart, the organ of sight, requires light.We have only to open our hearts and Christ, the Light, enters.

3. The organ of sight is subject to disease.Spiritually, there is one word expressive of moral darkness and blindness, viz. sin. No man can see either earth or sky aright, God, truth, or man aright, if the coloured glass of self is always in the window.

II. The condition specified.If thine eye be single, etc. The idea conveyed by the singleness of eye is threefold:

1. Oneness.The contemplation of one object. The heart bent on one thing.

2. Clearness.When the eye is directed singly and steadily towards an object, and is in health, everything becomes clear, distinct, and plain.

3. Concentration.The eye is single when it not only sees or lives for one thing, but also when it concentrates all its power in one direction. All thoughts and all actions are focussed in one object.

III. The inevitable result.The whole body shall be full of light.

1. The blessed state of those in the kingdom of God whose aim is single.The light of personal knowledge of salvation. The light of holinesspurity of heart. The light of peace and joy.

2. The awful result of the evil eye.Full of darkness. Dark in himself and dark to every good around. He may be a man of talent, and learning, and genius, and yet blind spiritually. Darkness is a symbol of misery, adversity, and death; of ignorance and alienation, from the darkness of death to the outer darkness.J. Harries.

The single and the evil eye.

I. There is an inward light of the mind and conscience, which is to direct the moral part of our actions, as the eye directs the external motions and actions of the body.

II. Every evil affection obscures this inward light, that it cannot so well perform its duty, but is apt to mislead us into sinful courses.

III. This is particularly verified in the evil affection of covetousness or worldly-mindedness.

IV. When the inward light of the mind and conscience is darkened, this occasions a vast number of other errors and follies in the life and conversation.

V. It is our duty to use our utmost endeavours, to keep that inward light free from all clouds of evil affections and inclinations, that it may give us clear direction in all duty; and to follow those good directions in our life and conversation.Jas. Blair, M.A.

Mat. 6:22. The single eye.The idea conveyed by a single eye appears to be, from its etymology, threefold. First, it means clear, with no film; secondly, it means in opposition to double, seeing one object at a time; and thirdly, it means concentration, centred upon a focus. These three thoughts mainly go to make up the word single,distinctness, oneness, fixedness.

I. Many things may give a dulness to the moral sight.

1. If it be impaired by disuse.If you do not exercise the spiritual perception which God has given you, by meditation, by prayer and religious thought, then the perception must grow weak.

2. Things coming in between, veil and darken that higher vision. A worldly life is sure to do it. Much care will do it. Luxury will do it. But, still more, any wilful unbelief or any strong prejudice.

II. A clear eye must be often cleared.It is the great secret of a happy, holy lifeto have made up your mind, once and for all, to live for one thingto do what is right, and to live to the glory of God. And then upon that one object you must concentrate yourself.

III. There are two worlds around usa seen world and an unseen world; and we move equally in the midst of both. And the unseen system is far more beautiful, and far grander and more important than the system that we see. The seen is mainly the type and the shadow of the unseen. It is the unseen which is the real, for that unseen is for ever and ever. But it is not all of us who see the unseen. Few of us are seeing the unseen very distinctly, and none of us are seeing it as we might; and the reason is the state of the eye of the soul, which is as really an eye to see the unseen as that natural eye by which you gaze upon a star or by which you admire a flower.J. Vaughan, M.A.

Mat. 6:23. The evil eye.The eye which is sharp for self-interest is dimmed for moral insight.W. Jackson, M.A.

Mat. 6:24. One Master only in the kingdom of heaven.These words of the great Teacher plainly indicate not only, as in the previous verses, that the aim of the true disciple in the kingdom should be single, but also that the service must be single, the motive single, the purpose single, the object single, and the Master single. The object we love most rules us. Robert Hall once wrote the word God on a small slip of paper, showed it to a friend, and asked whether he could read it. He replied Yes. He then covered the word with a guinea, and again asked Can you see it? and was answered No. He did this in order to show his friend how easy it is for the world to shut out of the mind a sight and sense of God.

I. The great principle here emphasised.No man can serve two masters. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. We desire to show the impossibility of serving two mastersGod and mammon.

1. Philosophically.Dr. Browns and Dugald Stewarts proposition is irrefutableThat the mind cannot exist, at the same moment, in two different states, proving, so far, the great maxim of the text, that, if the mind cannot exist in two different states at the same moment, it cannot be heavenly and worldly at the same time. We cannot concentrate our mind, which is indivisible, upon more than one object. Sir Isaac Newton, it is said, was so absorbed in his endeavour to discover the law of gravitation that he knew not his surroundings; could not hear or recognise the voice and calls of his wife; and when one morning he was roasting before a big fire he called the servant to move the fire back. The servant said, Please move back your chair, sir. Ah, replied the great man, I did not think about that! A man must have two hearts, two souls, and two selves, before he can give a heart to God and a heart to the world too. The utter impossibility of serving two masters, God and mammon, is further shown:

2. Morally.

(1) God and mammon are absolutely opposites.
(2) The interests of the two are absolutely diverse.
(3) The effects of the two are absolutely different. For either he will hate the one and love the other. The chief point of our Lord is that the man of the world cannot be truly religious; that is, the man that makes worldly gain supremesuch a man, generally speaking, hates religion.

II. The important truths here implied.The key-word is serve. A man may try to serve God and mammon, because self is so dear, and the world is so sweet; but Jesus Christ shows that even the attempt is an absurdity. The practical truths inferred are

1. That religion is a spiritual service.

2. That religion demands one supreme object.Serve God.

3. That religion requires wholeness of heart in its service.

4. That religion implies the power of choice.God or mammon. Which?

5. That religion teaches and enforces the necessity of immediate and manly decision.We act upon decisions. When Alexander the Great was asked how he conquered the world, he answered, By not delaying.J. Harries.

Neutrality.Of all unsuccessful men in any shape, whether Divine, human, or devilish, says a secular historian, there is no equal to Bunyans Facing-both-ways; the fellow with one eye on heaven and one on earth, who sincerely professes one thing and sincerely does another, and from the intensity of his unreality is unable either to see or feel the contradiction; he is substantially trying to cheat both God and the devil, and in reality only cheating himself and his neighbours. This, of all characters upon the earth, appears to us to be one of which there is no hope at alla character becoming in these days alarmingly abundant. Now, no one who. has learnt the lesson of the gospel will say of any character that there is no hope for it at all But it is true that this class of characters, the insincere professors, the Mr. Anythings, are hardest of all to deal with.

I. The characteristics of neutrality.Scripture is full of indications of the peril and shame of this compromisee.g. Samaritans, Israelites, Laodiceans, Balaam, Pilate, young ruler who made the great refusal. And Scripture being thus full of warnings, the significance of those warnings has not been lost upon the great Christian teacherse.g. Dante, Bunyan (man with the muck rake). In the precincts of this insincere religion good and evil are not wrestling as they should be, shoulder to shoulder, in an irreconcilable antagonism, but they are feebly walking together, hand in hand, in futile amity.

II. The causes of neutrality.Mainly two.

1. Indolence and unbelief.

2. Some besetting sin.With one man it is drink, with another it is gold, with another it is envy, hatred, or refusal to forgive; with others it is impurity. And thinking that they can give the rest of their heart to God, men try to reserve this one dark corner, this one secret chamber of unhallowed imagery for their own idolatry. St. Augustine tells us, in his terrible Confessions, that in his unconverted days he used indeed to pray to God to deliver him from lusts of the flesh, but he prayed with the great desire that God would not hear him yet, because he still desired to live in their base indulgence.

III. The issue of neutrality.Death. The poet saw in the lowest hell the soul of the Prior Elbrigo, and was amazed because he knew that the man was still alive; but when he asks for explanation he receives the awful answer that sometimes a man seems to live above, and eat, and drink, and sleep, and put on clothes, but in reality his soul is sunk down even in his life-time into the abyss; he has become that most fearful kind of ghostnot a soul without a body, but a body without a soul. Give up this shameful attempt to deceive God by semblances and shams! Be not like that Dead Salt Sea, of which it has been said that it reflects heaven on its surface and hides Gomorrha in its heart.Archdeacon Farrar.

Mammon the greatest of all idols.

1. The idol of all times.
2. The idol of all nations.
3. The idol of all unconverted hearts.
4. The origin of all idolatry.
5. The first and the last among all the hidden idols of Gods people, both under the Old and the New Testament.J. P. Lange, D.D.

Mat. 6:24-34. Greed and care.On the one side must be shunned the Scylla of greed, on the other the Charybdis of care.J. M. Gibson, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

E. THE WEALTH AND WORRIES OF THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Mat. 6:19-34)

TEXT 6:19-34
1. HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD EARTHLY TREASURES. (6:19-21)

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal:
20. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21. for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.

2. HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD HIS OWN DEDICATION TO GOD. (6:22-24)

22. The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!
24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

3. HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE, (6:25-34)

25. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?
26. Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?
27. And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?
28. And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29. yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these,
30. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall be not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31. Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow; for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. What are the heavenly treasures we are to store up? (1) Are they the motivation for our serving God now, i.e. we serve God now so that He will reward us later? (2) Or, are they the result of our service to Him, in the sense that in this life we produce a more godlike character which cannot be taken away from us? (3) Are they both? (4) Are they something else?
b. How are we to lay up such treasures? How can we know whether we are doing so or not?
c. Does our treasure follow our heart, or our heart our treasure?
d. Why is it ruinous to love and hoard money?
e, At what point does our getting and using worldly wealth become idolatrous? How can we identify idolatry in this regard?
f. W h y is self the worlds oldest and most dangerous idol? What is the relationship between laying up treasure on earth. serving mammon, and serving self or self-worship?
g. Why are we more inclined to trust visible but temporary things and find it so difficult to trust Him who is invisible but has never yet failed us?
h. Why does Jesus bring up the figure about the eye in this discussion of wealth and worries? What is the connection?
i. On what basis does Jesus charge His listeners with being men of little faith?
j. Who is the richest person in the community where you live? On what basis do you decide him to be the most wealthy? Does your standard agree with Jesus?
k. Is being poor necessary to being righteous in Gods kingdom? Explain.
l.

Are we to go without health, accident, life, fire or automobile insurance in order to show that we trust God to care for us? What is the relation between insuring ourselves against such dangers and our trusting God?

m.

Is laying up treasure in heaven a putting up a quantity of goods in heaven, or an attitude of heart toward Gods promises?

n. To what extent may we work for money (wages) without violating the Lords declaration that it is impossible to serve God and wealth at the same time?
o. What do you think Jesus meant to teach about the whole body full of light? What is the condition of a man when he is full of light?
p. What is the condition of a man when he is full of darkness?
q. What is the tragedy involved if ones light be darkness?
r.

Why do you suppose Jesus mentioned mammon as the god to which men would offer service in opposition to God? What is SO significant about slavery to wealth?

s. What one fundamental sin finds expression in both greed and anxiety?
t.

What is so wrong, according to Jesus, with saying, A man must live? Is it not true? Why?

u.

How is it true that the morrow will be anxious for itself?

v. What kind of impact would this entire section have upon the Jewish audience to which Jesus addressed these words? Does He contradict or confirm their concept of the Messianic kingdom and its attendant blessings? In what way does He do this?
w.

The Biblical view of the heart of man usually takes into consideration his intellect, his will, his affections and his conscience. In Mat. 6:19-24 which of these phases of mans being receive emphasis and in what connection are they mentioned?

PARAPHRASE

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. where it grows moth-eaten and rusty, and where thieves break in and steal it. Rather lay up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where there is neither moth nor rust to destroy it, nor thieves to break in or steal it. For where you put your wealth. you unavoidably put your heart there too.

The lamp of the body is the eye. Now if your eyes are sound, you will have light for your whole body. On the other hand, if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if all the light that you have is darkness, how intense that darkness must be!

Nobody can be a slave to two masters, because either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be R slave to God and to Money at the same time.

This is why I say to you to stop worrying about your living, wondering what you shall have to eat or drink, or about your body, wondering what you can get to wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more important than its clothing? Surely it is! Take a good look at the birds of the air: they do not sow nor reap nor store up food in granaries, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, Are you not much more precious to Him than they? Of course you are! On the other hand, which of you can add a single hour to his lifes span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wild flowers grow: they do not wear themselves out working nor do they spin thread, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glorious splendor did not clothe himself like one of these flowers. But if this is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is there today and is tossed into the oven tomorrow, will He not all the more do so for you, O men with little confidence? Certainly He will! Do not then ask anxiously, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What will we have to wear? That is what pagans are always seeking. Do not talk this way because your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Rather, seek first the Kingdom and the righteousness that He requires, and all these necessities will be provided you. So, do not worry about tomorrow, since tomorrow will have worries of its own. Let each days trouble be enough for that day.

SUMMARY

Put your trust in God alone! Put your whole confidence in things eternal, for only they are permanent. Concentrate your attention and service upon God and His promises, since double-mindedness is a really impossible course. It brings on unnecessary worries and draws the attention away from God. Real faith is able to concentrate upon Gods rule and provisions and accept life as a matter of course, living one day at a time.

NOTES

Because Jesus teaching in this section is many-sided, we offer two outlines in the attempt to present more of the content of His message. It will be noted that Jesus basic argument is Not that- but this. Therefore, in order to present as clearly as possible the negative and positive aspects or elements of His teaching, we outline the passage accordingly.

The Controlling Objective in Life: Undivided Trust in God

NEGATIVE

POSITIVE

DANGERS THAT MENACE THE FAITH OF DISCIPLES:
Covetousness that is manifested according to circumstances as:

I. AVARICE (Mat. 6:19-24)

I. TRUST ONLY GOD (Mat. 6:19-24)

Proposition: Reasons why those
who would be His disciples must put their trust only in God:

A. Treasures on earth means ones heart set on earth which means total loss!
1. Moths corrupt it;
2. Rust eats it;

3. Thieves steal it, (Mat. 6:19-21)

A. Because earthly treasures are transient, ephemeral, while only heavenly treasures endure (Mat. 6:19-20)

B. Obscured judgment (Mat. 6:23) which leads to further moral darkness in every other decision and act.

B. Because earthly riches capture the heart, while heavenly treasures cause us to keep our heart set on heaven. (Mat. 6:21)

C. Indecision impedes concentration of energies and is virtually impossible (Mat. 6:24)

C. Because the selfish quest
for wealth blinds and destroys human personality but
heavenly riches keep our
moral vision unimpaired

(Mat. 6:22-23)

D. Because to please two masters is impossible: the mere quest of wealth is sinful because incompatible with true love and loyalty to God (Mat. 6:24)

II. ANXIETY (Mat. 6:25-34)

A. Worry places a false and exaggerated value upon earthly welfare. ( Mat. 6:25 )

II. ONLY TRUST GOD (Mat. 6:25-34)

A. God gave life and the body, and can be trusted for things necessary to sustain life (Mat. 6:25)

B. Worry reflects on Gods loving cafe for man who is more precious to Him than birds (Mat. 6:26)

B. Lesser creatures than man do not pile up goods for an unknown and unknowable future (Mat. 6:26)

C. Worry fails to resolve lifes basic problem (Mat. 6:27)

C. Worry is useless (Mat. 6:27) (God who has ordained the length of our life and the make-up of our body can surely be trusted to sustain it.)

D. Worry about clothes seeks to realize a false ideal, were it a true ideal, it is patently unattainable (Mat. 6:28-29)

D. Surely the generosity which is so lavish to a flower of a day will not forget man, the crown of Gods creation (Mat. 6:28-30)

E. Worry destroys confidence in God (Mat. 6:30)

E. Anxiety for clothes is faithlessness (Mat. 6:30)

F. Worry betrays a practical paganism (Mat. 6:31-32)

F. Worry is beyond comprehension in one who has God as his Father (Mat. 6:31-32)

G. Worry would deny us all that is really good, important and eternal (Mat. 6:33)

G. God knows our needs, so we can concentrate upon doing His will and seeking to be right according to His standards and He will provide (Mat. 6:33)

H. Worry is presumptuous care about a day that God has neither promised nor given yet (Mat. 6:34)

H. Worry can be defeated by living one day at a time (Mat. 6:34). Every day brings enough burdens and problems. It is enough to deal with these without unnecessarily borrowing trouble from the future.

All that has preceded this section is sweet sentimentalism and unrealistic unless Jesus is able to remake men. Jesus knows that He cannot leave man as he is, bombarded by contradictory ethics and driven by inward desires and harassed by daily worries. Man must possess a moral principle that will rivet his attention on God, cause him to reject worldly ideals and treasure heaven above all other joys. Further, Jesus knows that there are two persistent, dangerous rivals to that one true objective that must command our undivided loyalty and effort, two rivals which will choke out His word every time: the worries of the world, the worries of life (Luk. 8:14) and the deceitful attractiveness of wealth (Mat. 13:22 ) . Jesus must destroy mans confidence in wealth as a genuine support, and, by building his confidence in the Father, He must exterminate mans worry. Only thus can the Master hope to expect men to take the Kingdom of God seriously and reach for the righteousness Jesus is requiring. Unless a man regard all earthly prizes as filth. he will not be much interested in leaving them to follow Jesus.

This section, if there were no other proof, would demonstrate that Jesus unique message is from God and could not be the product of the highest insights of rabbinical thinking. These words (Mat. 6:19-34) must have sounded a wrong note in the ears of those Jews whose popular Messianic expectations required that the anticipated Son of David bring them a high degree of worldly prosperity, honors and Pleasures. (Cf. Mat. 19:24-25; Mat. 20:20-28; Luk. 22:24) Far from seeing any danger in wealth and far from believing that, as a rule, it promotes unrighteousness, the Jews tended to regard wealth as a special blessing for their carefulness in observing the Law. Characteristically, the Pharisees thought of themselves as the unchallengeable proof of the causal connection between righteousness and riches. (Cf. Luk. 16:14; Luk. 20:47) However, in terms of human motivations, it is but a hairbreadths difference between glorifying and seeking wealth as ones just deserts on the one hand, and the greedily grasping after wealth as ones universal answer to all problems. And the children of Abraham had to hear this message whether it fit their scheme of Messianic prophecy or not.

The immediate connection with the preceding section (61-18) is particularly enlightening, for there Jesus warned against making the praise of men the end of our religious actions. Here He turns from His attack on mans thinking too much of the praise of others to that self-deception which thinks too much of the riches of earth and makes them the end of all his daily efforts, And just as the cure for the former hypocrisy was a right appreciation of Gods judgment and a keeping of ones heart set on the Father, even so here the disciples must keep the Father ever before their eyes. (Cf. Mat. 6:24; Mat. 6:26; Mat. 6:30; Mat. 6:32)

Jesus must challenge His follower to examine carefully his life to determine what is the really final controlling object of life. Running through the entire section is the necessity to fix ones undivided trust in God. Divided loyalties dissipate the energies, nullify ones efforts and warp ones judgment. Though it would seem that He is talking about two widely separated subjects, i.e. avarice and anxiety, yet they are two expressions of the same covetousness. Both sins are obvious evidence of a basic worry, of insecurity, and of a desire for a little bit more, which in turn are evidence of a misplaced trust. Therefore, the Lord must take mens eyes off their gold and fix their hearts on God.

I. AVARICE, or TRUST ONLY GOD

(6:19-24; cf. Luk. 12:32-34; Luk. 16:9-13)

A. THE ALLURE OF ACQUISITION AS AGAINST THE APPEAL OF ABIDING ATTAINMENTS (6:19-21 )

Mat. 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. What makes a man desire to hoard up the treasures of earth? Basically, it is worry and insecurity, but covetousness plays and important role in this. (Cf. Luk. 12:13-21; 1Ti. 6:5 b- 1Ti. 6:10. Note Pauls emphasis: Those who desire to be rich . . . love of money . . . this craving . . . set their hopes on riches.) This is no condemnation of reasonable thrift or of the banking system of the day (Cf. Mat. 25:27), but a protest against that craze which so often drives men to set their whole heart on the amassing of wealth for selfish purposes as the only worthwhile purpose in life. Millions in property is not necessarily sin, nor is holding capital funds on earth a direct violation of Jesus prohibition, if one holds them in use as a responsible stewardship and uses them for the advancement of Gods kingdom. Having possessions is not wrong, but we commit sin when they have us.

The deceptive attractiveness of earthly wealth is its being subject to all manner of destructive forces. (Cf. Jas. 5:1-6) Jesus is saying, Do not be a fool and treasure what you cannot keep, what nature is bent on destroying and what the envy and covetousness of others is planning to seize! A moth can ruin the most expensive garment laid up in a chest. Rust consumes mans most precious items of metal. The word Jesus used which is translated rust (brosis) literally means eating. Thus, the eating of it makes human food disappear (aphanizei) in the same way that the moth eats holes in fabrics. Thieves break through (literally: dig through the sun-dried brick or mud walls of the house and thus effect an entrance) and steal. In your greed to lay up earthly treasures, do not forget the greed of others, who, despite all your precautions, are able to relieve you of your possessions.

If in Mat. 6:21 Jesus is challenging us to examine the value of that which we treasure, He might be suggesting here that there is further folly involved in hoarding earthly wealth because of its relative worthlessness as measured against the true wealth of heaven. What is gold on earth is street paving material in heaven! What a fool is he who hoards mere sand and gravel. And what is worse, there is real peril in piling up earthly wealth. not in the possibility of their loss or ruin, since this happens also to the most righteous of men, but rather in the probability that the wealthy themselves are thereby imperiled. (Cf. 1Ti. 6:9) A man may gain the whole world end after all lose himself! (Mat. 16:26) Those who spend life for the pleasures and riches of this world are getting cheated in the universe greatest swindle. Even in this world, old sinners write bitterly that the anticipation of their fallacious and fleeting joys was much greater than their realization, The devil is a liar: earthly wealth cannot satisfy. The love of money will ruin everything! The rich young ruler refused to understand this (Mat. 19:21) and the Apostles almost missed their grip on this truth (Mat. 19:25; Mat. 19:27). Mary understood that earthly cares are not the whole of life; Martha failed on that occasion (Luk. 10:41-42). The OT had taught much the same message (Psa. 49:6; Psa. 52:7; Psa. 62:10; Pro. 11:28).

Mat. 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, because they are sure, not subject to the influences that destroy all of earths brightest gems. Lay up suggests so to delight in something that we always long to have more of it, whether good or bad (see Mat. 5:6; Mat. 6:33; Luk. 12:13-21): this speaks of our attitude toward wealth. Since it is impossible to send earths riches commodities into that heavenly country, because life there is enjoyed on a far different plane, it would seem therefore that Jesus admonition refers primarily to our attitude as to what constitutes true wealth. If so, He is saying, Treasure heavenly wealth. Accept my viewpoint as to what constitutes the true riches. Put your dependence upon Gods promises.

But how is it possible to lay up in heaven our treasures? As suggested in the introductory section (The Reasonableness of Rewards), Jesus ever holds up before His disciples rewards and blessings of a spiritual nature. Another way of stating this same injunction might be: Consider heaven your treasure! That is, a right view of that which really satisfies ones soul-the love of God and the fellowship to be enjoyed with Him and His, a clear conscience and an eternal joy-these restore a proper perspective that causes one to re-evaluate all of earths wealth in terms of winning an eternity with God. (See Psa. 16:2; Psa. 16:5-6; Psa. 73:25; Php. 3:8) The important question to ask is not How much treasure must I lay up? but What kind of treasure? God is the Cashier of heaven and He accepts only one kind of coin: character. And when sounded, that coin must ring with deeds and faithfulness. We cannot send Him our gold, because they are not on the gold standard up there. Laying up in heaven is equivalent to being rich toward God and the opposite of laying up treasure for oneself (Luk. 12:21). Luk. 12:33 suggests that money given in mercy to those who need it, even if it means great personal sacrifice to do so, is the means of providing oneself with heavenly treasure. How SO? The command to give alms is aimed at the good of the giver, that his heart may be freed from covetousness and trained in generous service to others. This produces character, and that God accepts as true wealth. The irony that marks the difference between heavenly and earthly treasures is that we keep only what we give away, but we must lose all that we have kept! (Study Mat. 10:39; Mat. 16:24-26; Mat. 19:23-29; Joh. 12:25) Paul summarizes this idea perfectly and shows the clear relation between the set of the heart and ones attitude toward heavenly wealth. as well as how to lay up riches in heaven:

Religion is a means of gain to the man who knows when he has enough (wealth). We brought nothing with us into the world, and we cannot take anything out. Surely, then, if we have food and clothing, we shall be satisfied with these. But men who set their hearts on being rich fall into temptations and traps, into many foolish and damaging desires that plunge men into ruin and destroy them. The love of money is the source of all evil. In the struggle to get it some men have wandered away from the faith and have impaled themselves on untold sorrows , . . Tell the ones who are rich in this worlds goods not to overestimate themselves nor to set their hopes on anything so uncertain as wealth. Tell them to set their hope on God who generously supplies us all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be ready to give away and share, thus laying up a treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they might grasp the really true life.

(1Ti. 6:6-10, emphasis supplied)

Where neither moth nor rust , . , nor thieves. An investment in Gods promises is not subject to failure and loss; one is not being practical to disbelieve Gods promises in order to store up earthly treasure, One danger of wealth is that it causes us to fail to make lifes best investment in the kingdom of God: a hundred-fold in this life, and in the age to come eternal life! (Mar. 10:29-30) Paul expressed this same concept, adding also the present body to the list of earths perishables which must be left behind in favor of an eternal abode in the heavens (2Co. 4:16 to 2Co. 5:9). Peter (1Pe. 1:14) exhausts the vocabulary as he holds before the eyes of suffering Christians that imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance kept in heaven for you. (See also Heb. 10:34; Php. 3:18) This is the reason that it becomes absolutely imperative that we rest our confidence in God instead of in our earth-orientated common sense, because there is so much in everyday life that seems absolutely to contradict what Jesus is saying we must believe. This is the acid-test as to which world we think is real and permanent: this one with all its seemingly cold, hard realities of fame and famine, of wealth and worries; or Gods world for which He would prepare us.

Mat. 6:21 For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. Jesus seems to be using the word heart here in the sense of ones affections, After all, what really gives value to a treasure is the affection of the heart. Nothing on earth really possesses permanent and objective value anyway, for value is too often a relative, subjective judgment based upon some temporary usefulness or on some relative necessity. This declaration of Jesus thus becomes a grave warning: Choose your treasure well, because, for good or ill, it will take your heart with it! Remember lots wife (Luk. 17:32-33; Gen. 19:12-26) If our chosen treasure is earthly, it must partake of the transitoriness of all that is earthly and be forever lost when we relax our grip on it in death. On the other hand, if our earthly struggle has been for heavenly wealth. death only frees us to go to the eternal and real source of our joy and longing.

This is a psychological principle ever true: when a mans thought and effort are concentrated upon gaining some prize, either heavenly or earthly, then the whole heart, i.e. the entire man, will become deeply involved in the effort. The man himself can think of nothing else, It will be the subject of his conversations, the content of his daydreams. To the disciple who would ask whether he be laying up heavenly or earthly riches, Jesus is replying, Go looking for your riches and youll find your heart there too! They will be together. Jesus knows that He has nothing to worry about from the man who has his heart fixed on heaven, because that man will realign every other element of his life behind that one goal. (See special study on Temptation after Mat. 4:1-11)

Does Jesus intend these treasures in heaven to be: (1) the cause, the stimulation or the inducement for our work, or (2) the result or product of our earthly work? That is, are they something we produce or receive? Does He mean that we produce character by following His instructions, and thus produce a treasure that is eternal? Or, is He insisting that we keep our eyes fixed on heaven as our goal or treasure, thus producing a character that is capable of enjoying the wealth of God? The Apostles (Col. 3:1-3; 2Pe. 1:3-4) seem to suggest that by diverting all our interest toward where Christ is, we will the more readily become like Him. And if the treasures we seek as the result of our work are spiritual goals, then they can also be the rewards for our service. So it is both. for Jesus reveals that a spiritual, godly character, by definition, is one which cherishes God above all earthly treasures, and reciprocally grows more and more like Him.

Psychologically, does our treasure follow our heart, or does our heart follow our treasure? Is Jesus proposition reversible: Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also? That is, do we put our heart into something in which our treasure is involved, or do we put our money into that which has engaged our heart? Sometimes we are forced to spend our time, energy and talent for that which little interests our heart. But the sheer force of habit and involvement may easily draw our heart into a greater concern and may even produce an affection that is very strong.

For instance, many with high aspirations for accomplishment chafe under the necessity to earn a living, since it requires valuable time and drains necessary energy away from their real goals. Thus, earning a living may force a man to lay up his heart and treasure for something that, to him, is really a drudgery.

But these cases are probably less numerous than those where one has already deeply involved his heart and, as an expression of his affections, he pours out his treasures to realize the satisfaction of his heart. If so, Jesus is saying, Set your heart first, decide what will be your true treasure, because you will pay all else to get it! (Cf. Mat. 13:44-46)

If there seems to be a confusion between treasures considered as one’s present possessions, and treasures as the goal of one’s life, the confusion is an understandable one, since we all have a hard time distinguishing between what we are working for and that which we possess when it comes to resting our heart, hopes and confidence on them. The Lord’s principle adequately touches both concepts however.

Here are some critical questions about our ideas about wealth:

1. What does a man consider to be his true wealth?
2. How much does he think it is worth?
3. Whose does he think it is?
4.

Can he live without it? Here are some tests to determine our attachment to this earth:

5. Am I strongly resolved to become comfortably wealthy?
6. Am I in a hurry to be that way? I
7. Do I regard my neighbor’s thriving prosperity with envy
8. Am I satisfied with my financial position? Why?
9. Do I trust my money to get me whatever I want?
10. Are my time, conversation and dreams spent chiefly upon earthly projects?
11. Do I grow angry, out of sorts or discontented when for any reason I fail to realize my financial goals, suffer losses or poverty sets in?
12. Am I willing to sacrifice my conscience or neglect my duty to better my financial picture or to hold my present position?
13. When in trouble, to what do I turn for relief? and discontent?

B. THE ACCURACY OF APPREHENSION ALREADY AFFECTS THE ATTITUDE (6:22, 23)

Mat. 6:22 The lamp of the body is the eye. This is a metaphor within an allegory: the eye is not literally the lamp of the body but is the means by which light is admitted into the body and interpreted for the body. Hence, figuratively it may be said to be the light of the body, As seen elsewhere (Luk. 11:34-36) this same figure could fit other discourses. So the meaning must be determined from the context in which Matthew records it here. But Jesus does not explain the various elements of the allegory, as He sometimes does for parables (Cf. Mat. 13:1-43). The context of this allegory, Mat. 6:19-34, is entirely devoted to the viewpoint of the wise and godly man regarding wealth and worry. This little figure, then, is supposed to throw light on the entire section and especially the verses which precede and follow it: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Mat. 6:21) You cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat. 6:24)

The eye is that organ of the body which receives light and, by means of the optic nerve, transmits this light to the brain and thence to the body. The accuracy of the image received by the eye, that is, the degree to which that image reflects the reality in nature, is controlled or affected by the quality of the eye. ALL other things being equal, if the eye is sound, the image received is accurate and so is received by the body as real illumination. However, if the eye is diseased or in some way abnormal or in one of the many stages of blindness, the individual is left in the dark to the extent of that abnormalcy of his eyes. This is the literal paraphrase of what Jesus says; but what does He intend to suggest by each of the terms?

The eye is probably to be identified with mans intellect, his conscience, his moral vision, his viewpoint, his way of looking at things, his philosophy. The body becomes that major part of man which is affected by his outlook, namely his actions, the way he expresses himself on the basis of his way of looking at things. The light or darkness then stands for the degree to which the man comprehends reality as it actually is. Since all depends upon the quality of the mans eye, that is the orientation of his convictions, it becomes imperative that we learn what kind of eye is single and what evil.

But here the difficulty begins, since the Greek words used are capable of various translations which in turn depend upon the interpretation given to the passage:

1. Literal, physical health:

a. haplous: sound (See Arndt-Gingrich, 85 and 697 for

b. poneros: sick classical illustrations of these meanings.)

2, Figuratively: Generosity vs. Niggardliness:

a. haplous: generous, Cf. Rom. 12:8; 2Co. 8:2; 2Co. 9:11; 2Co. 9:13; Jas. 1:5; Pro. 22:9.

b. poneros: grudging, niggardly, ungenerous, mean stingy, cf. Deu. 15:9 LXX; Pro. 23:6; Pro. 28:22; esp. Mat. 20:15; Mar. 7:22.

3. Figuratively: Single-mindedness vs. Duplicity:

a. haplous: single, simple, fixed upon one object, one goal one Master, unadulterated with mixed motives, sincere, holy (cf. Eph. 6:5; Col. 3:22; 2Co. 11:3)

b. poneros: double-minded, spoiled, vitiated by many selfish motives, evil. (Cf. Jas. 1:5-8) Though poneros does not specifically mean double-minded, etc. but more generally, evil, wicked, worthless, etc., this idea may be derived from its antithesis (haplous) which, in this case, may mean single, simple, etc.

Obviously the first meaning is not the interpretation, since it is the literal expression which gives rise to Jesus meaning. The meaning must be sought between the latter two. It may be that Jesus has deliberately chosen two words that are capable of four meanings that all express His intent. For it is quite true that ones selfishness (or generosity) affects his capacity to appreciate what Jesus was saying about wealth. It is equally true that ones capacity to act upon Jesus instructions depends upon his true and final allegiance. Again, the second and third definitions might not be so far apart after all, since ones innate generosity or selfishness is really determined by the single-mindedness with which he expresses his lifes one great devotion.

Another demonstration that ones single-minded dedication (or duplicity) affects his generosity (or selfishness), and vice versa, is seen in the immediate context preceding (Mat. 6:1-18) where only the man, whose mind was fixed upon God, could really give, pray and fast; all else was hypocrisy. The succeeding context (Mat. 6:24) preaches the same message: Choose well the one guiding principle of your life, whether your one Master will be God, in which case you will crucify your selfishness in the generous service you render others, or whether you will serve Mammon, in which case you will exalt selfishness to the throne of your heart. Your moral vision is definitely affected by that choice.

Thus, Jesus is at the same time making an observation and sounding a warning: He observes, by means of this allegory, that a man will be guided in his actions by the convictions which form his world-view; if these are mistaken or wrongly oriented, they cannot be trusted to give him true illumination regarding the truth about wealth and worry. The warning which underlies the observation (How great is that darkness!) is: Beware lest your worldly philosophy be nothing but moral blindness and failure to grasp the point of view from which I thus speak! The specific viewpoint to which Jesus has reference is the right philosophy regarding the source and use of wealth as well as whether one will be able to appreciate the true wealth involved in trusting God. (Cf. Eph. 1:18 f with Luk. 16:14)

C. ALLEGIANCE TO THE ALMIGHTY ALONE (6:24)

Mat. 6:24 No man can serve two masters. Jesus expression is stronger than the English versions render it, for He said, No man can be a slave to (douleuein) two Lords. It is assumed that we were created to serve someone or something, (Cf. Gen. 2:15) but just one, not two. Two or more masters might jointly own a slave, but in this case he is really the slave of one entity; therefore, there is no contradiction of Jesus proposition. In such a case Jesus proposition is yet more clearly true when there is a contradiction between the orders of those who think they have a right to command the slave: he cannot obey contradictory orders. It is logically impossible both to do and not do at the same time.

It is also a psychological impossibility because the inner, personal motives of the slave will sooner or later force him to choose which master he desires to please. He would only delude himself if he thought it possible to recognize two Lordships. (Cf. Rom. 6:16) But why did Jesus state so bluntly what should be so obvious? Because men of the world say that we can serve two masters. With a little subtlety here and some compromise there under the guise of diplomacy and tact, we can serve both. (Cf. Jas. 4:4 ; 1Jn. 2:15-16) This is the self-deception that would grasp at both treasures of heaven and earth.

You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is a common Aramaic word for wealth. property, riches. Arndt-Gingrich, 491) There is doubtless personification here, but there is no proof that there was in NT times a Syrian deity called Mammon. (ISBE, 1972) The Lord does not here condemn the lawful and honest getting of money through diligent labor and wise care of funds. Careful stewardship in the gaining and handling of wealth is perfectly in harmony with Jesus warning here. (Cf. Luk. 16:1-13) But unless a man uses his money for God, it quickly becomes obvious which is his real god, (Cf. Heb. 13:5) Note the genius of the Master: rather than name some pagan deity which would date this warning and seem to limit it to that era, the Lord renders His admonition readily applicable to any people or age, Wealth is the kind of god that a person can carry with him anywhere or hoard up in his treasury. Wealth is the god of selfishness, since man will abandon the heavenly Father for it; rare is the man who ever left the service of wealth to give himself to God. (Cf. Mat. 7:13-14) Money earned is coined life; money spent for self is a life spent for self; money wasted is life wasted. Mammon-worship is nothing but civilized life which organizes itself for itself without considering God. Another word for this covetousness is idolatry! (Eph. 5:5 ; Col. 3:5; 1Co. 5:11) It is clearly idolatry because it is the taking away from God what is His due and giving it to a wretched creature. (Cf. Mat. 22:37; Rom. 1:25)

You cannot be a slave (douleuein) to God and mammon. This is a disjunctive proposition: we must choose! This declaration is the hard-won conclusion of Jesus wilderness battle (Mat. 4:10). Jay, cited by Pink (215, 216) shows the intransigence of the two masters, the impossibility to enslave oneself to both:

Their orders are diametrically opposed. The one commands you to walk by faith. the other to walk by sight; the one to be humble, the other to be proud; the one to set your affections on things above, the other to set them on the things that are on the earth; the one to look at the things unseen and eternal, the other to look at the seen and temporal; the one to have your citizenship in heaven, the other to cleave to the dust; the one to be careful for nothing, the other to be all anxiety; the one to content with such as you have, the other to enlarge your desires as the grave; the one to be ready to distribute, the other to withhold; the one to look at the things of others, the other to look at ones own things; the one to seek happiness in the Creator, the other to seek it in the creature. Is it not plain that there is no serving two such masters?

This striking ultimatum forms the perfect transition between Jesus comments on wealth and His teaching on worry (Mat. 6:25-34). The idolatry of covetousness is at the bottom of all straining after wealth and all worry over poverty and is as fatal to ones spiritual perception as might be imagined. This is true because this worldly-mindedness is nothing but an unbelievers over-estimate of material good. It is only a matter of circumstances whether this covetousness will show itself in raking in the money or in solicitous worry. It is the same sin for the worldly-minded rich man as for the covetous poor man. It matters little to Jesus whether a man is rich or poor , but it matters greatly whose possessions he thinks they are, where he thinks he got them, and whether he could do without them. Jesus is demanding that we choose whom we will serve, trust and love: God or gold. Some might be tempted to say, There is no danger of MY laying up earthly treasure because so little of this worlds wealth comes my way that I can scarcely scrape together the barest daily necessities! But the poor must face this same decision as much as the rich. People, rich or poor, who worry are people who forget to pray. People who pray and continue to worry are double-minded, not having set their minds upon one Master, God. They do not yet trust God. (Cf. Jas. 1:5-8)

II. ANXIETY, or ONLY TRUST GOD (6:25-34; cf. Luk. 12:22-31)

A. AN APPEAL FOR AN ACCURATE APPRAISAL (6:25)

Mat. 6:25 Therefore I say unto you is the definite link between the principle just enunciated and the application which follows. Be not anxious (me merimnate) or Be not unduly concerned or DO not worry are now much clearer translations that the KJV which said Take no thought. Taking thought 300 years ago meant exactly what is involved in modern anxiety; taking thought had no connection with giving careful thought to a problem or project. In fact, in this part of His discourse, Jesus is actually commanding His listeners to give very careful thought to their life, to reflect upon what really sustains it.

To understand the correct antithesis of Jesus meaning, let US see what He is NOT teaching. Barclay (I, 258) notes: It is not ordinary prudent foresight, such as becomes a man, that Jesus forbids; it is worry. Jesus is not advocating a shiftless, thriftless, reckless, thoughtless improvident attitude to life; He is forbidding a careworn, worried fear that takes all the joy out of life. As seen in the parallel (Luk. 12:22-48), man must think wisely and plan discreetly concerning the necessities of life. (Cf. Pro. 6:6-8; 2Co. 12:14; 1Ti. 5:8; 2Th. 3:6-15) We are commanded to regard rightly and to plan seriously the use of these God-given blessings, Many people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it, Some are thoughtless about their dress, and they become a disgrace to the race. They become careless about property and God holds them responsible for it. (Cf. Luk. 16:9-13) Jesus does not countenance such imprudence, improvidence and carelessness.

Nor is Jesus pleading for utter indifference to earthly needs or material goods, for He admits our NEED for all these things (Mat. 6:32), There is no asceticism here.

Jesus is teaching against worry. Four times more he will fire verbal broadsides against anxiety (Mat. 6:27-28; Mat. 6:31; Mat. 6:34; see also Luk. 10:41; Luk. 12:11; Luk. 12:22; Php. 4:6) Worry about earthly treasure and bodily needs turns the heart from God to the slavery to mammon. This lusting after things that we do not have, this uneasiness and distraction of mind is sin and a sure sign that the heart is fixed on earth!

Be not anxious about your life, what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Note that the phrase what ye shall drink has been omitted from more ancient manuscripts than those that contain it. If Jesus did not say it, the parallel with His later comment is much closer. Jesus is preaching against that false sense of values created by distrustful worry about the necessities of life. He is appealing for a return to sanity and a re-evaluation of those elements which sustain and bless our life: food and clothing. Is not the life more than the food, and the body more than the raiment? His rhetorical question is well-calculated to appeal for a recognition of the right order in man’s nature. That order of importance is a descending order:

1. The life and the body. Jesus’ word (psyche) is often used to express the life-principle which is the union of soul and body. (Cf. Gen. 9:4 LXX; Mat. 2:20; Mat. 20:28; Luk. 12:20; Joh. 10:11-18; Act. 2:27; Act. 20:10; Rom. 11:3; Rev. 8:9) Jesus defined under what aspect He means the word life (pyche) by means of the questions regarding its sustenance: What shall we eat? Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (Mat. 6:25 a, Mat. 6:31) Therefore it is clear that He is speaking in a Hebrew poetic parallelism: life in the first member is equated with body in the second, while food in the first is changed to clothing in the second member of the parallel. This gnomic poetry form is really conveying positive information:

Life is more important than food;
And the body is more than the raiment.

Thus, while the body is to be taken as parallel to the life, the mention of this particular phase of life advances the thought to introduce another senseless worry: that which covers the body, or, clothing.

But merely because of this parallel in His speech does not mean that Jesus is equating all that is ones life (psyche) with his body (soma), because there is more to life than its union with a body. There is clear evidence that the soul of a man is also expressed by this word. (Cf. Mat. 10:28; Mat. 10:39; Mat. 11:29; Mat. 16:25-26; Mar. 8:36-37; Luk. 9:24; Luk. 17:33; Heb. 10:39; Jas. 1:21; Jas. 5:20; 1Pe. 1:9; 1Pe. 1:22; also Ardt-Gingrich, 901, 902 on psyche) Thus, Jesus is saying, You yourself are more important than the food you eat, the body you inhabit or the clothing that covers it! Men are prone to be more concerned about making physical life possible than about making life worth living. Mere physical existence is not worth the trouble to sustain it, if the problems of the soul are left unsolved. Life does not consist in the abundance or paucity of the things one possesses, eats or wears, but in the God-like quality of his personality, in the strength of his moral character.

2. The food and the raiment are definitely secondary matters when measured against the infinitely higher value of the life and the body, and, hence, are unworthy objects of anxiety. Clothing and food (cf. brosis, Mat. 6:19 note) may be echoes of Jesus previous warning about the transistoriness of earthly possessions and His caution against putting ones trust in them or thinking of them as final goals. (Mat. 6:19) Clothing is important (see Mat. 6:30; Mat. 6:32), but can never be as important as that body which clothes him who is made in the image of God! (2Co. 5:2-5)

Therefore, in terms of priorities, the body is far less important than ones spiritual existence, but it has needs far more pressing than the lack of clothing. The inferiority of the body compared to the man who dwells therein is seen at the point where the man leaves the body, At death none of us will have need of food and clothing. What folly to make our chief concern those things which perish with the using and over which death has dominion!

Back of this order stands God who established it, gave the life, formed the body and sewed its first suit of clothes (Gen. 3:21). Dependence is, the law of our being, because we were obligated to leave to God the size, form, color and nature of our body. Why should we not trust Him for its maintenance? But even the most spiritual of us argue in exactly the opposite way: I must live! I must be clothed and fed! I must know where I will live, where my next meal is coming from! I must have security! The great concern of such lives is obviously not God but how one is going to be enabled to live.

Jesus is objecting to worry because it gives to earthly well-being a false and exaggerated value and ignores the true priorities that must supersede those things which are the common objects of worry, such as food and clothing. (Cf. Joh. 4:34; Php. 3:9; Rev. 3:5; Rev. 3:18; Rev. 7:9; Rev. 19:8)

B. AN APPRECIABLE ADVANTAGE ABOVE ANIMALS (6:26)

Mat. 6:26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Jesus uses this illustration purposely to show the utter unreasonableness, from His standpoint, of being so anxious about the means of living. The birds do not sow, reap nor garner, for these are superior advantages that God has given to man. Birds do not have these possibilities. The thing condemned is not this work, because also a bird is a hardworking little creature, going out and laboring for its daily supply of food. Jesus point is that, even without mans superior advantages, there is not in birds that straining to see the unforeseeable future and seek security in things accumulated for it. They live literally hand to mouth. and yet they did not worry, because they are fulfilling the law of life that God has infused into their being. They are what they are, not because of their concern for themselves, but because of the concern of our heavenly Father for them! Their law of life requires that they live from day to day without worry for future supply. (Cf. Job. 38:41; Psa. 104:25; Psa. 104:27; Psa. 145:14-16; Psa. 147:9)

And your heavenly Father feedeth them. He is their Creator; He is our Father. (Cf. Mat. 5:16; Mat. 5:43; Mat. 5:48; Mat. 6:2-3; Mat. 6:6; Mat. 6:8-9; Mat. 6:14; Mat. 6:18; Mat. 6:32 with Mat. 10:29-31) Already Jesus is testing the moral sensitivity of His hearers, even before He poses that poignant rhetorical question. But HOW does the heavenly Father feed them? Into their nature He has fused the instincts necessary for their survival, such as diet, migratory habits, etc. But these secondary causes for birds actions are no less of the heavenly Father than if He operated directly in every single case. (Luk. 12:6-7; Heb. 1:3) Thus it is not the thought of the little bird about itself that provides its food, but the thought of the heavenly Father. It does not worry for its food; it just obeys the law of its life and becomes what it is. The law of our life is that we work for our food (Gen. 1:28; Gen. 2:15; Gen. 3:17-19). We were created to work, not to worry. Gathering into barns is no sin, even though it means saving for a future need; it is no more sin that sowing and reaping.

Are not ye of much more value than they? This theoretical question is designed to arouse interest and personal concern in Jesus audience. Jesus would keep His disciples eyes ever on the Father: of much more value to whom? Will God nourish birds and forget His own children? But your worry about your nourishment, whether you realize it or not, reflects on Gods love for you! (Rom. 8:32) It also reflects on His sense of priorities: it assumes that He busies Himself with things of less importance in His universe while ignoring man whom He created in His own likeness and for His own personal fellowship! It also puts God into a religious compartment, separating Him from the practical affairs of life like food getting. The disciples are being put to a severe test: Is that relation which God sustains to you a vital one and does His daily provision really count for anything, or is your faith mere theory and cant? If we really trust Him, we may work without worrying!

C. ANXIETY NOT ABLE TO ALTER ALTITUDE NOR ADVANCE AGE (6:27)

Mat. 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? Jesus word (helikia), translated measure of life (ASV) or stature (KJV) is particularly interesting because it is just enough ambiguous to suggest two fruitful lessons:

1. Physical stature, height (helikia; cf. Luk. 19:3; perhaps also Luk. 2:52; Eph. 4:13) Plummer (Luke, 326f) objects that not many people give anxious thought to the problem of adding the length of the forearm (a pechus, or cubit) to their stature because it would produce a monstrosity and would not be spoken of as something insignificant (Luk. 12:25-26). However, this objection looks only at the adults as they were at that moment. But they were not always this way. They began as a being smaller than a span and grew by the gradual increase that God had ordained in the laws governing growth. Neither anxious worry nor loss of sleep nor beating ones brains about it could have altered the exact height of a child at any stage of his growth.

2. Length of life (helikia; see Arndt-Gingrich, 345, for extrabiblical evidence of this meaning) Many people do worry about the prolongation of their allotted age by any amount. The image called up by this expression of Jesus is that of a man anxiously hurrying across the years of his life. He stumbles, grasping for his last breath and reaches out, clawing his way forward in the effort to have just another 18 inches along the path of life. He dies miserably short of this least goal! ALL of his previous worries have been in vain, because, worry or no, his life has run its come.

This time Jesus use of the rhetorical question, Which of you . . . ? brings the hearer to make a pragmatic judgment about the actual results of worry, It is as if Jesus were saying, Your life of worry shows that you do not accept MY theory about Gods providence and care. Let us examine YOUR theory of constant worry: what does your theory produce? The basic problem we must both solve is that of prolonging your life as far as possible. After all, is not this why you worry? But does your theory make a man live longer? Does your sinful, unbelieving anxiety resolve this basic problem of life? No, it miserably fails at the very point where it was supposed to work!

Although Jesus did not mention it, as a matter of fact worry often shortens life through shattered nerves, stomach ulcers and heart attacks. These are often the result of constant worry which wears out of the mind and body, which distracts the attention from real sources of help, and which lessens the power of decision and pushes men gradually into a frustrating incapacity to deal with life.

D. THE ABSURDITY OF ATTEMPTING AN APPROACH TO AN ALLURING ARRAY OF ANEMONE (6:28-30a)

Mat. 6:28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? This question is the principle point of Jesus description of the field lilies, not the fact that they perform no work. Consider the lilies of the field (ta Krina tou agrou). Just what flower Jesus indicates by this term is not known. Some think He meant the autumn crocus, the scarlet poppy, the Turks cap lily, the anemone coronaria, the narcissus, the gladiolus or the iris. Perhaps Jesus had no particular flower in mind, but was thinking of the extremely beautiful flowers that adorn the Galilean fields. How they grow: this is the precise connection in which Jesus brings in the flowers to illustrate His point about worry concerning clothing. They toil not, neither do they spin, i.e. without wearying themselves through struggle and without spinning their first thread to make clothing, they grow. But they were not designed to do these tasks of which hard-working men and women are capable. They, like the birds, do those simple tasks assigned to them, and God takes care of the rest. This is the point: men were not designed to worry; they were designed to trust God and to toil and spin without anxiety.

Mat. 6:29 Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Solomon was without peer as Israels wealthiest, most magnificently arrayed king. (Cf. 2 Kings 10) The mention of Solomons glory suggests a secondary lesson: your ideal is false and patently unattainable. Would you seek to clothe yourself in rich raiment? Solomons class is still beyond you. But even if you had the wealth to put yourself on his level, one simple unworrying flower surpasses you and Solomon both! Thus, the struggle to put together lavish wardrobes must not become an obsession, since God is clothing flowers every year and we cannot compete with them for magnificence and beauty. Treasuring garments of great value is a false ideal because they are always rags when compared to the simplest flowers.

Mat. 6:30 a But if God does so clothe the grass of the field. How does God clothe them? His original fiat of creation has become Gods continually operative word that has provided for the nature and sustenance of the lilies and grass of the field. (Cf. Gen. 1:11) Some call that word of God natural law, but it is nonetheless Gods care, no matter how we denominate it. Which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven vividly describes the ephemeral nature of these little creatures who enjoy Gods personal care, In a country long stripped of its forests and where fuel would be scarce, grass and stalks of all kinds would be thrown into the outdoor clay-brick ovens to heat the interior for baking bread. When the oven was sufficiently hot, the ashes of the burnt grasses were swept out and the dough was placed immediately on the heated floor of the oven.

But is Jesus considering the beautiful flowers and the grass together as being thrown into the oven? Naturally, they would be Cut down together. If so, is He emphasizing their fleeting beauty, i.e. glorious flowers and refreshing grass in a desert country, or is He indicating their minor usefulness to heat the oven for baking bread?

1. If fleeting beauty, perhaps He is saying, In view of the brevity of life and the temporary nature of physical charm and the perishable quality of the most gorgeous garments, how baseless and foolish is pride over a handsome body and anxious concern for royal apparel! (Cf. 1Pe. 1:24; 1Pe. 3:3-4)

2. If minor usefulness, then He may be saying, Man is of eternal usefulness to God, and if God is so concerned about so minor a creature as grass and flowers, will He neglect man who is to Him of infinitely greater value and enduring service? They are made but for a few days; God made man for eternity.

Shall he not much more clothe you. . . ? The same God who spoke into being that providential law for the clothing of grass and flowers, has also spoken His word of power to clothe man. Our God-given task is to do the work appointed for us (toil and spin of Mat. 6:28). It is by means of this work that He has ordained for us that He has chosen to provide for us. But concern for the unseeable and unknowable future is Gods business, not outs. Therefore, worry is a contradiction of our nature, just as it is absurd when applied to flowers and grass.

E. AN ALARMING ACCUSATION (Mat. 6:30 b)

Mat. 6:30 b O ye of little faith. (Cf. Mat. 8:26; Mat. 14:31; Mat. 16:8; Mat. 17:20; Jas. 1:5-8) This is the most significant term of reproach Jesus ever used toward His disciples. In this context, their worry is a practical expression of infidelity because they distrust God for raiment, Jesus is proving decisively that theology and things definitely affect each other. The same faith that trusts God for grace and guidance must also trust Him for garments and groceries. Man is all one piece: the less he trusts God for his temporal needs, the less he really believes in His eternal mercies, since the same faith is called upon to lay hold of both. (Study Dc. 8 and Mat. 4:1-11) Therefore, anxiety is not simply a human weakness that we may excuse of a trifle about which we need not get too excited. It is grave sin for which we must be pardoned, for it chokes out faith in God’s word! (Cf. Mat. 13:22; Luk. 8:14)

F. ANXIETY IS AKIN TO ALIEN AGNOSTICISM AND ATHEISM (6:31, 32)

Mat. 6:31 Be not therefore anxious. This is a command of the Son of God, a command equal to any other which the disciple is called upon to obey, a test of allegiance just as surely as baptism or public testimony or any other demonstration of faithfulness to Jesus. It is more than just g d advice which may be taken or left. Therefore emphasizes the relation of this command to the foregoing principles upon which the prohibition is based.

This anxiety shows itself in such questions as What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? Many more questions might be added, but these fundamental Ones cover a multitude of other worries. These are the very symptoms of distrustful people, the very complaints they make when they encounter losses or adversities befall them or their supply of necessities is apparently cut off, or when they lose their job or their investments do not pay off or they are stricken with some incapacitating disease. These very demands denote that they who ask them have no faith in God’s goodness.

To study the life of Jesus is to find out how simple were His daily needs and how stern was His devotion to the doing of God’s will, and such a study should shame us at the outrageous expense of our desires (Luk. 9:58)! Further, if worry about the necessities is sin, what would Jesus call our unjustifiable anxiety about those things that are not absolutely essential to existence and may be called luxuries? Wall-to-wall carpets, boats, color TV, second and third cars, household appliances, etc. There is nothing wrong with these things in themselves except that they are of this earth. and, being the objects of our straining and our loving care, they may well become our real god. (Mat. 6:24)

Mat. 6:32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. Worry is characteristic of heathen unbelief, Of what use then is all our religious orthodoxy and knowledge if we still act like those who never heard of our Father? How many of us are pagans in a crisis? How many are daring enough to bank their faith on Gods character? Such distrust may be understandable in one who believes in a capricious, unpredictable god, but such conduct in a worshipper of our Father is totally incomprehensible. Another characteristic of pagans is that they think that they themselves must provide for all their needs without any dependable reference to the true God, There must be a marked difference in the practical affairs of Jesus disciple that strikes a sharp contrast with the mentality of the world (Joh. 17:14; Rom. 12:2; Tit. 2:12).

For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Peter (1Pe. 5:7) puts it eloquently: Cast all your anxieties upon Him, for He cues about you. Jesus has revealed God as one who knows and can never forget our smallest concern, If we accept Him as Father on this basis, worry becomes impossible, for to worry is to deny both the wisdom and knowledge of God and to doubt His love. Notice that Jesus puts the emphasis here: He does not call Him God, in the sense of an omniscient Supreme Eking who would be expected to know our need, but Father, in the sense of one who both knows and feels our need.

Jesus is constantly trying to restore our proper perspective (Cf. notes on Mat. 6:22-23): life does not consist in concern for the merely physical and sensual aspect of existence. Food, clothing and shelter are not mans greatest problems and must not sap his strength from his one main true obsession: kingdom righteousness.

G. THE APPROVED, ADEQUATE ANTIDOTE FOR ANXIETY (6:33)

Mat. 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. This is Jesus positive answer to worry and covetousness, a program guaranteed to lead His followers into that peace of soul that only he can know who knows that he belongs to God. (Cf. Act. 16:19-25; Rom. 14:17; Php. 3:7-21) Barclay (I, 261) notes:

To concentrate upon the doing of, and acceptance of Gods will is the way to defeat worry. . . . A great love can drive out every other concern, Such a love can inspire a mans work, intensify his study, purify his life, dominate his whole being. . . . Worry is banished when God becomes the dominating power of our lives.

Seek first is an interesting command because Jesus does not say what to seek second. He knows that He has nothing to worry about from the man who puts Gods will first and who trusts God for all the rest. Marshalls pithy note (124) is quite apropos here:

Men are prone to put economic considerations first and to sacrifice moral principles for sake of their daily bread. The plea I must live is often advanced as an excuse for unethical behavior. When business men argue that Business is business they usually mean that it is exempt from ethical control . . . This word of Jesus is a call to moral heroism, to the high resolve to do that which is right in the sight of God whether it brings gain or loss, prosperity or adversity Whatever happens, moral claims must be met first.

Seek first his kingdom, his righteousness, in too many ears, sounds like an impractical leap in the dark, an attack upon that which our common sense says we must believe, a despising of all earthly institutions upon which we so naturally rest our confidence, and the destruction of our false sense of property and security which so greatly hinders our spiritual development. In fact, Jesus intends that we get this impression, because He is hitting desperately hard at our dependence on things. Later, in His discussion of the dangers that confront His disciple (chapter 7), He will reiterate the exhortation to confide our needs to God (Mat. 7:7-11) because of the constant danger of trusting something or someone else.

His kingdom means Gods rule, His will. (See Notes on Mat. 6:10) His righteousness means seeking to be righteous on His terms. (See Introduction to the Sermon and the Notes on Mat. 5:17 ff) God wants to give us the kingdom and all the benefits of His benign rule. (CY. Luk. 12:32; see also on the Beatitudes) Why should we worry about all these other secondary matters? (Cf. Psa. 37:5; Psa. 55:22; Psa. 127:2; Pro. 16:3; 1Pe. 5:7) ALL these things shall be added unto you. God knows we are not angels or machines, but men. (Psa. 103:13-14) He knows that we must be provided for. So, to test our faith and to strengthen our hope He subjoins His faithful promise of blessing. But He has also willed that we work without worry, because undistracted labor produces rich fruits both in securing our daily needs and in providing help for future needs both for ourselves and others (1Th. 4:10 b-12; Mat. 5:14; 2Th. 3:6-13; 1Ti. 5:3-16; Eph. 4:28) On the other hand, those who ignore the Kingdom so that they can assure themselves of their life sustenance, will lose both the Kingdom and their life too! (Mat. 16:24-26)

H. ANXIOUS APPREHENSION ALWAYS ANTICIPATES ADDITIONAL ADVERSITY AND ATROPHIES ABILITIES (6:34)

Mat. 6:34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. (Pro. 27:1; Luk. 12:19-20; Jas. 4:14) Only when we learn to live one day at a time can we really stop worrying. (See on Mat. 6:11) Worry about tomorrow is the sin of presumptuousness, for to do so one must necessarily assume that God will give him a day that He has not promised. The worrier might not even live to see the next day and thus he will have sinned by taking out of Gods hands a day that did not belong to him and never would exist for him.

Further, worry about the future tomorrows must ever suffer its own logical fallacies, its hypotheses contrary to fact. Tomorrow, by its very nature is an imaginary world, a handy word to describe the day that follows today. But tomorrow never comes, never exists. Every dawn brings another today with its problems, trials and difficulties geared to our capacity to deal with them within the dawn-to-dark limits of this day. (Cf. 1Co. 10:13; Heb. 3:12-14) The real future when it comes is rarely as bad as the tomorrow we had feared, Barclay (I, 263) observes:

We are still alive. Had someone told us that we would have had to go through what we have actually gone through, we would have said that it was impossible. The lesson of life is that somehow we have been enabled to bear the unbearable and to pass the breaking point without breaking.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Jesus is using the word evil in the sense of adversity, problems, troubles, trials and difficulties, not however without some flavor of moral failure mixed in. The point is this: we must not borrow trouble from tomorrow as if today did not have it already in sufficient quantity. Jesus is telling us that each day already has enough problems to solve and that we must not burden and hinder our effectiveness to solve them by adding other unreal worries.

FACT QUESTIONS

1. What is the difference between treasures on earth and treasures in heaven?
2. How does a moth corrupt earthly treasures?
3. What is the literal meaning of the word usually translated rust (brosis)? Following this literal meaning, what is made to disappear?

4. How do thieves dig through? Why? Explain this figure in its local setting.
5. In this section does Jesus prohibit prudent saving for the future -of ones family? Prove your answer.
6. Explain the metaphor: The lamp of the body is the eye.
7. Explain the allegory of the eye. What is meant by the eye, the body which is illuminated by it? What kind of eye is whole? What kind is evil? What is intended by the darkness that is in thee? When is thy body full of light?
8. Why can we not serve two masters! Explain why a divided loyalty is SO impossible and the attempt to serve both God and mammon so dangerous.

9. About what are we not to be anxious? (Mat. 6:25; Mat. 6:31; Mat. 6:34)

10. Define anxiety or worry in such a way as to show why Jesus considered it so sinful.

11. How is it possible to use our unrighteous mammon to serve God? (Cf. Luk. 16:9-13)

12. What is the reason Jesus gives that we must lay up treasure in heaven, and not on earth?
13. How does God feed the birds, array the lilies of the field and clothe the grass of the field? What does this fact reveal about how He feeds and clothes us?
14. Why was Solomon mentioned? In what connection?
15. Why was grass thrown into the oven?
16. What life is more than the food? Does Jesus mean here our spiritual or our physical life?
17. List several reasons, stated by Jesus in this section, why anxiety is sin.
18. What is the point of each of the following figures Jesus used?

a. Life is more than food and the body than raiment.
b. Birds of the air.
c. Add one cubit to the measure of ones life.
d. Lilies and grass of the field.
e, Gentiles seek all these things.
f. Tomorrow will worry about itself.

19. What is the kingdom which we must seek first? What did this phrase mean to the audience who first heard it? What does it mean to us?
20. What is His righteousness which we must seek first? What does this word mean, when taken in the context of all that Jesus revealed about it in this Sermon on the Mount?
21. If we dedicate ourselves to putting the Kingdom and His righteousness first, who will be responsible for our necessities?
22. What kind of evil was Jesus talking about when He said, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof?
23. What are the great principles, taught in this section, which reveal I the nature and genius of Jesus religion?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures.Literally, with a force which the English lacks, treasure not up your treasures.

Where moth and rust doth corrupt.The first word points to one form of Eastern wealth, the costly garments of rich material, often embroidered with gold and silver. (Comp. Your garments are moth-eaten in Jas. 5:2.) The second word is not so much the specific rust of metals, as the decay which eats into and corrodes all the perishable goods of earth.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1 . Our treasure not on earth, but in heaven.

19. Treasures The first thought of a superficial reader of these words is likely to be, that our Saviour actually forbids all acquirement of wealth or property, real or personal. And objectors to the Scriptures endeavour to maintain this as the true construction, and so to prove that Jesus teaches a monkish kind of piety. But, first, it to be marked that the very basis on which our Lord gives this precept presupposes that earthly goods are good in their place. His doctrine is that, if we seek first the higher good, all these things, constituting the lower good, shall be subordinately added unto us. Mat 6:33. And, second, the word treasures does not mean simply riches. The term is not to be literally limited to material wealth alone, but is a symbol for whatever we hold to be our main good, whatever has our predominant affection, whatever is our aim of life. The sentiment, then, is, Make heavenly, not earthly good supreme in your heart. So also moth, rust, and thieves are symbols of whatever can destroy our treasures. If our treasures are wealth, riches take wings and fly away; if beauty, disease may impair it; if learning, idiocy; if strength, paralysis; if talent, insanity, and of all our treasures, m whatever form, the grand thief is death.

For yourselves Making gratification of self your end.

Moth The moth is a worm which breeds in neglected clothes, eats their substance, and destroys their texture. So Isa 50:9; Isa 51:8; Ecclesiastes 19:3.

Rust Corrosion, or wear and tear of any kind. Corrupt Destroy.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

III. CHRISTIAN PIETY DISTINGUISHED FROM GENTILISM, Mat 6:19 to Mat 7:27.

Fallen Judaism is the impure service of the true God; Gentilism is the true service of a false god. That god is the world-god Mammon. Gentilism has lost its divine parent; it has become orphaned of our Father who is in heaven. In his place it has substituted the Mammon service and the earthly goods. After all these things do the Gentiles seek. Mat 6:32.

It is perfectly plain that with Mat 6:18 our Lord closes his treatment of fallen Judaism. Thereafter he takes a wider scope over the world, and treats, throughout the remainder of the chapter, upon the world-wide substitution of the earthly good for the heavenly good, (Mat 6:19-23,) of the rivalry of Mammon before the heavenly Father, (Mat 6:24,) and the dominion of Care in the place of the kingdom or dominion of God over us. (Mat 6:25-30.) He calls us back beneath the paternity of God, promising that if we will make him our sole Supreme, all earthly goods shall be subordinately added.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1). The Choice As To Which Treasure Will Be Sought And Lived For.

Analysis of Mat 6:19-21 .

a A “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth,

b B Where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal,

c E But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

b F Where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,

a G For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

As regularly in the sermon this can be seen as both a chiasmus and a sequence. The capital letters both indicate the sequence and tie up with the previous examples in Mat 6:1-18. On the chiasmus we note that in ‘a’ laying up treasure on earth is forbidden and in the parallel that is because the heart will be where the treasure is. In ‘b’ we have the contrast between the activity of moth and rust on earth, and the non-activity of it in Heaven. In ‘c’ comes the central command to lay up treasure in Heaven.

Mat 6:19

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth,

Where moth and rust (‘that which eats up’) 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 jewellery, gold, and other metals etc. or it may be wealth of a simpler form of stout or 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 (compare Isa 51:8), by being ‘eaten up’ by rust (the word ‘eaten up’ is also used by Galen of tooth decay) 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.

Note the parallel and contrast with Mat 7:6. Here they must beware what they do with their material possessions, for they are subject to the attacks of nature’s predators, while there they must be careful what they do with their ‘spiritual’ possessions, lest they be trampled underfoot, and they themselves attacked, by dogs and swine (unfriendly Gentiles and unbelieving Jews?). So while being wise about their physical possessions, they must also be wise in dealing with their spiritual possessions. They must not parade them before men, otherwise it could turn against them.

An alternative to seeing ‘eaten up’ here as referring to rust may be found in the seeing it as containing the thought of mice eating the stored grain, or even more likely of a smallholding being totally overrun by vermin. On top of which may then come the human vermin who will ‘dig through’ even more than the vermin. This last verb might have in mind the fact that thieves would often enter ancient houses by digging through the walls. On the other hand it could well be that by this time the term had become extended in meaning so as to signify any type of ‘breaking in’.

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 (Luk 12:13-21), 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 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 life of many a righteous person has been destroyed because wealth suddenly began to accrue. John Wesley told of the sad effect on the spiritual lives of early Methodists, when, as a result of their ceasing heavy drinking combined with having a new attitude to work they began to build up possessions and prosper, with the result that as they became wealthier, so they became more slack in their spiritual activity.

Jesus therefore attacks the problem by stressing the vulnerability and openness to attack of possessions. Let men get the right attitude to such possessions and it will enable them to cope with them the more easily. Thus once they begin to find that they have wealth in excess of what they really need, they must give serious thought as to where they will build up their excess, on earth where it is vulnerable, or in Heaven where it is safe. His purpose was to establish that physical possessions were only ‘temporal’ (compare 2Co 4:18). They passed away. It would be foolish therefore to put too much dependence on them, for their greatest value should rather be in using them to buy friends in eternal habitations (Luk 16:9) by their wise and spiritual use of them.

The clear message is that we are to recognise that as disciples of Jesus what we possess is not to be kept for ourselves (compare Mat 19:21; Luk 12:33-34; 1Ti 6:9-10), 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 (see also Jas 5:1-4 and compare a similar overall lesson in 2Co 4:16-18), 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, whos clothing puts Solomon to shame.

Mat 6:20

“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 (Mat 19:21; Luk 12:33) 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.

It is certainly not intended to indicate that a rich man can buy himself a better future in eternity than a poor man, as Mat 20:1-16 makes clear. In fact it puts the rich man at a decided disadvantage, for all the while he will be in danger of being taken up by the ‘deceitfulness of riches’. But as long as he is faithful then by his faithfulness he will receive his ‘reward’, just as the poor man will.

‘Treasures in Heaven.’ The idea of ‘treasure in Heaven’ was not new. In the Testament of Levi Mat 13:5 we read, ‘work righteousness (give alms) my children on the earth, that you may have it as a treasure in Heaven’, and the thought of such treasures in Heaven occurs elsewhere, resulting from a ‘righteousness’, which is closely linked with almsgiving. Its use here therefore appears to link with the idea of charitable giving. On the other hand Jesus regularly suggests ‘rewards’ and ‘recompense’ in Heaven which contains a very similar idea, and these are also promised to those who are persecuted or suffer for His sake (Mat 5:12; 2Co 4:17), those who love their enemies (Mat 5:46), those who give charitable gifts secretly (Mat 6:4), those who pray in secret (Mat 6:6), those who fast secretly (Mat 6:15), those who give a cup of cold water in His name (Mat 10:42), and those who reveal their love for Christ’s brothers by their kindnesses towards them (Mat 25:40). In the end treasures will be built up by doing to others what we would that they would do to us (Mat 7:12).

Mat 6:21

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. (And the greatest treasure of all for us is Jesus Christ our Lord – 2Co 4:6-7). 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 fulfilment of the promises of the beatitudes.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

They Must Lay Up Their Treasure In Heaven As They Cannot Serve God and Mammon (6:19-24).

Having dealt with the question of what His disciples’ attitude is to be towards ‘religious’ activity, namely charitable giving, prayer and fasting, and the need in each case for them to be exercised in secrecy in order that they may bring glory to God and not men, and may bring them into a close relationship with their heavenly Father, Jesus now moves on to more ‘mundane’ matters, attitude towards worldly possessions, worldly needs, and worldly judgments towards others, which are all to be made heavenly and thus bring them into contact with their heavenly Father, and this will then lead on to heavenly fellowship with the Father (Mat 7:7-11), with everything (the Law and the Prophets) then summed up in the Golden Rule (Mat 7:12). Here His emphasis is on the fact that they must take up a positive attitude to each. (It should be noted how the sermon is full of positive attitudes). But even here there is a warning of the need to keep some things secret (Mat 7:6). Spiritual activity should not be flaunted before a pagan world. God is not their heavenly Father. Thus the heavenly community must keep itself separated in mind and thought from the world.

There is a parallel to the previous section in that almsgiving (Mat 6:2-3) parallels laying up treasures in Heaven (Mat 6:19-21), praying to their Father, especially concerning His Kingly Rule (Mat 6:4-6), parallels the need not to be anxious about their needs because of the Father’s provision, and the seeking of His Kingly Rule (Mat 6:25-34), receiving forgiveness as those who forgive others (Mat 6:14-15), parallels and contrasts with being judged as those who have judged others (Mat 7:1-2), and fasting (Mat 6:16-18) parallels the idea of the continual persevering prayer and sense of the presence of the Father as described in Mat 7:7-8.

The central idea in this first example is the choice between God and Mammon. Initially they have to choose whether they will serve God or Mammon. This choice, he points out, will be made clear by where they store up their treasures and on what they fix their eye. While this reference to ‘treasures’ may undoubtedly be seen as having special reference to the ‘better off’, it is actually equally relevant to all, for ‘things’ can grip the hearts of both rich and poor alike, and heavenly treasure are available to all. Jesus’ warning is thus of the grave danger of ‘possessions’, and how it is to be countered. (Jesus always prepares us for coming temptations. The problem is that we do not always listen to Him).

We should note that this passage fits firmly into the structure of the Sermon. For while it undoubtedly directly connects with what follows, it also connects back to what has gone before. Similar choices as to whether to serve God or unrighteousness have been present throughout the Sermon, and especially in Mat 6:1-18, and now they are present here. Furthermore there are particular ways in which this passage connects up with Mat 6:1-18. Thus, the opening negative imperative parallels that in Mat 6:16; what is forbidden comes first, followed by what is to be done, in the same way as it does in 2-3, 5-6, 7-9, 16-17; the move from second person plural to second person singular reflects 1-4, 5-6, 16-18; the idea of treasure laid up parallels that of reward in Mat 6:1; Mat 6:4; Mat 6:6; Mat 6:18. Thus there are similarities between them of approach, grammar and basic principles.

Analysis of Mat 6:19-24 .

a “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mat 6:19-21).

b “The lamp of the body is the eye, if therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light” (Mat 6:22).

c “But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Mat 6:23 a).

b “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mat 6:23 b)

a No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mat 6:24).

Note that in ‘a’ we have the contrast between earthly treasure and heavenly treasure which decide on the direction that the heart takes, and in the parallel the choice between two masters, God and Mammon, which again determines the direction that the heart takes. In ‘b’ we have fullness of light if the eye truly lightens the body and in the parallel great darkness if the light within is darkness. And in ‘c’ if the eye is evil (wrongly directed) darkness will rule.

The movement of thought of the passage is as follows. Firstly comes the choice as to which treasure will be sought and lived for, then comes the decision as to where the eye will be fixed in order to carry out that choice, and then comes the consequence, the service of one master or the other.

The passage can then be divided up into three smaller sections.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Three (or Four) Commands Which Concern The Attitude That His Disciples Should Take Up With Regard To The World Emphasising The Taking Up Of A Positive Spiritual Attitude And The Eschewing Of A Worldly Negative Attitude (6:19-7:12).

Having described how His disciples are to behave towards the Law (Mat 5:21-48), and having considered their attitude towards charitable giving, prayer and fasting (Mat 6:1-18), Jesus now turns to consider:

1). What they should do about material wealth (Mat 6:19-24).

2). How they should provide for their necessities (Mat 6:25-34).

3). How they should exercise judgment among themselves (Mat 7:1-6).

A possible fourth is how they should approach what God has available to give them in Mat 7:6-12) For just as in Mat 6:1-18 the verses on the Lord’s Prayer in Mat 6:7-15 are a part of the series, and yet distinguished clearly from the other three, so here verse Mat 7:6 is both an essential conclusion to the different chiasmi leading up to it, and an introduction to a final contrast which caps all that has gone before and finalises the central section of the Sermon.

In each case He warns against the negative approach, which can only lead to concern and worry, and emphasises the positive spiritually acceptable approach which will bring the approval of their Father. And this is then climaxed either by what their reaction should be towards the scornful and those who despise their message, who are fleshly (dogs and pigs) and therefore do not know the Father (Mat 7:6), or by the final statement in Mat 7:12 (or to some extent both).

In each of these cases the question is dealt with by contrasts, by a thesis followed by an antithesis (as previously from Mat 5:21 onwards). Firstly they are not to lay up treasures on earth but to lay them up in Heaven, for they cannot serve God and Mammon (Mat 6:19-24). 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 (Mat 6:25-34). Thirdly they are not to judge each other in the state that they are, with a plank in their eye that prevents them from seeing properly and makes them behave harshly, but must do it, having removed the plank, so that they may see clearly in order to gently remove splinters from the eyes of their brethren, while at the same time being aware that they should not try in quite the same way to remove splinters from the eyes of outsiders or bring home to them deeper spiritual truths, as this could only cause problems, resentment and even persecution (Mat 7:1-6), indicating that what can be done in the heavenly fellowship cannot be done in the world. Thus wisdom is required throughout.

This is then followed by the thesis in Mat 7:6 concerning not offering what is holy to dogs, and the antithesis in Mat 6:7 on instead receiving what is holy from their heavenly Father

This whole section may be analysed as follows:

a They must not lay up treasures on earth where they will corrupt, but must lay them up in Heaven where they will not corrupt, for their hearts will be where their treasures are (Mat 6:19-21).

b They must ensure that their eyes are single, and fixed on what is good, for otherwise their eyes will be dark, and the darkness will be great (Mat 6:22-23).

c They must judge wisely as to which master they will serve, for they cannot serve both God and Mammon (Mat 6:24).

d They must not be constantly anxious about life, about what to eat and what to wear, but are to consider how God provides for His creatures abundantly (Mat 6:25-29).

e They are to have the faith to recognise that God, Who provides even for the useless grass, will far more provide for their needs (Mat 6:30).

d They are thus not to be constantly anxious about what to eat and what to wear, but are to seek first God’s Kingly Rule and His righteousness, and to leave to each day the troubles of that day (Mat 6:31-34).

c They must not pass superficial judgments about others who serve Him, otherwise that judgment will rebound on them (Mat 7:1-2).

b Once they have removed the plank from their own eyes they will then be able helpfully to remover the splinters from their brothers’ eyes (thus ensuring that their eyes too are single) (Mat 7:3-5).

a They must not give what is holy (from their treasures in Heaven) to dogs, and must not give their pearls (what is uncorrupted and pure) to swine, lest they turn and trample their possessions into the mud and attack those who possess them (Mat 7:6).

However, this must be with the proviso that Mat 7:6 now also leads on into Mat 7:7-12 which deals with how they are to receive from their heavenly Father all the spiritual gifts which will enable them to succeed.

Note that in ‘a’ they must consider carefully how they make use of their earthly treasures, lest they become corrupted, and are attacked by predators (moth, rust, thieves), so that those earthly treasures then ‘attack’ them where they are most vulnerable, in their hearts, and in the parallel they are to consider well how they use their spiritual treasures, lest they use them foolishly and find that they become vandalised, and they themselves persecuted, by earthly predators (dogs, pigs). In ‘b’ their eyes are to be single, and in the parallel they are to assist each other to keep their eyes single. In ‘c’ they are to make right judgments about Who or what they serve, and in the parallel are to make right judgments within that service. In ‘d’ they are not to be anxious about necessities, and in the parallel the same. And centrally their faith must be turned towards God the Great Provider.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Seek First the Kingdom of Heaven ( Luk 12:22-34 ) In Mat 6:19-34 Jesus teaches on the priority of seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven. We may liken this to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai as they were now ready to seek the Promised Land. They fell into fear and worry because of the circumstances around them. Jesus tells us the secret to success is to seek God first and trust that He will meet our needs.

The theme of Mat 6:19-34 is about learning to live each day without worry, by trusting that God will supply our every need. So, in order to take our eyes off of the threatening concerns of this world, we must find a place of confident to gaze upon. We must learn that God is able to divinely guide our every step; for He is our Father, which is the most intimate name for God in the Holy Scriptures. He is also our All-Sufficient, All-Mighty Lord. Matthew uses God’s creation to illustrate to us that He is able to supernaturally provide for these lowly creatures, and how much more for us. Jesus gives us an example from the animal kingdom and from the plant kingdom in order to show to us God’s love towards us. Jesus also calls God by the name of “Father” in this passage of Scripture in order to let us know how He loves us far more than He loves all other living creatures under heaven. We must know how perfect is His knowledge about us that He knows our every need even before we know the need. Therefore, the only way that we can enter into rest and depart from worry and anxiety is to come to know our Heavenly Father and to believe that He is intervening in our lives each day. The more intimately we know Him, the easier it is to rest in His loving arms.

Singleness of Heart In Mat 6:19-24 Jesus teaches the people about singleness of heart, or how to keep a pure heart towards God. A person must watch his heart and not let covetousness creep in by storing up valuables upon earth (Mat 6:19). Man’s true treasures are in heaven (Mat 6:20). A man’s heart will become attached to his treasures (Mat 6:21). We are to keep our hearts pure, because this is the instrument by which God speaks to man and guides him in righteousness (Mat 6:22). A person with an impure heart cannot hear the voice of God, but will walk in darkness (Mat 6:23). The spirit of man is created so that it can only be devoted to one master (Mat 6:24). This single devotion of heart will be necessary for the next step of following God’s leadership by the spirit, which Jesus discusses in the next passage of Scripture, where He addresses worry and seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first (Mat 6:25-34).

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Mat 6:19 Comments A person’s treasures are whatever their heart is passionate to receive. If a person loves money, or sports cars, or entertainment, these become his “treasures.” Jesus will tell us in Mat 6:32 that the Gentiles are seeking after all of these things. However, we are not to seek earthly things, but rather heavenly things.

Jesus warns us that earthly treasures are corruptible, and therefore, temporal. If we can place ourselves back in Bible times, we can imagine the clothes being made of wool and other natural fabrics. We can see how their houses were not built like they are today to keep out bugs and moths. How often these ancients must have pulled out there clothes to find moth holes in them. Their iron work did not have the galvanized coatings that modern science had developed. So, iron would rust quickly and break down. We have a similar statement in James as he rebukes the rich for robbing wages from the poor in order to heap to themselves earthly riches.

Jas 5:2-3, “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.”

Illustration – After having spent two years driving a garbage truck, it finally dawned on me that, eventually, every bit of our material possessions, everything, including houses and cars, which were once so valued, will become old, decayed, rotted or corrupted and thrown away. It all found its way into the back of my garbage truck, even the farmer’s beloved old dog, now dead was once thrown in the back of my garbage truck.

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Mat 6:20 Comments Because earthly treasures are temporal, we must put our efforts in this life to store up heavenly treasures. Such heavenly treasures are those things that are eternal, such as peace and joy in the Lord, communion with the Father, walking in the gifts of the Spirit and callings of God.

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Mat 6:21 Comments Our treasure is what we consider the most valuable, the most important, or the top priority in our life. Jesus tells us to store our treasures in heaven, where we know we will receive a reward one day (Luk 14:14, 2Ti 4:7-8); but more importantly, our hearts will stay pure before God and not be turned away towards covetousness.

Luk 14:14, “And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”

2Ti 4:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

To be able to store our treasures in heaven, we are to set our minds on heavenly things, things that we understand are eternal.

Col 3:1-3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

It is not hard to tell where your heart is. A man is going to talk about his treasure. Why? Because that will be what is on his heart, and he will speak out of the abundance of his heart (Mat 12:34). Listen to the conversation that normally comes out of your mouth. This is not referring to religious talk that we many put on in church. Listen to what you enjoy talking about. You know already what your joy is. Most people know what you enjoy talking about, also. God knows our heart (1Sa 16:7, 1Ch 28:9, etc):

Mat 12:34, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

1Sa 16:7, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

1Ch 28:9, “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”

Psa 7:9, “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.”

Pro 17:3, “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.”

Jer 11:20, “But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.”

Jer 17:10, “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

Jer 20:12, “But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.”

Joh 2:24, “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,”

Act 1:24, “And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,”

Heb 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

Rev 2:23, “And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”

Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Mat 6:22 “The light of the body is the eye” – Comments The eye refers to the heart, or the spirit of man (Pro 20:27, Act 26:18, Eph 1:18). In the previous passage (Mat 6:19-21) Jesus has just discussed singleness of heart towards God by storing up treasures in heaven, and not upon the earth. He now explains that the heart of man is what illuminates his path so that he can walk upright before God.

Pro 20:27, “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”

Act 26:18, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Eph 1:18, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”

There are many other verses in the Scriptures that refer to the heart figuratively by calling it the eyes:

Psa 119:18, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

Isa 6:10, “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”

Isa 29:10, “For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.”

Isa 29:18, “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.”

Isa 32:3, “And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.”

Isa 42:7, “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”

Mat 13:15, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Luk 24:45, “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,”

Act 16:14, “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.”

2Co 4:4-6, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Eph 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:”

“if therefore thine eye be single” Comments The description of the eye, or heart, being “single” refers to a pure heart. Strong says the Greek word (G573) literally means, “folded together, or single,” and used figuratively it means “clear.” Within the context of this passage, it means, “uprightness, sincerity of heart, fearing God.” This Greek word is used only two times in the New Testament. The same word is used in Col 3:22 as a noun, and here it is used as an adjective.

Col 3:22, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart , fearing God:”

We have a similar phrase in Eph 6:5, “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart , as unto Christ;”

The opposite of singleness of heart is the “evil” heart, which is stated in next verse (Mat 6:23).

“thy whole body shall be full of light” Comments The heart of man is what illuminates his path so that he can walk upright before God. The heart must remain pure in order for God’s light to shine in us and direct us in every area of life. We cannot hear from God with an evil heart, and will walk in darkness. Pro 20:27 makes a similar statement of how man’s heart is God’s instrument to guide his life, “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” Tit 1:15 notes how the condition of a man’s heart affects how he views things around him, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Mat 6:23 “But if thine eye be evil” Comments The Scriptures refer to an “evil eye” in other passages (Pro 28:22, Mat 20:15, Mar 7:22, 1Jn 2:16). This term is used figuratively to represent the evil heart of man.

Pro 28:22, “He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”

Mat 20:15, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil , because I am good?”

Mar 7:22, “Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye , blasphemy, pride, foolishness:”

1Jn 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes , and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

Mat 6:23 “thy whole body shall be full of darkness” Scripture References:

Rom 1:21, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

2Co 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Mat 6:23 “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness” Comments A child can be taught to serve the Lord in a life of righteousness when he/she is young, so that the heart remains pure. As a person grows up he may fall into the snares of Satan so that his heart becomes dull of hearing the Spirit of God.

Mat 6:22-23 Comments – The Lamp of the Body is the Eye ( Luk 11:33-36 ) In Mat 6:22-23 Jesus explains how man’s human spirit, or heart, is the instrument God has designed within man to speak to him and guild his path, or decisions, so that he can walk upright before God. One of the greatest books written on this subject has been written by Kenneth Hagin entitled How You Can Be Led by the Spirit of God. [393] In this work Hagin explains that the primary way that God leads His children is by the inner witness of his heart, whether he has a peace about a decision or a hesitancy to say no to an action.

[393] Kenneth Hagin, How You Can Be Led by the Spirit of God (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1986, 1997).

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Mat 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” – Comments A person cannot serve God by storing up earthly treasures (Mat 6:19-21), simply because his heart will become covetous and evil towards God. God has created our spirit to be the light by which God guides us through life (Mat 6:22). But when a heart becomes evil towards God he begins to walk in darkness (Mat 6:23). Jesus sums up Mat 6:19-23 by telling us that we cannot serve both earthly things and God. We must choose between the two where we will direct our affections. Once we make the decision to serve the Lord, we have to learn how to trust Him, which will be the theme of the next passage in Mat 6:25-34.

Note the parallel passage in Luke’s Gospel:

Luk 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

Mat 6:24 “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” Comments Strong says that the Greek word (G3126) is of Aramaic origin and means “confidence, i.e. wealth, personified.” F. F. Bruce says the word “mammon” is an Aramaic word that comes from the same root as “Amen.” [394] Thus, it originally meant, “that in which one puts his trust.” “Mammon” literally means, “confidence” and comes to mean, “wealth” when used in a figurative sense, as in Mat 6:24.

[394] F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963), 57.

Mat 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Mat 6:25 “Therefore I say unto you” Comments Jesus moves into a new focus of thought in Mat 6:25-34 by warning against worry and exhorting about the need to seek the Kingdom of Heaven first. He has finished a passage of Scripture on maintaining a pure heart so that a person can be led by the Spirit of God. Once a person begins to walk with a clear heart he begins to make decisions based on the inner witness of his heart. It takes faith to be led by the Spirit of God when circumstances appear contrary to the inward witness. The voice of the mind, which is reason, struggles against the inward witness, because the person has been trained to walk by sight up until this point and must learn to walk by faith. The concerns for the provision of basis needs of life must be cast into the hands of the Lord. Jesus walked away from his carpenter’s shop at the approximate age of thirty and had no plans of provision. He knew what it was like to be led by the Spirit and trust His Heavenly Father day by day. So, he is saying in Mat 6:25-34, “Therefore, once your heart is pure so that you can hear the voice of God, trust Him to take care of you needs in this life as you are led by the Spirit.”

Mat 6:25 “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on” Word Study on “takethought” – Strong says the Greek word (G3309) means, “to be anxious.”

Comments Do not worry about your physical needs when you are walking with a pure heart before the Lord. Worry is simply having a fear that lack will come. These basic needs are listed in order of priority. In many cultures eating a meal is followed by drinking, since consumption of food causes thirst. The second priority in man’s basic need after food is clothing. Other basic needs could be listed in this passage of Scripture, such as shelter, social needs, etc.; but these are not necessary to make the point.

Mat 6:25 “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment” Comments Jesus will now explain the true meaning of life, but first He teaches us to not worry (Mat 6:26-32). Then in Mat 6:33, Jesus tells us that life consists of seeking a relationship with God and all of the things that we worry about will be taken care of. Note other Scriptures that teach this same principle.

Mat 4:4, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (also Luk 4:4)

Luk 12:15, “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

Rom 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

Mat 6:26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Mat 6:26 “Behold the fowls of the air” Comments The word “behold” means, “To look at, to consider.” This word in the Greek is an intensified form of the word “to look.” It means here to carefully observe and examine, not just to look at in a glance. Jesus is telling them to study how God made this part of his creation.

Perhaps the best example in nature to express how not to worry and be anxious is to look at how birds are free to go about and find food and drink and observe beauty from the skies above. Yet, God always meets their needs. How many times has the heavenly Father brought a bird into my quiet time. Once, while kneeling besides my bed, I was looking through a crack in the window shade. A red bird came and lit behind the shrub of a house in view of this narrow gap in the window. Again, while sitting one afternoon by a big picture window, two young birds lit and began chipping. Soon a father or mother bird brought food to them. One of the baby birds chipped and chipped, while the other remained silent. The bird that chirped the loudest got the food, and this happened to the noisy baby bird three times in a row. God will meet our needs of food and drink in times of need. Jehovah Jireh, God our Provider.

“for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns” – Comments Notice how birds are always seeking food. They neither sow it, harvest (reap) it, nor do they store it up for later days. God provides daily for them food. How much more worthy are we than fowls to receive from God.

“yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they” Comments Jesus tells us that God is our heavenly Father, a title that reflects intimacy and love from God. Jesus has called God our Father throughout the Sermon on the Mount. This is the first time that mankind has been taught that God is also our heavenly Father. David referred to God as Father in Psa 89:26 in a Messianic prophecy. Otherwise, no man had addressed God as Father until the Sermon on the Mount.

Psa 89:26, “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.”

Mat 6:27  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Mat 6:27 “Which of you by taking thought” Comments To take thought means, “by being anxious, concerned, or worried.” Note:

Php 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Mat 6:27 “can add one cubit unto his stature?” – Comments This is a rhetorical question. Who is able to add to his life one day, or who is able to add to his stature one cubit?

Mat 6:27 Comments Only God can add to a man’s life. Illustration: Hezekiah was sick unto death, but God added 15 years to the life of the king (Isa 38:1-8).

Paraphrased, “Which of you, by worrying, is going to change any thing?”

Mat 6:28  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

Mat 6:28 “Consider the lilies of the field” – Comments Consider the attractive wild flowers of the meadow. Making garments takes toil and spinning.

Mat 6:29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Mat 6:29 Comments Flowers are more beautiful than the best that man has done in making garments. All of Solomon’s glory is not to be equaled to one little flower that God made. God’s creation reveals God’s divine glory. Amen.

Mat 6:30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Mat 6:30 Comments Little faith means that it can and does grow into bigger faith, just like a grain of mustard seed grows into a large tree of the field.

Mat 6:29-30 Comments Seeing God in His Creation – When a person walks by and sees a flower in full bloom, he will often take notice of its beauty. So the world “considers the lilies of the field.” God wants us to take more than a glance. He wants us to learn a spiritual lesson from its beauty. He wants us to meditate upon its beauty and see God’s handiwork in it. He wants us to then consider the fact that its beauty is very short lived and will soon fade away. With this consideration, we are to learn that God is much more concerned about our well being than about a single flower. In other words, God created this incredible universe so that it may declare the glory of God in every aspect of its handiwork. We find this divine truth revealed in Roman Mat 1:19-20 when Paul writes that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen and understood by His creation.

Rom 1:19-20, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”

I believe that one day in Heaven God will take us through a teaching session and show to us how He has designed His creation in a way that is intended to reveal each aspect of His divine nature. Each part of His amazing creation speaks of a particular aspect of His divine attributes.

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Mat 6:31 Comments Out of the abundance of a man’s heart the mouth speaks. This verse shows a poor, negative confession.

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Mat 6:32 Comments God is the Provider, Jehovah Jireh. He already knows our needs; present, past and future. The world has no true provider. The devil, who controls the world, makes a poor provider, and his promises are empty. Therefore the world has to seek for everything it has. The Lord has ordained that a believer rests in Him; While the Gentiles have a destiny to labour each day and go through stress and worry, the child of God is ordained to walk through each day by serving the Lord and taking care of His needs. In turn, the Lord takes care of His servants’ needs.

Mat 6:31-32 Comments The Cares of the World – The world continually worries about when and where their provision is coming from. They say, “How are we going to make it through this situation?” or “How are we going to pay this bill?” They are always trying to figure out their situations in life. The world does not realize that if they will simply give the Lord His portion first, He will work supernaturally to give them their provision. In contrast, the child of God rests in the Lord. He serves the Lord, knowing that somehow things will work out and his needs will be met.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Mat 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” Comments Jesus gives us the principles of the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount. We are to seek to become a member of the Kingdom of God, then walk in righteousness by following these kingdom principles. We are to focus our energy on being holy and pleasing to God by using His standard of righteousness, rather than man’s unrighteous ways. We are not to focus our energies on our selfish ambitions. We are to put the kingdom principles first, and He will then divinely provide for our needs. We are to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus is to have the preeminence in our lives (Col 1:17-18).

Col 1:17-18, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence .”

Let not your mind be caught up in worry over these things; but set your mind on the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Put these thoughts first.

To seek Him first with all your strength is to first use your strength to serve Him and then what is left, use for other purposes. To seek Him first with all your mind is to meditate and memorize His Word before going on to other thoughts. To seek Him first with all your soul is to worship God and to think on Him as much as possible each day.

When we go to study, we first study the most important assignments, and then end our studies with least important things. If, each day, we will first spend time with God, if we seek His Word first before outside studies, then we are putting God first, in our time and in our heart.

Notice that Mat 6:33 does not say to “seek ye only.” In other words, it is not wrong to seek other things, such as material possessions, but the seeking must be done in the proper order. If we will seek love, justice, equity, wisdom, and knowledge, then we will find ourselves in places of leadership and prosperity. If we seek the things of God first, the other things that the Gentiles are seeking after will come.

The Lord spoke to me in the early 1990’s and said to me, “You take care of my needs first.” In other words, the Lord was saying that He could only meet my needs as I first take care of His needs. What are His needs? The Lord needs His ministers and His churches to be supported. He wants us to meet the needs of others who are not as fortunate as us (Mat 25:40).

Mat 25:40, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

One preacher said, “Lord, you give me what I need, and I will do what you say.” The Lord replied, “No, you do what I say, and I will give you what you need.”

Note:

Heb 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”

Mat 6:33 “and then all these things” – Comments According to verse 31, “these things” refer to food, drink, clothing. God’s peace will also come. This peace will keep our hearts and minds, guarding them like a guard keeps watch over a castle or a prison cell, so that the devil cannot enter in with fiery darts.

Php 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Mat 6:33 “shall be added unto you” – Comments The Greek literally says, “shall be placed before you.” As we seek first the things of God first, He will divinely supply all other things as the needs arise in our lives so that we no longer need to stress about the issues of life. Note a paraphrase of this verse by Frances J. Roberts: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven; set your desires wholly to obtain the riches of God, and all other things shall be freely supplied according as the needs arise.” [395] Deu 28:2 says the same thing when it says God’s blessings shall overtake you, “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” In other words, God will bring these things into our lives without us having to search for them ourselves. If we go out and get something that God does not want us to have, then we have to use the world’s system in order to obtain it.

[395] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 75.

If we walk by the kingdom principles, then the peace of God will be in a person’s life (Php 4:6-7). You will know when someone is seeking the kingdom of God first, because the fruit of peace will be in that person’s life (Mat 7:16).

Mat 7:16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

Mat 6:33 Illustration – In 1Ki 17:2-7, God fed Elijah during the time of famine. In 1Ki 17:8-16, God provided for Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

Illustration – In 1Ki 3:5-15, God gave Solomon a dream in which He asked Solomon to make a request. Solomon asked for wisdom and understanding (literally, a heart hearing). God was pleased with how Solomon had put the Lord before riches and honor. So God gave him riches and honor (glory) and long life as long Solomon would be obedient to God’s Word. Solomon received all of this for seeking kingdom of God first.

Other scripture references:

All of Psalms 37 – Wait on the Lord!

Psa 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

Example: Jeremiah, in siege of the city of Jerusalem, everyone was starving about him, but he had bread and water to satisfy his needs. Why? Because God’s Word promises so:

Psa 37:19, “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied .”

Mar 10:29-30, “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Mat 6:34 “Take therefore no thought for the morrow” Comments James warns us against boasting about thoughts and plans for tomorrow in the same sense as this passage says not to be worried about it. Rather, place yourselves into God’s divine care each day.

Jas 4:13-16, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.”

Mat 6:34 “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” – Comments We should begin each day in prayer because this verse shows us that every day is full of evil forces combating us.

Mat 6:34 Comments Do not think about tomorrow. It is evil enough for the day. The NASB and NIV say, “Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Perseverance Amidst Worldliness – After Jesus calls the true children of God out in the Beatitudes (Mat 5:3-12) and tells them their work (Mat 5:13-16), and after He delivers to them the meaning of the Ten Commandments (Mat 5:17-48), and after He tells them how to sanctify themselves for divine service through almsgiving, prayer and fasting (Mat 6:1-18), He now tells them how to perseverance amidst worldliness so that they will be able to find their place of rest with God. He will expound upon this topic again in His third discourse consisting of parables of man’s reactions to Gospel (Mat 13:1-52). Jesus talks about seeking God first, judging one another, and giving and receiving.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Seeking God First (The Heart) Mat 6:19-34

2. Judging One Another (The Mind) Mat 7:1-6

3. Giving and Receiving (The Body) Mat 7:7-12

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Warning against Covetousness and Care.

A new topic, introducing an exposition of the first table of the Law:

v. 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

The question of hoarding, the service of Mammon, demanded discussion in connection with righteousness of works and self-righteousness. For it is the self-conceited that is liable to become addicted to covetousness. How foolish such hoarding! The Lord scourges the sin in bitter scorn: to hoard up hoards, treasures of this earth, tainted with the curse of this earth, subject to the corruption of the earth. Whether it be garments, tapestry, and carpets, moths would destroy them, rust, mildew, canker would eat them; and whether it be gold and silver and jewels, thieves would find a way to steal them, even if they must dig through the wall of the house. What uncertain treasures to place your trust upon!

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 6:19-21. Lay not up, &c. By taking a general review of what we have been hitherto taught in this divine sermon, we shall be led more distinctly to the meaning of the words now before us. After the beatitudes, our Saviour goes on to treat of justice, that is, duty in general. And first he shews the extent of it; I mean, how far its obligations reach. He begins with a general proposition, ch. Mat 5:20 and this he illustrates and exemplifies in many instances, which fill up the remainder of that chapter. After thus shewing the extent of justice, he comes in the next place to rectify the motive to it; as in the first verse of this chapter: Take heed that you do not your justice, that is, acts of justice, to be seen of men, &c. And here again he gives particular instances in the three principal acts of that justice, namely, beneficence to mankind, devotion to God, and mortification which concerns ourselves; with a strict caution to shun all vain-glory in all its forms and shapes. And as vanity is not the only wrong motive, and as the deeds of justice last mentioned are not our only occupation, but besides these we have each of us his secular employment, or worldly business to discharge; our Lord therefore goes on to regulate our whole course of action, by setting the heart right, and in a proper disposition for the performance of it. Lay not up for yourselves, &c. I should rather read, Make not for yourselves, &c. which the original imports, and the sense requires; because, whatever we place our happiness in, that we make our treasure; the treasure of the covetous is literal treasure; and that of the rest of the world consists of those things which they desire and count upon as a fund for enjoyment; for as where our treasure is, there will our heart be also; so where our heart is, there also is our treasure. As almost every animal has had its idolaters, so almost every kind of object has become a treasure to some or other of the sons of men. But as true religion is but one, so there is but one real treasure; one only that is worthy of our option, and will answer our expectation;that which we provide for ourselves in heaven, when, pardoned through the blood of the covenant, and regenerated by the Spirit of God, in constant dependence upon divine grace, we secure in the experience and practice of all holiness and virtue, our everlasting interests there, as our Lord advises. In order the more fully to understand the words, where moth and rust doth corrupt, &c. we should remember that, in the Eastern countries, where the fashion of clothes did not alter as with us, the treasures of the rich consisted not only of gold and silver, but of costly habits and fine-wrought vessels of brass, and tin, and copper, liable to be destroyed in the manner here mentioned. See Job 27:16. Jam 5:2-3. Doddridge renders and paraphrases the 19th verse (understanding it singly as a caution against covetousness), “Do not make it your great care to lay up for yourselves treasures here on earth, where so many accidents may deprive you of them; where the moth, for instance, may spoil your finest garments, and the devouring canker may consume your corn, or may corrupt the very metals you have hoarded; and where thieves may dig through the strongest walls which you have raised about them; and may steal them away; but,” &c. Nothing certainly can be conceived more powerful to damp that keenness with which men pursue the things of this life, than the considerationof their emptiness, fragility, and uncertainty; or to kindle in them an ambition of obtaining the treasures in heaven, than the consideration of their beingsubstantial, satisfying, durable, and subject to no accident whatever. See Heylin, Macknight, and Calmet.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 6:19 . ] Treasures . To understand particular kinds of them, either stores of corn , or costly raiment , or gold and silver , is a mistake, for the special treasure meant would also require to have been specially indicated.

] eating, corroding in general. Any further defining of the matter, whether with the Vulgate and Luther we understand rust (Jas 5:2-3 ) or weevils (Clericus, Kuinoel, Baumgarten-Crusius) to be meant, is arbitrary, as is also the assumption of a for (Casaubon in Wolf).

] causes to disappear, annihilates . Comp. note on Mat 6:16 . On ( upon earth ) Bengel correctly observes: “Habet vim aetiologiae.” The thieves dig through (the wall, comp. Dem. 787. 13, 1268. 12; Job 24:16 ; Eze 12:5 ) and steal.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Mat 6:19-34 . Comp. Luk 12:33 f., Luk 11:34 ff., Luk 12:22 ff. The theme stated in Mat 6:1 is still pursued, and, without any formal indication of a transition, a new and essential point in the discourse is here introduced, viz. care about earthly things , which is treated (1) as striving after wealth, Mat 6:19-24 , and (2) as care for food and raiment, Mat 6:25-34 . To give up the idea of a fixed plan from this point onwards (de Wette), and especially to regard Mat 6:19-34 as an irrelevant interpolation (Neander, Bleek, Weiss), is quite unwarranted, for we must not lose sight of the fact that the discourse was intended not merely for the disciples, but for the people as well (Mat 7:28 ). The unity of the Sermon on the Mount is not that of a sermon in our sense of the word; but the internal connection of the thought in Mat 6:19 ff. with what goes before lies in the just mentioned, and the object belonging to which is, in fact, the heavenly treasures.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

4. Spurious worldliness of the Pharisees in their righteousness; or, the Pharisees sharing of the cares of the heathen

Mat 6:19-34

( Mat 6:24-34 the Pericope for the 15th Sunday after Trinity.)

19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt 20[consume], and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt [consumeth], and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your20 treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25Therefore I say unto you, Take no [anxious] thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;21 nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly 27Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature [age]? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, Whatshall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;22 and all these things shall be added unto [to] you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Connection.Considerable importance attaches to the question as to the connection between this and the preceding section. According to Strauss and others, the two are wholly unconnected. De Wette remarks: Hitherto the discourse proceeded upon a definite plan; but now the connection seems loose, and longer and shorter sayings follow each other. Even Neander regards the verses under consideration as an interpolation of Matthew. Meyer misses only the connecting link with the preceding section, but maintains, against de Wette, the connection of what follows, without, however, tracing it out. [He adds, p. 154, that we must not confound the unity of the Sermon on the Mount with the unity of a modern sermon.P. S.] Tholuck maintains, that while in all probability this section belongs to the context as given in Luk 12:22-34, it is impossible to deny that its position in the Gospel by Matthew is the correct one. The transition was natural from the idea that good works should be done only with reference to Him who is invisible, to the conclusion expressed in Mat 6:33, that in all our aims and undertakings the mind should be set upon the things of eternity. In our opinion (as expressed previously in the Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 619), the internal connection between the two sections appears from Mat 23:14 : Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows houses, and for a pretence make long prayer. The false spirituality of these hypocrites arose from the worldly-mindedness with which they are specially charged in the text. The external connection with the previous section lies in the relation between the , and the of Mat 6:2; Mat 6:5; Mat 6:16. Having shown how the Pharisees by their false spirituality sought to lay up for themselves treasures in a figurative sense, the Lord next exhibits their hypocrisy and worldliness in seeking to gather treasures in the literal sense. Thus far Tholuck is right in saying that the admonition to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven is closely connected with what was formerly said about doing good works in secret, which the Father would reward openly. But that our Lord refers to worldly-mindedness in the garb of hypocrisy, and not to ordinary worldly-mindedness, appears from the expression, Ye cannot serve God and mammon; and, again, from that most important declaration, If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, etc. The history of the Middle Ages, of monasticism, and of the hierarchy, has amply proved that false spirituality is closely connected with worldly-mindedness, long prayers with covetousness and ambition, almsgiving with avarice, and fasting with feasting. Indeed, this love of the world, while apparently fleeing from it, is the characteristic feature of monasticism.

Mat 6:19. , treasures.Treasures of any kind, but more closely defined by the addition of the term upon earth, and by the possibility of their being corrupted by moth and rust, or carried away by thieves. The moth attaches itself principally to garments which are not used, especially to precious robes of office.Consumption, (the Vulgate and our authorized version render it rust, Jam 5:2-3; Kuinoel and Baumgarten-Crusius refer it to a species of worms; Casaubonus and others speak of a , hence ); a general expression, but points primarily to provisions, to accumulations of food and corn; while the breaking through of thieves refers to the possession of gold and silver. The meaning seems to be, that everything which is passing away has its own principle of destruction, suited to its special nature, whether vegetable, animal, or moral. In general, it exhibits the vanity of all earthly possessions, and the unsatisfactory character of the enjoyments which they yield. Irrespective of their use, these possessions are dead, exposed to the moth, to consumption, and to thieves,to the organs of physical and moral annihilation. It scarcely requires to be added, that the place of these treasures, the kind of treasures, and the manner in which they are collected, are in this instance equally of the earth, earthy.

Mat 6:20. Treasures in heaven.Our attention is first directed to the place where genuine treasures are to be found, viz., heaven, where God reveals Himself, and where all is eternal. The kind of treasures is in accordance with their place, or with heaven. Similarly, these treasures must be gathered in a heavenly mannerby kindness, by spiritual fellowship with God, by self-denial; in short, by a surrender to our Father who is in heaven. It is therefore quite erroneous (with Chrysostom and others) to apply it to almsgiving, in the expectation of a heavenly reward. On the other hand, it may be necessary to remind those who, like Meyer, seem to regard the kingdom of heaven as something external and future, that this heavenly life begins upon earth by faith.The heavenly possessions are characterized according to their negative advantages, where no moth doth corrupt, etc.; comp. 1Pe 1:4.These words are also directed against the carnal anticipations of the Jews, especially of the Pharisees and scribes.

Mat 6:21. For where your treasure is.Our treasure, or dearest possession, forms the ideal on which our affections are set, and in accordance with which our feelings and desires assume shape. Hence, if our treasure is on earth, our heart will also be there, our inclinations and desires will be earthly; and, since this is contrary to our heavenly destiny, the consequence must be eternal sorrow and shame. But if the heart has its treasure in heaven, its affections will also be directed thither, and it will be transformed in accordance therewith.

Mat 6:22. The light of the body.Connection Not: in order to fulfil this duty, you must preserve your inner light or reason (Chrysostom: ) undimmed; but: ye must preserve your mental eye undivided in its gaze. The Lord evidently alludes here to the Pharisees, whose attention and affections were divided between what was temporal and what was spiritual. Their state of mind is illustrated by the eye. The eye is the light of the body (lighted from the light of the sun). Everything now depends on a right condition of the eye. It must be , i. e., simple, in opposition to the , or bad, spoiled eye. If the contrast between a healthy and a diseased eye were intended (in the sense of any ailment affecting it), it would have been otherwise expressed. We conclude, therefore, that it refers to the contrast between proper sight and deceptive or double sight. The word is never used to indicate healthy. Hence we might agree with Elsner and Olshausen in explaining it as an eye which does not see doubledouble sight being a disease; and, with Quesnel, apply it as meaning, that it knows only one object of loveeven God. But if we inquire what Hebrew word corresponded to the Greek term, we find that Aquila and the Sept. translate for the Hebrew , = , which latter, like integer, is related to . Thus Theophylact explains and by and . Tholuck.But we object to any translation of definite and distinct into more general terms, in order thus to give them a meaning which is not warranted by the context. The desire of serving at the same time God and mammon may be characterised as a moral double sight, as an evil eye, which is rightly designated by , in direct contrast to . But the eye is , when it wholly, consciously, and calmly agrees with the state of the mind and heart,when it is not wandering, and therefore not double-sighted nor untrue, and hence worse than blind. On the other hand, the eye is evil if it lose its power of perceiving, or begins to wander and miss the object set before it. Then the whole body will be full of darkness, or enveloped in night. But the darkening of the mind has more sad consequences than that of the body. If thereforea conclusio a minori ad majusthe light that is in thee (the inward light) be darkness, etc.

Mat 6:23. The question as to the meaning of the light that is in thee, is of importance. Chrysostom: . Calvin: Lumen vocat Christus rationem, quantulacunque hominibus reliqua manet post lapsum Ad. Beza, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov: The eye which is enlightened by the word and Spirit of God.Tholuck: That which is left of the Divine image in man, after Joh 8:47; Joh 18:37; or, as Gerhard has it, lumen natur, the light of nature.Meyer: Reason, especially practical reason.The capacity of the inner eye of reason to become the organ of knowledge is evidently here alluded to, although the expression has a more special meaning. It is not the inner eye itself, the , but the light of the inner eye, or the Old Testament revelation so well known by the Pharisees and scribes, which had, by their carnal views, been perverted into error.If the bodily eye is blind, the danger is less, because precaution will be used. The real peril lies in the eye seeing falsely or double, because in that case the light of the sun will only serve to blind, which is worse than utter darkness. The same holds true of the inner eye when it converts the light of revelation into a blinding and misleading light. This was the case with the Pharisees and scribes. They would have had God and a carnal Messiah,they would serve the Lord and mammon.

As the organ of light, the eye of the body is, so to speak, our light; occupying, so far as we are concerned, the place of the sun, and in that respect representing the whole body, as if the whole body were an eye. This makes it also the organ and symbol of the inner eye, or of reason, by which the light of the spiritual sun is communicated to the inner life, and which, if healthy, converts the whole inner life into a capacity of spiritual perception. But just as when the external eye is not simple or double in its light, the outward light only serves to dazzle, so also in reference to the inner eye and the light of revelation. How great is that darkness! The history of pharisaical Judaism has amply corroborated the truth of this statement.

The inward eye is intended to be the eye of the heart. Eph 1:18. The state of the heart and the state of the eye influence each other. If the heart is set on heavenly treasures, the eye must be directed toward the light. Comp. the biblical psychology of Beck, and Delitzsch.

Mat 6:24. No man can serve two masters.Double sight of the spiritual eye is both the cause and the consequence of duplicity in reference to the desires of the heart (Jam 1:8, ). But the Pharisees, in their false spirituality, reduced it to a system, and deemed themselves capable of combining the service of Heaven with their earthly inclinations. The Lord dispels in the text this delusion. It is plain that no man can at the same time truly serve two masters. One of the two services must necessarily be merely outward, or, what is worse, one of the masters must be hated or despised,because true service presupposes love and attachment. But why two examples? Meyer: He will either hate the one and love the other, or else hold to the one and despise the other. This commentator correctly reminds us that, as in other places, so here, and must have their full meaning, and not be interpreted by posthabere and prferre, as de Wette and others propose. But then there must have been some special object for giving two instances. Perhaps the difference between them may lie in this, that the real master cannot be despised, but may be hated, since he must be respected, and it is impossible to get away from him. But if the real master is loved, the servant will hold to him and despise the usurper, who has no real claim, and from whose power it is possible and easy to withdraw. The application of this to spiritual life is plain. Man can have only one master, or only one highest good and principle of life. But if he choose the world as his highest good, and, along with the worship of the true God, attempt the service of an idol, he must decide for himself. First, however, let him clearly understand that he cannot at the same time serve two masters, and that, in attempting this double service, he can only be a traitor and a hypocrite.

And Mammon.Probably mammon was originally not the name of a mythological deity, but was gradually imported into mythology from common life, in a manner similar to that in which the term is still employed. Bretschneider: , Hebr. , fortasse significant id, cui confiditur, ut Sept. Isa 33:6, , Psa 37:3, reddiderunt, vel est, ut multi putant, nomen Idoli Syrorum et Pnorum, i. q. Plutos Grcorum. Augustine remarks on this passage: Congruit et punicum nomen, nam lucrum punice Mammon dicitur. Money, in opposition to God, is personified and regarded as an idol, somewhat like Plutus, although it cannot be shown that such an idol was worshipped.Olshausen.

Luther: To have money and property is not sinful, provided it become not thy master, but remain thy servant and thou its master.23

Mat 6:25. Take no thought.24Connection. Anxiety, which is distrust of God, is the source of avarice. Accordingly, the following sins follow each other in regular genealogy: 1. Anxious care, distrust of God, commencement of apostasy; 2. avarice, and service of mammon, along with spurious and merely external service of God; 3. hypocrisy, and further development of external service into religious parade before men.Again, anxious care itself springs from evil inclination and vanity, from worldliness (What shall we eat, etc.?),which marks the beginning of apostasy from God. The word , to take thought, denotes not merely anxious care (de Wette), which would be a tautology, but inordinate or solicitous concern or grief beyond our immediate wants, calling, or daily occupation; hence it is in reality to weaken ones hands in prospect of the work before us, or the direct opposite of carefulness. From its nature, care extends , Mat 6:34.By its solicitude the heart becomes divided, which is hinted in the word (Tholuck)., in reference to the soul as the principle of physical life.Is not the life more?He who has given the greater will also give the less.Solicitude is entirely at fault; Christ teaches us to reason,God gave me life, which is the greater; therefore also, etc.

Mat 6:26. The fowls of the air [literally: the sky or heaven]. , which fly along the heavens,i. e., appear separated from earth and its provisions, and yet fly so cheerily; like the lily, , which in its splendid apparel stands in the midst of a desolate and dusty plain.

Mat 6:27. Age [Com. Version: Stature], .There are two interpretations of this term: First, nature of the body; Vulgate, Chrysostom, Luther [our authorized version, also Fritzsche, Conant]. Secondly, duration of life, age; Hammond, Wolf, Olshausen, Ewald, Meyer [de Wette, Tholuck, Stier, Alford, J. A. Alexander, Dav. Brown]. Both translations are warranted by the use of the language, but the context is decidedly in favor of duration of life. For, 1. our Lord refers to the preservation or the prolonging of life: 2. the adding of a cubit to the stature were not something very inconsiderable, as is implied in the text.25A cubit (2 spans), a figurative expression, denoting that the duration of life has its fixed measure. Similarly also the provision for our life is fixed.

Mat 6:28. Consider the lilies, .

Very significant, as much as: learn to understand, study the symbolical language of the lilies.

Mat 6:29. In all his glory, , which may either mean his royal pomp, or the pomp of his royal army. The word , which follows, is in favor of the first of these explanations. Solomon was to the Jewish mind the highest representative of human glory (2Ch 9:15).

Mat 6:30. The grass of the field, or every kind of herb,among them the lilies, which adorn and are cut down with them. Dried grass and the stalks of flowers were used for heating ovens. A number of beautiful flowers grow wild on the fields and meadows of the Promised Land,among them the splendid purple or bright yellow lily, of which the stem is three feet high, and of a dark red color, the flower forming a crown which is surmounted by a tuft of leaves. Son 4:5; Son 6:2; 1Ki 7:19. In Palestine, the grass withers in the course of two days under a strong east wind; when it is only fit for hay or fuel. Gerlach. (Comp. Heubner, p. 90, on extravagance in dress and avarice.)

Mat 6:32. After all these things do the Gentiles seek.Such is the essential feature of heathenism; and this worldliness led to their apostasy, polytheism, and idolatry. It deserves notice, that Christ here refers for the third time to the Gentiles, since the Pharisees made it their special boast that they were free from all heathen contamination. But the very extreme of their traditionalism led them into heathen views and practices.

Mat 6:33. Seek ye first.Meyer: , first, before ye seek anything else; your first seeking. There is no room then for any other seeking, as their eating, drinking, etc., . Not seeing this inference, a few authorities have omitted the word , as in Luk 12:31. De Wette is mistaken in supposing that at least indirectly implies the lawfulness of subordinately seeking other things. All other seeking, whether the be retained or not, is excluded by Mat 6:32 ( . .) and by .But in this case the word must mean not merely first in order of time, but refers to the principle which actuates us in seeking, on which our earnestness in our temporal calling, and the blessing upon that calling, depend. This principle of ever setting before us, even in temporal matters, the grand spiritual object, leads onward and upward, until that which is secondary and subordinate is wholly swallowed up in that which is spiritual.The difference between the simple and its compound deserves mention. The former refers to a seeking which in itself is healthy; the other, to that which is unhealthy and excessive.

The kingdom of God, and His righteousness.The kingdom of heaven is here called that of God, because the former verses refer to God as the highest good. To seek the kingdom of God, is to seek those blessings which are expressed in the Lords Prayer, and of which the corresponding righteousness is delineated in the Sermon on the Mount.

Mat 6:34. The morrow, , is personified. Every day brings its own evil, , from an evil world, but also its own help and deliverance from our heavenly Father.26

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The real nature of false spirituality appears in the dualism to which it leads, in the attempt violently to sever between God and the world; and in the false worldliness which it cherishes, in order to make up for this deficiency. Hence, fanum and profanumholiday and work-day; priest and layman; cloister and the world; spiritual and temporal care; spiritual and temporal power (the two swords, as they are called); spiritual and temporal gain; spiritual and temporal possessions; spiritual and temporal enjoyment (Carnival and Lent). Or rather, more correctly, it is not spiritual and temporal, but temporal and spiritual.

True Christianity, on the other hand, combines spiritual with temporal life, by viewing the world itself as the symbol of God, and by sanctifying everything in it for the service of the Holy One.
2. Moths, consumption, and thieves corrupt the possessions and the enjoyments of the world, if we regard the world as our lasting habitation. See in this respect the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preaching of Solomon.
3. Science, natural philosophy, and even the highest poetry, have only recognized at a comparatively late period the sun-like nature of the eye, while here it is painted as with a sunbeam. To each of us, the eye is his sun, provided it be calm and single. Thus our vision depends on two conditions,the outward sun in the heavens, and the inward sun of the mind. And thus the outward eye is at the same time a symbol and a medium of the inward eye, or of intelligence, the . Our intelligence serves as the organ of the sun of revelation, and becomes light, if it reflect not merely our own finite understanding, but our higher reason, and transmit divine revelation to the inmost soul. Otherwise the light itself becomes darkness. And such night is the most dense,more so than ordinary night, which is only black, implying the absence of light, or ignorance. Less guilt attaches itself to this than to the grey of mistthe interruption of light by folly or prejudice. But worst of all is that splendor of false light, when the light of revelation is perverted by the worldly mind into error, and truth itself converted into a lie.

4. Christ unmasks the worldliness which hides under the garb of false spirituality, and traces it to its ultimate source: hypocrisy, avarice, solicitude, and worldly lust. He next invokes, against this spirit of solicitude in its spiritual garb, the testimony of the Spirit of God in nature, which the Pharisees, in their ultra-piety, had overlooked. Throughout, nature discloses its symbols to the Lord; and they all serve as symbols for the faithfulness of God and the trustfulness of man.

5. Christ Himself first sought the kingdom of God and His righteousness, in the fullest and most perfect sense; and everything else has been added to Him, Isaiah 53. So shall it also be with His people (Romans 8).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

How false spirituality always has its root in worldliness: 1. Its source is secretly cherished worldliness; 2. it is essentially a manifestation of the carnal mind, and hence worldliness (Col 2:18); 3. it seeks in vain to conceal the worldliness which it everywhere betrays. Or, 1. Proof from the nature of the thing; 2. from history; 3. from experience of the twofold temptations with which every Christian is familiar.Temporal possessions: 1. What they are in themselves; 2. what they become by faith; 3. what they become to the carnal mind.Treasures upon earth. A contradiction, when viewed in connection with our never-dying souls: 1. As being outward treasures; 2. as being transient; 3. as liable to loss.Treasures upon earth,so unsubstantial, and yet so dangerous: 1. Because they are spoiled by moths, consumption, and thieves; 2. because they bring moths, consumption, and thieves into the heart.The worm of death in its threefold ravages: 1. In inanimate nature; 2. in physical life; 3. in human society, or in the moral world.A thief, or a deceiver, the moth and consumption of the moral order of things.The treasures in heaven.The treasures in heaven, in their unchangeable character: 1. They cannot be corrupted from within; 2. they cannot be consumed from without; 3. they cannot be taken away from beneath.The treasures of earth and the treasures of heaven.Gathering in appearance and gathering in reality.False gathering is a casting away, under the appearance of gain.Real gathering is gain, under the appearance of loss.True and false gain.Wondrous character of the possessions of heaven: 1. They are hidden, yet manifest; 2. infinitely far, yet infinitely near; 3. one treasure, yet innumerable treasures.Only in connection with heaven can we again acquire earth as Gods earth.Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 1. The truth of this saying (the heart ever lives in its highest good). 2. Inferences from this saying: (a) As the treasure is, such shall the heart become: the heart will become heavenly or earthly according as its treasure is; (b) strictly speaking, our heart cannot become earthly,it rather becomes devilish, a prey to the passions of hell; (c) our heart is of heavenly origin, and cannot find rest or satisfaction in earthly possessions.The eye is the light of the body: 1. The truth; 2. the symbol.The body in its relation to the mind: 1. It is an instrument of the mind, by which man is to serve and glorify God; 2. a symbol of the mind, by which God admonishes man.The eye and the light, in their physical and spiritual import: 1. The eye is also of the light, and shares the nature of light; 2. the eye itself becomes light by receiving light; 3. the eye gives light to the whole body.The eye and the sun: 1. The eye is sun-like; 2. the sun is the eye of heaven; 3. the eye and the sun combined give light to the body.A single eye and an evil eye, in their respective bearing on the inner life: 1. The eye, if single, has an undivided, and hence true vision; it beholds what is right, because it rightly beholds. 2. The eye that is evil is an ignis fatuus: its vision is divided, and hence false; it beholds what is false, because it falsely beholds.The difference between a diseased eye and an evil eye, or him who is really blind and him who is blinded.Not the blind, but the blinded, fall: for, 1. in their carelessness, they do not see; 2. in their excitement, they do not behold the principal object; 3. in their confusion, they see everything in a dim and disordered manner.The inward eye and its object: 1. Its nature: to perceive that which is eternal. 2. Its light: the revelation of God in its widest sense. 3. Its giving of light: truthful application of the light which it has received.An evil eye in our hearts, or perverted reason, may turn even the light of revelation into darkness.The most dense darkness is that which the hypocrite makes to himself from the light of revelation.The threefold night: 1. The blackness of night: want of light, ignorance. 2. The grey of mist: obstruction of light, prejudice. 3. The blinding light,27 or abuse and perversion of light, superstition and hypocrisy.An evil heart changing the inward light into darkness: 1. By its spiritual pride; 2. by its carnal security; 3. by its treating the flesh as if it were spirit, and perverting the spirit into flesh.How great is that darkness! 1. When the inner eye is not only blind, but blinded; 2. when the inner light is not only obscured, but misleads; 3. when the day of salvation is changed into the night of destruction.No man can serve two masters: 1. The truth of this statement; 2. its import and weight.Earthly possessions as mammon.Mammon the greatest of all idols: 1. The idol of all times; 2. the idol of all nations; 3. the idol of all unconverted hearts; 4. the origin of all idolatry; 5. the first and the last among all the hidden idols of Gods people, both under the Old and the New Testament.The service of mammon converts the service of God into a lie.True service of God excludes the service of mammon.It is impossible to disown the service of our Lord and Master, by serving Him unfaithfully: we may hate, but we cannot cast off His authority.If we despise him who falsely claims mastery over us, we shall soon be free from his service.Solicitude is the mother of avarice.Anxious care the certain consequence of worldly lust.Take no [serious or anxious] thought: 1. Neither for your life (your maintenance); 2. nor for your body (your attire); 3. nor for what may befall you (for to-morrow).Spiritual reasoning calculated to extinguish our solicitude. 1. God has already given us the greatest and best gift: (a) The life of the body is more than its nourishment; (b) the life of the mind is more noble than that of its instrument, the body; (c) the life of life, or the divine life, is the highest gain. 2. God will also give us all other things in addition: nourishment for the body; preservation of the body, and spiritual sustenance for the life which is from Him.The birds of the air and the lilies of the field, preachers of trustfulness.The difference between solicitude and lawful providence.What solicitude cannot achieve and what it can achieve: 1. What it cannot achieve: (a) It cannot pray; (b) it cannot work; (c) it cannot create anything; (d) it cannot alter anything. 2. What it can achieve: (a) Conceal heaven from our view; (b) spoil earth; (c) open hell.Solicitude the main principle of heathenism. It springs, 1. from the ignorance of the heathen, who know not the living God; 2. from their deifying the things of the world.Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.God will not only nourish, but also adorn us.How strange, if the little bird were to attempt sewing, or the lily spinning?What solicitude loses, and what it gains: 1. It loses, (a) the present moment; (b) to-day; (c) all eternity. 2. It gains, (a) foolish projects; (b) anxious dreams; (c) a terrible awakening.Christianity the source of highest order: 1. It restores proper order in our affections and desires; 2. it sets objects before us in their proper order; 3. it sets our daily work in order; 4. it sets time and eternity in their proper order.Solicitude, as indicating a divided heart, is closely connected with the eye that is evil, and with the attempt to serve two masters.Carefulness and freedom from care.Solicitude and everlasting negligence.Solicitude a sinful distrust: 1. Of God; 2. of our neighbor; 3. of ourselves.We need not be concerned for what is least, since we may obtain what is highest.Seek ye first the kingdom of God. How do we learn it? 1. From the succession of things (Lords day first, then work-day; prayer first, then work);28 2. mainly from our wants; 3. in a unique manner, when we surrender ourselves to God.Our earthly calling is included in our heavenly calling.He who prays well, will also work well.All the wants of the children of God are supplied.Nourishment and raiment are supplied without money in the kingdom of God.Do not allow thoughts of the morrow to interfere with the duties of to-day: 1. Let them not distract you; 2. not tempt you; 3. not terrify you.Wait each day upon God for to-day.Let to-days duty engross to-days attention.Preparation for to-morrow forms part of the duty of to-day.Every day brings its burden from beneath, but also its help from above.

Starke:Parallel passages: Mat 19:21; Heb 11:26; Heb 13:5; 1Ti 6:9-17; Jam 5:3; Psa 62:10.We ought not to gather treasures from distrust of Gods providence, nor from a desire to become rich; but to save, in the fear of God, to gather the crumbs , to make provision for our children, 2Co 12:14, is not displeasing to God.Hedinger: What does it profit a man though he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mat 16:26; Php 3:7-8; Php 3:19-20; Col 3:1-2.Not to have treasures, but yet to desire them is also sinful, 1Ti 6:9; Psa 49:17.This warning applies also to the poor; for a beggar may set his heart as much upon one crown-piece as a rich man upon thousands, Luk 12:19; Sir 11:17-19; Tob 4:7-9.The heart, which is created only for God and for eternity, is dishonored and degraded if we set it on things which perish, and, so to speak, convert it into a moth, Jam 5:1-2.Quesnel: Avarice, 1Ti 6:9.God has given man earthly possessions for use, 1Co 7:31 : he who is unwilling to employ them for that object, will frequently experience that they may either be taken from him, or disappear in his hands, Psa 39:6.If we forsake our earthly possessions for the sake of Christ, we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, Mat 19:29. The best of all riches is the kingdom of God in the soul, Luk 17:21.If we frequently contemplate the reality, the continuance, and the excellency of heavenly treasures, our minds will not be engrossed with transient and contemptible things, Col 3:1-2; Psa 73:25.The heavenly treasures, which are entrusted to Gods keeping, are best kept, Luk 12:21; Gal 6:9.Passing possessions become everlasting, if they are employed for the glory of God, and in almsgiving. In this kind of exchange we cannot be losers, Pro 11:4; Psa 41:1-2.For where your treasure is, Php 3:20; Col 3:1-2.What we love and esteem is always in our mind.He whose every desire is in heaven, seeks nothing upon earth.Majus:Totum mundum debet contemnere, qui sibi thesaurizat in clo; Augustine, Psa 73:25. Everything depends upon the heart, Isa 26:8-9; Mat 12:35; Psa 7:10.Be careful that your heart be single, sincere, and honest, or else all is lost.Say not, in your carnal confidence, I have a good heart, Jer 17:9; rather pray, Search me, O God, and try my heart, Psa 139:23-24.Remain Thou, O God, in my heart, and let my heart remain in Thee; since it is created only for Thee, and Thou alone deservest it, Psa 132:13-14.The light of the body is the eye. There is nothing more single than the eye of faith; follow that light, and you are safe.The eyes are the road into the heart.Hedinger, 1Co 13:1.The way of the righteous is a way of light, but that of sinners is only darkness. Cramer, Pro 14:8.The service of mammon, Hab 2:9.Much here depends on the little word serve.Whoso seeks heaven in the world, acts contrary even to nature and sound reason, 1Ki 18:21; 2Co 6:14-15.The service of mammon an abominable bondage. Majus.A covetous person renounces God, for covetousness is idolatry, Eph 5:5; Col 3:5.Not cared, well cared for, 1Pe 5:7.All nature and every creature is like a ladder by which we may ascend to our heavenly Father.The birds of the air are only the creatures of God, yet they are nourished. How much more shall we be provided for, who are not only His creatures, but called to be His children! Isa 63:16; Psa 103:13.If we would only consider our high origin, we should trust more to infinite goodness and wisdom, Isa 44:2; Sir 11:23.Just as solicitude is the punishment of unbelief, so much complaining is the fruit of unbelief.Christians must differ from the heathen not only in respect of their faith, but also of their use of earthly things.All the requirements of this life are added along with the one great possession of the kingdom of heaven.Anxiety for the kingdom of God makes rich, since it bestows God Himself and all His blessings, Psa 84:12; Psa 73:25.The future belongs to God alone.

Gossner:

Mat 6:21. What man loves attracts his heart like the magnet the iron. If your treasure is in the earth, your heart is in the earth also; if your treasure is in God and in heaven, your heart is in God and in heaven. Braune:Every man has a master. Being freed from the service of sin, we become servants of righteousness.

Lisco:Only one direction of the heart is right; to seek earthly things betrays inward defilement.To serve, means to dedicate all that we are and have to another; in this sense we ought to serve God alone.Prayer and labor.Solicitude is foolish, being useless.

Gerlach:Our minds and hearts must be fully directed toward God, so that everything else may be subordinate.Lord, Thou hast created us in Thine image, and our heart is without rest till it finds rest in Thee. (Augustine.)In this and the following passage, care means anxious and distracting solicitude; not that carefulness which our calling demands (Php 4:6; 1Pe 5:7; Heb 13:5).Psa 104:27; Psa 145:15. The circumstance, that many birds and other animals die of cold and hunger, does not affect the argument, since this is not the consequence of their want of solicitude.

Heubner:If the heart and inclinations are at fault, the whole life shall be at fault.But if the will is directed toward that which is good, everything will bear reference to that one grand object: there will be harmony and light within and without; man will understand his wants, and where they may be satisfied.God demands our whole heart.The service of the world is slavery and idolatry, that of Christ, liberty.The tendency of materialism toward heathenism.Difference between the absence of solicitude in a Christian and in a worldly man: 1. In the former, it springs from earnestness for the great concern; 2. in the latter, from thoughtlessness.What is the right state so far as care is concerned: 1. Not to place what is heavenly on the same level with what is earthly ( Mat 6:24); 2. not to assign the first place to what is earthly ( Mat 6:25-32); but 3. to assign the first place to what is heavenly ( Mat 6:33-34).Wretched folly of earthly cares.The great care of the Christian.The decisive question: The world or Christ?How Jesus leads to true freedom from care.29

Sermons on the pericope, Mat 6:24-34, by Schleiermacher, Erdmann, Liebner, Reinhard, Drseke, Steinmeyer, and Claus Harms.

Footnotes:

[20] Mat 6:21.Recepta: . [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Fritzsche, Meyer, and Alford give the preference to , thy treasure.P. S.]

[21] Mat 6:25.Lachmann , following Cod. B., etc., . The addition is omitted by the later authorities and Tischendorf.

[22] Mat 6:23.[Cod. B.: . . .]

[23][The same idea is expressed by St. Jerome in loc.: Non dixit (Dominus), qui habet divitias, sed qui servit divitiis; qui divitiarum servus est custodit ut servus; qui servitutis excussit jugum, distribuit eas ut dominus.P. S.]

[24][ : Take not thought, be not concerned about, care not for, be not solicitous, be not distracted (from ). English interpreters generally take the word thought of the Com. E. Vers. in the old English sense for solicitude, anxious care (Bacon and Shakspeare; e. g., Queen Catharine Parr died of thought). Hence Campbell and others translate: Be not anxious, laying the stress wholly on the excess of care or solicitude. Jos. Addis. Alexander, ad Mat 6:25 : The idea of excess is here essential, so that ordinary thought or care is not excluded. Alford: The E. V., Take no thought. does not express the sense, but gives rather an exaggeration of the command, and thus makes it unreal and nugatory. In Luk 12:29 we have . But the prohibition has reference rather to the future (comp. Mat 6:34 : Take no thought for the morrow), and to all that exceeds our actual wants, as expressed in the petition: Give us this day our daily bread. Meyer says: Care is here generally understood emphatically of anxious care (which the word does not mean even in Sir 34:1), but this is an arbitrary assumption. Jesus prohibits to his disciples all concern about eating, drinking, etc. (das Besorgtsein berhaupt). Yet some limitation is obviously suggested by Mat 6:34, as already remarked, and required by the nature of the case as well as the consistency of Scripture teaching, which plainly enjoins forethought and proper care in temporal things, and condemns only that care which springs from unbelieving doubt and distrust in Providence; comp. 1Ti 5:8; 2Th 3:10; Joh 12:6; Joh 13:29.P. S.]

[25][The only objection to the version age, is that cubit is a measure of space, and not of time. But this objection is easily removed if we remember the frequent representation of human life as a journey, and the familiar phrase: length of life. Lebenslnge. Comp. Psa 39:5; 2Ti 4:7, etc. Meyer: Die von Gott geordnete Lebensdauer wird im Bilde eines bestimmten Lngenmaasses, gedacht. The primary meaning of is age and corresponds better with the parallel passage. Luk 12:26 : If ye then be not able to do that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? For to add a cubit, i. e., eighteen inches or a foot and a half, to mans stature would be doing something very great.P. S.]

[26][Dr. Dav. Brown, in loc.: Sufficient unto the day is the exil thereof. An admirable practical maxim, and better rendered in our version than in almost any other, not excepting the preceding English ones. Every day brings its own cares; and to anticipate is only to double them. Dr. Wordsworth, in loc.: This adage is found in the Talmud Berachot, fol. 9, 2. Verst, De Adag. N. T., p. 806. Here it may be observed, that our Lord adopts and spiritualizes several proverbial sayings in succession, which were known to the Jews. In the same manner as in the Lords Prayer He adopted and spiritualized petitions from the Jewish Liturgy. He thus exemplified His own precept concerning new wins and new bottles (Mat 9:16-17), and on bringing out of the storehouse things new and old (Mat 13:52). In all those cases He animates the old letter with the new Spirit of His own.P. S.]

[27][Dr. Lange calls the three nights: black night, gray night, and white night, or Lichtmangel, Lichthemmung Lichtzersetzung.P. S.]

[28][Remember the familiar adage: Ora et labora; Bete und arbeite.P. S.]

[29][Wordsworth: Our Lord does not forbid provident forethought (comp. 1Ti 5:8), as was imagined by the Euchites (qui volebant semper et nunquam laborare), against whom St. Augustine wrote his book: De opere monachorum. But He forbids anxious, restless, and distrustful solicitude about earthly things, and this He does by seven considerations: 1. The care which God shows for our life and bodies; 2. for the inferior creatures which exist for our sake; 3. because all our care is vain without God; 4. from a consideration of the flowers and grass which God clothes and adorns; 5. because such solicitude is unchristian and heathenish; 6. because God adds everything necessary to them who seek first His kingdom; 7. because sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Comp. Php 4:6; 1Pe 5:7.P. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 1321
LAYING UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN

Mat 6:19-21. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

MUCH of our Lords sermon on the mount was intended to explain the true import of the Law, in opposition to the false glosses with which the Scribes and Pharisees had obscured it. But in many parts of it the instruction is general, and unconnected with any particular persons or circumstances. The Pharisees indeed were covetous: but the whole human race are more intent on earthly than on heavenly things; and therefore the exhortation in our text may be considered as equally important in every age and place.
In discoursing upon it, we shall consider,

I.

The direction given

This consists of two parts, the one negative, the other positive:

1.

The negative part

[This is not to be understood as though there were no situation or circumstances wherein it were allowable to lay up money: for it is certainly the duty of all persons to make provision for those whose subsistence depends upon them: those who should refuse to support their aged parents or relatives would be deemed worse than infidels [Note: 1Ti 5:8.]: nor, by parity of reasoning, can they be considered as acting more suitably to their Ciiristian profession who neglect to make a necessary provision for their children [Note: 2Co 12:14.]. But we may gather from the very terms in which the direction is expressed, what are the limitations with which it is to be understood. The measure, the manner, the end, are all clearly defined. We are not to lay up treasures. What is necessary for the carrying on of our trade, or for the supporting of ourselves in old age, or for the enabling of our family to maintain that rank of life wherein they have been educated, may be considered as allowable: but what is laid up for the sake of enriching and aggrandizing our family, may be justly included in the prohibition before us. Of course, no precise sum can be fixed; because what would be wealth to one man, would be poverty to another: but whatever argues discontent, and a desire of elevating ourselves and our families above the rank which Providence has allotted us in life, should be regarded with a jealous eye and a trembling heart. The treasuring up treasures, as the original term imports, may not unfitly represent to us that kind of solicitude which our Lord forbids. Though it is a mode of expression quite common in the Greek, yet it conveys an idea of eagerness and covetousness which are altogether contrary to the Christian character. Christianity does not require a man to cast away, or even to give away, his paternal inheritance, or all the fruits of his own labour: but it absolutely forbids him to find delight in treasuring up his wealth, or in looking to it as a source either of safety or happiness. The laying up of treasures for ourselves is also particularly forbidden: and in this view there is little difference, whether we have respect to our own personal comfort, or the comfort of our children, who are, in fact, a part of ourselves. The saying, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, argues a sordid and earthly mind; and renders us peculiarly obnoxious to the Divine displeasure.

Thus the prohibitory part of this direction must be taken somewhat in a qualified sense, as it respects the act: though it is altogether unqualified, as it respects the habit of our minds.]

2.

The positive part

[Here there is not the same necessity for assigning any limits to the expression, or for guarding persons against excess in their endeavours to follow the Divine command. Here the measure, the manner, the end of our desires should accord with the lull import of the words themselves. What we lay up in heaven should be considered as our richest treasure: and we should treasure it up with insatiable avidity. We should lay it up also with an especial view to ourselves. What we now possess we should dispose of for the good of others; but what we lay up in heaven can be enjoyed by ourselves only; and should be regarded by us as the only portion deserving our pursuit.

This then is the direction which we are to follow: and herein we may well take for our guides those persons who go abroad for the acquisition of wealth. They go thither for one fixed purpose, which they follow uniformly during their continuance there. They never for a moment forget that they are labouring with a view to their future happiness in their native country. They never suffer a year to pass without inquiring how far they have succeeded in expediting or securing the great object before them. They lose no opportunity of remitting home the produce of their labour: and they feel increasing satisfaction in proportion as the time approaches for the termination of their present exertions, and the complete fruition of their long-wished-for enjoyments. So should it be with us. We should follow our present occupations as subservient to future happiness: we should account every day lost which has not added somewhat to our store, and laid a foundation for eternal bliss. We should make our remittances from time to time, depositing to the utmost of our power in the bank of heaven; and should consider ourselves as rich, not in proportion to what we spend at present, but rather in proportion to what we can lay up for future enjoyment.]

Let us now turn our attention to,

II.

The reasons with which it is enforced

These are taken from different sources:

1.

From the comparative value of the different kinds of treasure

[Earthly treasure, of whatever kind it be, is perishable in its nature, and uncertain in its duration: whereas heavenly treasure is incorruptible, and eternal. The wealth of the ancients consisted much in the number of their superb garments, which moths might easily destroy. Even their precious metals might at last be consumed by rust and canker; and at all events they might be taken away by deceit or violence. The uncertainty of earthly possessions was never more manifest than in the present age. But if we be rich in faith and in good works, if we have laid up treasures of that kind in heaven, what shall ever lessen their value, or who shall ever rob us of the enjoyment of them? No moth or rust shall ever corrupt them; no thief shall ever break through to steal them.
Say then, Whether this be not reason sufficient for laying up treasures in heaven, rather than on earth? Even if we could realize all our expectations with respect to this world, our happiness must be short, because life itself is coming speedily to a close: but there is not a human being who does not feel the insufficiency of earthly things to make him happy: What then can they contribute to our happiness in that day, when nothing of them shall remain, except the fearful responsibility for having idolized and abused them, and the tremendous judgments of God for having suffered them to alienate our minds from him? But the very exercise of grace is happiness, independent of the reward which it will receive in glory; and the more we abound in good works now, the happier shall we be to all eternity; for every one shall receive according to his own labour.]

2.

From their uniform influence upon the heart

[Whatever our treasure be, it will occupy the supreme place in our affections, and engage in its service the noblest powers of our souls. But is such regard due to any earthly thing? Does not God claim our heart as his throne, on which he is to reign without a rival? Has he not required us to love him with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength? If then we make any thing else our treasure, we rob him of his honour, and cast him down from his throne. And will he not fearfully resent such conduct? Will he not say, Bring hither those that were mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me? Surely this consideration may well instruct us in the path we are to pursue: it proclaims loudly to us, Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth. If, indeed, God would be contented with a divided heart, we might be less scrupulous about the objects of our pursuit: but as he is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another, it becomes us to live in this world as pilgrims and sojourners, and to direct all our efforts towards the attainment of his favour and his inheritance.]

This subject affords abundant occasion,
1.

For reproof

[Would one not suppose, from the conduct of the world at large, that our Lords instructions had been the very reverse of what they are? If he had bidden us lay up treasures on earth, and not in heaven, he had found us a very obedient people. But his command is plain; and it is at the peril of our souls to disobey it. True it is, that a compliance with it is deemed folly; and an habitual violation of it is accounted wisdom [Note: Psa 49:18.]: but God seeth not as man seeth: his judgment respecting this is the very reverse of theirs [Note: Luk 12:20.]: and by that shall our doom be regulated in the eternal world

Think not that we mean to decry industry; for diligence in earthly pursuits is recommended and enjoined by God himself [Note: Rom 12:11. Ecc 9:10.]: but it is the regarding of earthly things as the sources of our happiness that is condemned in the text: and if we will make them our treasure, they are the only treasure which we shall ever possess ]

2.

For encouragement

[If it were necessary to lay up treasures on earth, you might well be discouraged. One might say, I have not abilities for it: another, I have no capital to trade with: another, There are too many competitors in my line of business: another, I have been robbed and impoverished by a treacherous partner, or a dishonest debtor. But no such grounds of discouragement exist in relation to heavenly treasures. The wisest philosopher has no advantage over the most illiterate peasant: there is equal access afforded to every one to the inexhaustible riches of Christ, by the improvement of which alone any one can be made rich towards God: competitors for heavenly wealth promote, instead of impeding, each others success: nor shall either deceit or violence ever prevail against those who commit their cause to God. Let all of us then unite in this glorious work: let us be satisfied with no attainments; but covet earnestly the best gifts: let us be ever pressing forward, forgetting what is behind, and reaching forth to that which is before. Whatever we have of this worlds goods, let us lay them out for the Lord with prudent generosity: let us lend them to him, and he will repay us again. But if we are poor in this world, let us honour the Lord by cheerful contentment; assured that every grace we exercise, whether passive or active, shall be richly recompensed at the resurrection of the just.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

These directions of our LORD are so very plain that they need no comment. I detain the Reader, however, just to ask, the question, not to decide upon that verse: if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? Doth not JESUS allude to that kind of head-knowledge, void of heart-influence, which devils and some men possess; whereby they have a clear apprehension of the great truths of GOD, but no affection towards them. Such was that of Balaam. Num 24:3-4 . His eyes (he saith himself) were opened, but no regeneration of heart. He knew the LORD, but felt no love towards him. The devils in the days of our LORD gave the same testimony. We know thee who thou art, the HOLY ONE of GOD! Luk 4:33-34 . But Balaam, in the midst of this knowledge, hired himself out to curse the people of GOD. And devils remain devils with the full conviction of the GODHEAD of CHRIST, and his great salvation upon them. Reader! think what an awful state, to have an historical head-knowledge of the LORD JESUS only; void of a life-giving, soul-renewing grace, from the Spirit of Christ! And what increased sorrows will this very knowledge induce in another world?

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 22

Christ Anxious About the Heart The Safety of Spiritual Riches the Rectitude of Motive secular Anxiety and Worldly Fear the Uselessness of Anxiety

Prayer

Almighty God, we have read of thy care of our life, and without reading it in a book we know it well, for day by day thou art at our right hand, thou dost satisfy our mouth with good things, thou dost renew our youth like the eagle’s, our strength is returned to us after its expenditure, thou dost keep our eyes from tears, our feet from falling, and our soul from death. Thou hast shown unto us great and wonderful things as we have come along the pathway of life; we have begun to pray where we expected to die; thou hast planted a tree beside the bitter lake, and made its waters sweet with the branches thereof; thou hast planted flowers upon the tomb; thou hast dried tears which no human hand of sympathy or tenderness could reach; and, when the grief was keenest and the darkness most burdensome, then was the star the brightest and in the cold wind there were voices of hope.

We bless thee for all thy tender care, thy long-continued patience; thou dost watch over each of us as if he were an only child. Behold there is no measure to the Lord’s mercy, and his compassions fail not. We bless thee for thy great Book, so full of music and truth and beauty; touching us at every point of our life, speaking to us the one word we most need, comforting us with infinite solaces, opening the prospect beyond the horizon of time, and enabling us to see into the rest and the joyous service of heaven.

We give ourselves into thy keeping; we would have no will but thine; we would not attempt to open any door but with thy key. Thou hast been our God and our Helper, and in thy love do we rest as in an inviolable defence. Show us more of thyself; fill our whole life with light, may our eye be single, that our whole body may be lighted with the flame of thy glory. May our whole life, body, soul, and spirit, be a daily sacrifice on the sacred altar; may our whole desire rise up before thee in a solemn and all-believing prayer.

We thank thee for thine house; we bless thee that no storm can overtake us hidden in the sanctuary of God. The Lord’s blessing be in every heart, the Lord’s light shine upon every eye, and, as for our whole life, we open it now and give thee all the hospitality of our love. Come, abide with us, and in the breaking of our bread we shall see great revelations of heaven.

We commend one another to thy tender care. The Lord help every man, woman, child, now bent in prayer. Thou knowest the secret desire of each heart, the solemn purpose of each life thou knowest the sting that pierces the heart, the burden too heavy for mortal strength, the great fear that deepens into dejection, and threatens to become a mortal injury. Thou knowest our family life, our commercial difficulties, and our whole estate is known to thee. The Lord undertake for every one of us according to the heart’s necessity, and multiply unto us his grace, so that beyond all our want there may be an overflow of divine love.

We bless thee again and again, in never-ending hymn and psalm, for the gift of thine only-begotten and well-beloved Sou. We know Jesus Christ, we have heard his words, we have touched the hem of his garment, we have seen the outflowing of his sacred blood; we remember that his cross was set up for us, and in the agony of our contrition he is our only hope. God be merciful unto us sinners: give us assurance of daily pardon, and strengthen our confidence in every divine promise: then shall our life be quiet and bright, and strong and good. Hear us when we sing thy praises, hear the desires we cannot put into words, see the falling of secret tears on account of secret sin, and help us one and all with the unfailing strength of thine infinite grace to live before thee in all faith, in all affection, and in pure desire to know and do thy blessed will. Amen.

Mat 6:19-34 .

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25. Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

In this passage you have, first, an exhortation, and, secondly, a reason for it. The exhortation is, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth: lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” The reason is, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” You will never understand the exhortation till you understand the reason given for it. Vain is all criticism upon the words, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” It is in the treatment of those words that the annotators have failed. A thousand little and mean questions arise whilst we confine our attention to the words, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” We are not in a condition to criticise that language until we complete the sentence and find at its close the all-convincing reason for giving such an exhortation.

What is Christ anxious about? What is it that he wishes to take care of? He himself gives an explicit answer to the inquiry. His one anxiety is about the condition of the HEART. “‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;’ and it is the heart that touches my supreme solicitude. If the heart be right, the whole outgoing of the life will be right; but if the heart be wrong, then all the actions that make up the sum total of the duties and exercises of life will also be wrong.” Now I see the whole meaning, I understand what my Teacher intends me to receive as his doctrine. Provided my heart is right, he does not care if my possessions are heaven-high, if I can rise above them and stand upon them, and use them with mighty strength. He is most anxious that they should not be bigger than I am, his supreme anxiety is that they should not lure my confidence and make up the sum total of my hope and expectation. So long as I can treat them as so many conveniences and use them for the good of my fellow-creatures, he cares not how many, how rich, may be my possessions. He says to me lovingly, with infinite pathos and concern, “Brother, friend, man keep thine heart right, keep thy love in its right direction, let thy life be a continual sacrifice, burning upwards to the holy throne that deserves it. Then, as for thy possessions, thou wilt be master, not slave. The more thou hast, the more the poor will have; thou wilt be treasurer and custodian, thou wilt not be oppressed by the riches, but ennobled to dignity by them.” So then there is no exhortation here against laying up property. The world must have property, and the more that property is in good hands the better; and, concerning every man who makes a good use of money, I pray the Lord to send him tenfold more. The more he has, the more the poor have; the more money the good man has, the more the whole church has. It is better that that money should be in the hands of a good treasurer than in the hands of an untrustworthy custodian.

Look at the figures in this exhortation, showing how keen was the observation of Jesus Christ regarding everything going on around him. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt.” The property of the contemporaries of Christ consisted largely of linen and embroidered goods. To have great stores of these was the Jews’ great notion of wealth. Jesus Christ, looking at all the piles of linen and embroidery, said, “Take care that the moth does not get into them; remember that there is a moth do not forget the consuming insect.” It was a practical and most secular exhortation.

“And rust doth corrupt.” The treasures were largely hidden in the earth. Men would dig deep pits in the field and hide their most valuable possessions, and there they would rust. Jesus Christ, looking at the man filling up the earth upon his treasure, says, “Remember the rust: what you have put in the earth there is exposed to danger: you may cover it up very carefully, but the rust will get at it.” There is always some danger to be provided against.

“Where thieves break through and steal.” The houses were mud houses, the walls were mud walls, and the thief is at the back yonder, breaking through, boring his way through the mud defence that he may get at the treasures hidden inside. Jesus Christ says to the builder of the mud wall, “Take care, it is only mud, understand that mud is not impervious: always remember that there are weapons of iron that can break through your mud defences.” And again I say unto you, there is always danger to be guarded against, and a man is no stronger than his weakest point. Beware of the moth, beware of the rust, beware of the thief. Life is based upon caution, unless it be founded in God, and then it is lifted up above all danger, or the dangers that affect it themselves fail away before its supreme strength and immovable confidence.

So much for the exhortation, and so much for the reason. Now what is it as an argument? I am always struck with the common sense of this divine Talker. Apart from his metaphysics and high imagination and noble courage and heroism, there is an element of marvellous common sense. He grasps his subject: he lays upon it a grip that means “You cannot take this easily from me.” Let us look at it merely as an argument.

Jesus Christ Says, “Riches can be stolen, riches can perish, riches can fly away, therefore look out for treasures that are not subject to these vexations and harassing contingencies.” Is the argument sound? Look at it again. What you have in your hands may be taken out of them, therefore have something in your heart that no man can get at and steal. The reasoning is sound and unanswerable. He who has nothing but what he can grasp in his hands is no stronger in his possessions than his fingers. A man can wrench what he holds out of his possession, and they will be his no longer. Where is your Bible? If it is only in your hands as a book, though you are pressing it to your heart, it can be taken away from you, and you may be without it. But, where is your Bible? “In my head,” say you, “in my heart; I know it.” Then, though the book be burned with fire, the revelation is untouched.

Jesus Christ says, “Have an inward life, have an interior life, have a soul.” The Teacher who teaches thus is a wise man. He warns us against the things that can be destroyed, and points us to the possessions that are indestructible. He tells you in so many words that you are no richer than your heart is; though your books be many enough to make a library of, you are only as rich as you are in your thought, feeling, aspiration, desire after God and all things godly. I feel that such teaching is true: no long and laboured argument is needed to make me feel its truthfulness. If I speak right out of my heart and let my better self be heard, I say with the Scribe, “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth.”

Take it in another light, that it may be clearly seen by those who can understand better by illustration than by mere argument. You come into the house of your friend, and you are struck with his books, say upon agriculture. You look over the volumes and say, “Well, how very many books you have upon agriculture. I am surprised at your collection of works upon this subject.” A friend belonging to the house says to you, “If you think the books upon agriculture are many, what will you say when I show you the library upon astronomy? If you think these books a good many upon agriculture, when I show you the astronomical works you will be utterly confounded.” By the help of that illustration, you go a little further and reason thus. If you think this man is rich in shares and stocks and fields and investments of one kind and another, what will you say when you see his thoughts, his feelings, his prayers, his aspirations, his plans for the amelioration of the race. Our inner nature should be so much in excess of our outer nature as to give the impression that we have no outer nature at all. We are to be so much larger in the soul than we are in the hand as to throw the hand into infinite insignificance, though in itself it have a giant’s fist and can deliver a Herculean blow. Let every man therefore ask himself what he has in the bank of the heart.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil (double), thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The heart is in the eye of the life: always keep the heart pure and right, sincere and true, and you cannot stumble long. Let your motive be correct, and you will be brought along the right road, even though you may have stumbled into the wrong path for a moment. Let your heart be right, and I care not in what thicket you be tangled, you will see a clear, broad road out of it, and you shall yet rejoin the main path that lies right up towards the light and the heaven that is at the end of it.

How is it then with the heart which is the eye of the life? What is your motive, what is your purpose? Dare you throw back the screen and show the motive to heaven’s light? If so, you cannot be weak; you cannot be the subjects of long continued depression and fear. O youth my child, my son give God thine heart; and as for thy mistakes, they prove thee only to be mortal. But once let your motives become mixed, let them double themselves back into reservations and ambiguities and uncertainties, let the inner life become a hesitation and a compromise and a trick in expediency, and you are blinded in your very centre and fount of light. And if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! If your supreme manhood be debased, how utter is the degradation. If you have gone down in your motive, you have gone altogether. So let a man examine himself as to his motives and purposes, and keeping these right, so as to bear the very test of fire and to stand the examination of light, he may maintain his life in the quietness of religious confidence. If you have got wrong in your motives, stop. Do not be lured away by inventiveness in making excuses and palliations. To your knees, and become strong by first becoming weak. No coverings up, no clever juggleries, no assumptions of appearance, but complete, unreserved, emphatic, contrite confession, and then begin again. Remember that your eye is the centre of light, and if the eye be put out or injured, no other part of you can receive that great gift. The eye once blinded, your finger tips cannot be flamed up into illumination, your whole body is darkness. With the eye, the light is gone for ever, and wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

How marvellous it is that a single organ should hold so much, and there should be no alternative arrangements in this matter of light, looking at which we can say, “Well, it matters little if the light goes out at one point, it can come in at another.” Such is not the arrangement of divine providence: you have the one inlet of light; lose that, and your whole body, though it be great and strong and healthy, and apparently beyond the touch of death, will be full of darkness. See how much depends upon one faculty, one organ. Let the ear be deafened and all music is lost; let the eye be blinded, and the whole firmament, with all its sun and stars, is but a covering of darkness. There is but a step between thee and death: thou hast but one right hand, take care lest it be paralyzed and fall uselessly by thy side for ever. These are the cautions of no alarmist; they are the strong, grand, pure teachings of a Man who breathed the mountain air, and had the sea’s freshness ever breathing through his magnificent heart.

“No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” We do not understand this in English. Men run away with very shallow notions of what is here said; these English words do not express the Saviour’s meaning, except with indefinite-ness and a great distance of appreciation. No man literally, no slave, and we do not know, thank God, what a slave is. The slave had no will of his own; every pulse of his body belonged to his master; he dare only look as the master approved; there must be no protest even in his eye, or he lost his life. He must stand, sit, come, go, at the will that was iron and that could not be broken. No man, says Christ, can sustain that relation to two masters; he cannot belong, absolutely, body, soul, spirit, will, imagination, energy, feeling, to two different masters. Masters we do not understand this in English. We never can enter into the tragical pathos of that awful word: never to be able to call an hour my own; never to be at liberty to utter the voice of complaint; never to be permitted to look my true self, but to wear a mask to please another’s eye; to be at the beck and call of a man who can take my life from me with impunity that is to be under a master.

How many persons there are who have read this text so as to sever the spiritual and the secular. It is thus the Bible has been maltreated by some of its friends: it is thus that great excisions have been made, so that religion has been left in the church as an all but impalpable shadow. That is the meaning of this great Teacher we must use the spiritual and secular, for all things are sacred according to the hand that touches them. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean. You miss the grandest side of life when you separate it into spiritual and secular. There are some persons who talk about the temporalities of the church there are no temporalities in the church. There are those who speak of the business side of the church there is no business side of the church in any degrading sense of the term: it is all business. “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” He who lights a lamp in the church is as he who preaches a sermon; he who opens a door or keeps a gate, as he who breathes a gospel and unfolds a revelation. The difference is in the degree, not in the quality; “He who sweeps a floor for thy sake, makes that and the action fine.” We must be lifted up in our whole conception of life and labour, industry and reward, if we would enter into the spirit of Christ in his interpretation of our life and its duties.

Now comes the grand wondrous discourse concerning secular anxiety and worldly fear, the beautiful sermon wherein you find the reference to the lilies and the birds and the grass of the field. Let us look at that wonderful sermon a moment. We are treating this gospel by Matthew in its wholeness and not going into the mere detail of the occasion as a painter paints a landscape with a church upon it. He does not take you into the church, he simply throws the church upon the landscape as part of something else, and you must catch it in its proper outline and relationship. It is so I am treating this gospel. By-and-bye we shall go to the church and spend a day there; by-and-bye we shall come into the detail and study each particular delicate line; meantime we have to treat the gospel in its totality, and under the direction of this feeling look at this most marvellous discourse.

“Take no thought for your life.” We do not get at the Saviour’s meaning in this English word “thought.” We do not, indeed, get into the right meaning of the word thought some three hundred years after the use which it first assumed. When this translation was made, the word thought meant something different from what it means to-day it meant anxiety, restless, carking care; it meant that penetration of fear which upsets the balance of life and turns the whole soul into moods of dejection and wearing anxiety. The word thought meant this in the time when the English Bible was translated hence one of the historians says, “Queen Catherine died of thought.” Hence Cleopatra said to Enobarbus, “What shall we do, Enobarbus?” And the answer was, ” Think, and die.” In other words, “Fear, fret, pine away, succumb to depression, anxiety, and all the influences that can vex and tear the balance of the heart.” It is against such thought that Jesus Christ warns his disciples.

Is it possible that any man here can be encouraging himself in languor and indifference and idleness by saying that he is considering the lilies and beholding the fowls, and yielding himself to the genius of this Sermon on the Mount? I must rudely disturb his foolish and atheistical lassitude. Let us behold the fowls of the air for a moment, and see how far their course justifies the man who is simply folding his arms and sitting still and letting God take care of him. First, the fowls get up soon in the morning where are you? Away goes one of your props. In the next place the fowls are most industrious: it is one of my little pleasures to watch the industry of the birds, and, indeed, they seem to have no hours. I trust nobody will ever form them into a union for the purpose of shortening the hours of labour: that would be a great mishap in the air, to cut short their song exactly as the clock struck five! O, the building that is going on now! The straw-carrying and the feather-catching and the leaf-binding what industry! Up with the sun, working all the hours of the light, and twittering and trilling and singing all the time. There is another of your props gone, lazy man.

I find, too, that the birds are self-supporting: they would never take anything at your hand if they could help it. A bird is sadly driven when it comes to any man and says, “Let me peck at your hand, if you please.” The birds support themselves who supports you? You would borrow a shilling of your poor old mother if you could, and you talk about beholding the fowls of the air. You have borrowed of every friend you ever had be just in your exegesis of the divine word, and add not the blasphemy of a fool’s criticism to the behaviour of a cowardly spirit.

And the lilies is it a happy-go-lucky life with them? Far from it The word lilies here is a word that may be so interpreted as to include all flowers, and the flowers are found in their proper places, they are where they were meant to be, if they are growing properly; not only so, the flowers are working in harmony with great laws. Every flower draws its beauty from the sun: the flower roots itself in dark places, and prays with open face for the great light, and holds itself out with gracious willingness to catch every drop of dew that it can hold. So we must be in our proper spheres, in our right relations: we must keep the economy of life and nature as God has established it, then we shall truly, with a wide and healthy wisdom, behold the fowls and consider the lilies.

Jesus Christ gives a reason for this exhortation again. He says, “Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature?” He thus shows the uselessness of anxiety. Suppose now you. sit up all night with your hands folded or twisted, in expression of keen unappeasable solicitude and yearning what does it come to in the morning? Nothing. Suppose you should belabour yourself all day long, what does it come to tomorrow? To weariness, dejection, sadness, and to all the results of misdirected energy and irreligious folly. A great teacher now living has well said that if any friend of ours had told us one hundredth part of the lies our fears have told us, we never would have allowed him to speak to us again. We would have said, “Get thee behind me, thou lying man.” But our fears come every day and tell us exactly the same lies, and we give them exactly the same confidence. Is that religion? It is, but only the religion of paganism. The religion of trust, love, faith, rests in the Lord and waits patiently for him; forms a grand and loving expectation, directs it often in speechless prayer to the generous and over-arching heavens, and calmly awaits the revelation and the whole answer of God.

This is how I want to live: I want to subordinate every desire to the one aim of seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness; I want to interpret that kingdom as meaning and including all other kingdoms; and I would calmly await the leading of divine providence. Why fidget yourself, why fret and annoy yourself, why go out and throw yourself into a bed of stinging nettles merely for the sake of doing something? I would not anticipate tomorrow any more than I would anticipate death. Death is abolished; there is no dying for the man who is in Christ. Let the child close his eyelids; he will open them in heaven. Let a pagan call that death if he likes; the Christian calls it life. Nothing wrong can happen to me if I be really rooted in God, and if my eye be set towards him with the one anxiety of receiving his light.

Given that I have to take care of myself, and make all my arrangements, and go up and down life as if everything depended on me, and my life becomes a cloud, a fear, a sting, a great distress; but given that I am creature, not creator, child of the one ever-living, ever-loving Father, the very hairs of my head are all numbered, my name is written in heaven, and the whole plan of my destiny is mapped out in the skies that I am, consciously or unconsciously, so long as my desire is as a pure flame, working out the divine intention. Let me feel that to be the case; then, come weal, come woe, high hill or cold river, or bleak wilderness or beauteous garden come what may, God will come with it, and my life shall be a great, sweet peace.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Ver. 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth ] This is the fourth common place handled here by our Saviour, of casting away the inordinate care of earthly things, which he presseth upon all, by nine various arguments, to the end of the chapter. By treasures here are meant worldly wealth in abundance, precious things stored up, as silver, gold, pearls, &c. All these are but earth, and it is but upon earth that they are laid up. What is silver and gold but white and yellow earth? And what are pearls and precious stones but the guts and garbage of the earth? Dan 2:45 . The stone brake in piece’s the iron, the brass, the clay, and silver, &c. The prophet breaks the native order of speech, for clay, iron, brass, silver, &c., to intimate (as some conceive) that silver is clay by an elegant allusion in the Chaldee, Should we load ourselves with thick clay? surcharge our hearts with cares of this life? Luk 21:34 . It is said, “Abraham was very rich in cattle, in siiver, and in gold,” Gen 13:2 . There is a Latin translation that hath it, “Abraham was very heavy,” . And the original indifferently beareth both; to show, saith one, that riches are a heavy burden, and a hindrance many times to heaven and happiness. They that have this burden upon their backs can as hardly get in at the strait gate as a camel or cable into a needle, Mat 19:24 , and that because they trust in their riches (as our Saviour there expounds himself), and here plainly intimates when he speaketh of laying up treasures, providing thereby for hereafter, for tomorrow a (so the word signifieth), and thinking themselves simply the safer and the happier for their outward abundance, as the rich fool did. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, saith Solomon, Pro 10:15 ; his wedge, his confidence; his gold, his god; therefore St Paul calleth him an idolater, Eph 5:5 ; St James, an adulterer, Jas 4:4 ; because he robs God of his flower, his trust, and goeth a whoring after lying vanities: he soweth the wind and reapeth the whirlwind, he treasureth up wealth but also wrath, Jas 5:3 ; and by counting all fish that cometh to net, he catcheth at length the devil and all. Hence it is that St James bids such (and not without cause) “weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon them.” He looks upon them as deplored persons, and such as the philosopher could call and count incurable and desperate. b For the heart that is first turned into earth and mud will afterwards freeze and congeal into steel and adamant. “The Pharisees that were covetous derided Christ,” Luk 16:14 , and perished irrecoverably. And reprobates are said by St Peter to have their hearts “exercised with covetous practices,” 2Pe 2:14 , which they constantly follow, as the artificer his trade, being bound apprentices to the devil, 2Co 2:11 ; “Lest Satan should get an advantage against us, or overreach us,” as covetous wretches do silly novices. c These as they have served an ill master, so they shall receive the “reward of unrighteousness and perish in their corruptions,” 2Pe 2:12-13 . Their happiness hath been laid up in the earth, nearer hell than heaven, nearer the devil than God, whom they have forsaken, therefore shall they “be written in the earth,” Jer 17:13 ; that is, in hell, as it stands opposed to having their names written in heaven. Those that are earthly minded have damnation for their end, Phi 3:19 . God, to testify his displeasure, knocks his fists at them, Eze 22:13 ; as Balak did at Balaam. And lest they should reply, Tush, these are but big words, devised on purpose to frighten silly people; we shall do well enough with the Lord; he addeth, Mat 6:14 ; “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.” Oh that our greedy muck moles (that lie rooting and poring in the earth, as if they meant to dig themselves through it a nearer way to hell) would consider this before the cold grave holds their bodies and hot Tophet burns their souls! the one is as sure as the other, if timely course be not taken. O saeculum nequam, saith St Bernard; O most wretched and miserable world, how little are thy friends beholden to thee; seeing thy love and friendship exposeth them to the wrath and vengeance of God, which burneth as low as the nethermost hell! d How fitly may it be said of thee, as Solinus of the river Hipanis: they that know it at first commend it; they that have experience of it at last, do not without cause condemn it! e Those that will be rich are resolved to get rem, rem, quocunque modo rem, as he saith, these fall necessarily into many noisome lusts that drown men in destruction: f desperately drown them in remediless misery (as the word signifieth). “Christ must be prayed to be gone,” saith that martyr, “lest all their pigs be drowned. The devil shall have his dwelling again in themselves rather than in their pigs. Therefore to the devil shall they go, and dwell with him,” &c. They feed upon carrion, as Noah’s raven; upon dust, as the serpent; upon the world’s murdering morsels, as those in Job: Job 20:15 “They swallow down riches,” and are as insatiated, as the Pharisees, Luk 11:41 . But they shall vomit them up again, God shall cast them out of their bellies. g Their mouths that cry, Give, give, with the horse leech, shall be filled ere long with a shovelful of mould, and a cup of fire and brimstone poured down their wide gullets. It shall be worse with them than it was once with the covetous Caliph of Babylon, who being taken, together with his city, by Haalon, brother to Mango the great Cham of Tartary, was set by him in the midst of the infinite treasure which he and his predecessors had most covetously heaped up together, and bidden of that gold, silver, and precious stones take what it pleased him to eat, saying by way of derision, that so rich a guest should be fed with the best, whereof he willed him to make no spare. The covetous wretch, kept for certain days, miserably died for hunger in the midst of those things whereof he thought he should never have had enough, whereby he hoped to secure himself against whatsoever dearth or danger. God loveth to confute carnal men in their confidences. They shall pass on “hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth” (where they have laid up their happiness, but now lost their hopes), “and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven into darkness,” Isa 8:21-22 , utter darkness, where their never enough shall be quitted with fire enough, but a black fire without the least glimpse of light or comfort.

Where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves, &c. ] A powerful dissuasive from earthlymindedness, by the uncertainty of riches, ever subject to a double danger or waste; 1. Of vanity in themselves; 2. Of violence from others: rust or robbery may undo us. As the fairest flowers or fruit trees breed a worm oftentimes that eats out the heart of them; as the ivy killeth the oak that beareth it; so of the matter of an earthly treasure grows moth or rust that rots it. All outward things are of a perishing nature, they perish in the use, they melt away between our fingers. St Gregory upon those words in Job 38:22 , Qui ingreditur in thesauros nivis? “Who hath entered into the treasures of the snow?”-showeth that earthly treasures are treasures of snow. We see little children what pains they take to rake and scrape snow together to make a snowball, which after a while dissolves and comes to nothing. Right so the treasures of this world, the hoards that wicked men have heaped, when God entereth into them, come to nothing. “He that trusteth to his riches shall fall,” Pro 11:28 , as he shall that standeth on a hillock of ice or heap of snow. David, when gotten upon his mountain, thought himself cocksure, and began to crow that he should never be moved. But God (to confute him) had no sooner hidden his face but he was troubled, Psa 30:6-7 . What is the air without light? The Egyptians had no joy of it: no more than a Christian have of wealth without God’s favour. Besides, what hold is there of these earthly things, more than there is of a flock of birds? I cannot say they are mine because they sit in my yard, “Riches have wings,” saith Solomon, Pro 23:5 ; “great eagles’ wings to fly from us,” saith a father; but to follow after us, Ne passerinas quidem, not so much as small sparrows’ wings. Whereupon Solomon rightly argues, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” that hath no real subsistence, that is nothing, and of no more price than mere opinion sets upon it? The world calls wealth substance, but God gives that name to wisdom only. Heaven is said to have a foundation, earth to he hanged upon nothing, Job 16:7 . So things are said to be in heaven, as in a mansion; but on earth, on the surface only, as ready to be shaken off. h Hence the world is called a sea of glass, frail and fickle, mingled with fire of temptations and tribulations, Rev 15:2 . The very firmament (that hath its name from its firmness) shall melt with fervent heat, and the whole visible fabric be dissolved by the fire of the last day, 2Pe 3:10 . Solomon sets forth the world by a word that betokeneth change, for its mutability. i And St Paul, when he telleth as “that the fashion of the world passeth away,” useth a word of art that signifieth a bare external mathematical figure, ” Cui veri aut solidi nihil subest, ” saith an interpreter, that hath no truth or solidity in it at all. Gelimer, king of the Vandals, being conquered, and carried in triumph by Belisarius the Roman general, when he stood in the open field before the Emperor Justinian, and beheld him sitting in his throne of state, remembering withal what a high pitch himself was fallen from, he broke out into this speech, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” That was Solomon’s verdict, long since delivered up, upon well grounded experience. But men love to try conclusions; and when they have done, “What profit,” saith he, “hath a man of all his pains?” what residue and remaining fruit (as the word signifieth) to abide with him? Ecc 1:3 . When all the account is subducted (his happiness resolved into its final issue and conclusion) there resteth nothing but ciphers. A spider eviscerateth himself and wasteth his own bowels to make a web to catch a fly; so doth the worldling for that which profiteth not, but perisheth in the use: or say that it abide, yet himself perisheth, when to possess the things he hath gotten might seem a happiness; as the rich fool, Alexander, Tamerlane, and others. Most of the Caesars got nothing by their adoption or designation, but ut citius interficerentur, that they might be the sooner slain. All, or most of them, till Constantine, died unnatural deaths and in the best of their time. “He that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool,” Jer 17:11 . God will make a poor fool of him. As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand, Ecc 5:15 . Say his treasure escape both rust and robber, death as a thief will break in, and leave him not worth a groat. Who would not then set light by this pelf, and put on that Persian resolution, Isa 13:17 ; “Not to regard silver, nor be desirous of gold?” ( Animo magno nihil magnum, With a great spirit nothing is great. Senec.) Who would not tread in the steps of faithful Abraham, and answer the devil with his golden offers, as he did the king of Sodom, “God forbid that I should take of thee so much as a shoe latchet?” When great gifts were sent to Luther, he refused them with this brave speech, ” Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari a Deo, ” I deeply protested that God should not put me off with such poor things as these. The heathenish Romans had, for a difference in their nobility, a little ornament in the form of a moon (to show that all worldly honours were mutable), and they did wear it upon their shoes, to show that they did tread it under their feet, as base and bootless. j This is check to many Christians, that have their hands elbow deep in the world, and dote as much upon these earthly vanities as Xerxes once did upon his plane tree, or Jonah upon his gourd. There is a sort of men that say of the world as Solomon’s dealer, “It is naught, it is naught:” but when they are gone apart they boast and close with the world. St Paul was none of these; for “neither at any time,” saith he, “used we flattering words, as ye know; nor a cloak of covetousness, God is my witness.” No, he looked upon the world as a great dunghill, and cared to “glory in nothing, save in the cross of Jesus Christ,” whereby the world was crucified to him and he to the world, Gal 6:14 . So David, “My soul,” saith he, “is even as a weaned child,” that cares not to suck though never so fair and full a breast. So Luther confesseth of himself, “that though he were a frail man, and subject to imperfections, yet the infection of covetousness never laid hold of him;” now I would we were all Lutherans in this, saith one.

a .

b Aristotdes hoc iudicat . Ethic. iv. 1.

c . Metaph. ab avaris illis sanguisugis viduarum domos devorantibus.

d Quod solos tuos sic solet beare amicos, ut Dei facias inimicos. Bern.

e Qui in principiis eum norunt praedicant: qui in fine experti sunt, non iniuria execrantur. Sol. c. 24.

f . In profundum exitium demergunt, ita ut in aquae summitate rursus non ebulliant.

g . Quia divitae insident avari animo. Beza.

h , .

i Pro 31:8 ; hoc est, mundi, sic dicti quod transeat, nec quicquam in eo stabile sit. Kimchi.

j Baytacen habitantes odio auri coemunt hoc genus metalli, et abieciunt in terrarum profundo, ne polluti usu eius, avaritia corrumpant aequitatem. Sol. cap. 68.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

19 34. ] From cautions against the hypocrisy of formalists, the discourse naturally passes to the entire dedication of the heart to God , from which all duties of the Christian should be performed. In this section this is enjoined, 1. ( Mat 6:19-24 ) with regard to earthly treasures , from the impossibility of serving God and Mammon: 2. ( Mat 6:25-34 ) with regard to earthly cares , from the assurance that our Father careth for us.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

19, 20. ] It is to be observed that the qualifying clauses, , , belong in each case to the verb , not to the noun .

] more general in meaning than rust the ‘ wear and tear ’ of time, which eats into and consumes the fairest possessions. The . . would accumulate the , of Luk 12:33 , corresponding to the of ch. Mat 5:12 , and the of Mat 6:4 ; Mat 6:6 ; Mat 6:18 . Cf. 1Ti 6:19 ; Tob 4:9 .

] usually joined with , as ch. Mat 24:43 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 6:19-34 . Counsels against covetousness and care (reproduced in Luk 12:22-34 , with exception of Mat 6:22-23 , which reappear in Luk 11:34-36 ). An interpolation, according to Weiss. Doubtless, if the Sermon on the Mount was exclusively an anti-Pharisaic discourse. But this homily might very well have formed one of the lessons on the hill, in connection with the general theme of the kingdom, which needs to be defined in contrast to worldliness not less than to spurious types of piety.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 6:19-21 . Against hoarding . , treasures upon earth, and therefore earthly, material, perishable, of whatever kind. , moth, destructive of costly garments, one prominent sort of treasure in the East. , not merely “rust,” but a generic term embracing the whole class of agents which eat or consume valuables (so Beza, Fritzsche, Bleek, Meyer, etc.). Erosionem seu corrosionem quamlibet denotat, quum vel vestes a tineis vel vetustate et putredine eroduntur, vel lignum a cossibus et carie, frumentum a curculionibus, quales Graeci vocant, vel metalli ab aerugine, ferrugine, eroduntur et corroduntur (Kypke, Obs. Sac. ). , dig through (clay walls), easier to get in so than through carefully barred doors (again in Mat 24:43 ). The thief would not find much in such a house.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 6:19-23

19″Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; 21for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23But 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!”

Mat 6:19 “do not store up” This is literally “stop treasuring up treasures.” This same word play is also found in Mat 6:20. This is a present imperative with a negative particle, which usually means to stop an act that is already in progress. The desire of fallen humanity is to try to provide, by means of their own resources, all that is needed for a happy life. The grammatical construction here shows that this is also a temptation for redeemed humanity. True happiness and success are found only in dependence on God and contentment in what He has provided (cf. Ecclesiastes 1-2; Ecc 2:24-25; Ecc 3:12; Ecc 3:22; Ecc 5:18; Ecc 8:15; Ecc 9:7-9; Php 4:11-12).

“treasures” In the ancient world wealth emanated from three sources: (1) clothing, (2) food stuffs, and (3) precious metals or jewels. Each of these items may either be destroyed or stolen. Moths will attack clothing. Rust is from the root “to eat” or metaphorically “eat away” or ” corrode” and was used of vermin eating food. Stealing referred to robbery of precious metals, jewels or the other two items. Basically this means that all of our worldly possessions are vulnerable. If one’s happiness depends on possessions, one could lose them at any moment. The false concept that contentment and happiness are found in physical things is stated in Luk 12:15.

“destroy” The term meant “disfigure” (Mat 6:16), “to cause to disappear” (cf. Mat 6:20, Act 13:41; Jas 4:14).

“thieves break in and steal” The term “break in” literally was “dig through.” Many homes of this period had mud walls. In the Greek language, the word for “robber” was from the compound term “mud digger.”

Mat 6:20 “but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” This is a present active imperative, essentially referring to spiritual attitudes and actions. 1Ti 6:17-19 beautifully expresses the same concept. God Himself protects our heavenly treasure (cf. 1Pe 1:4-5).

The verb in Mat 6:20 is from the same root as the noun (cognate accusative). Literally this word play would have been “treasure up for yourselves treasure in heaven.”

Mat 6:21 “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” It is significant that the plural pronoun which has been used in the previous verses now changes to the singular. This section teaches the transitoriness of earthly things and the eternality of spiritual things. It also emphasizes that where one puts one’s interest, resources, and energy truly reveals one’s priorities. The heart (a Hebrew idiom) is the center of the person. It expresses the totality of one’s self.

Mat 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body” The background of this statement was the Jewish concept of the eye being the window of the soul. What one allows into his thought-life determines who he is. Thought produces desire, desire produces action, action reveals the person.

Mat 6:22-23 These two verses are obviously antithetical. The antithesis was expressed in the terms: “good” versus “bad” ; “singular” versus ” double” ; “generous” versus “stingy” ; or “healthy” versus “diseased.” The eye was used because of the singleness that healthy vision provides versus the double or blurred vision which disease causes.

These verses contain three conditional sentences (” ifs”). The first two are third class conditional which speak of probable action. There are those who clearly see spiritual truths and there are those who are spiritually blind.

The last “if” is a first class conditional sentence which characterizes the blind who think they see!

SPECIAL TOPIC: GENEROUS/SINCERE (HAPLOTES)

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

AS TO RICHES. Lay . . . up = Treasure . . . up.

corrupt = cause to vanish.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

19-34.] From cautions against the hypocrisy of formalists, the discourse naturally passes to the entire dedication of the heart to God, from which all duties of the Christian should be performed. In this section this is enjoined, 1. (Mat 6:19-24) with regard to earthly treasures, from the impossibility of serving God and Mammon: 2. (Mat 6:25-34) with regard to earthly cares, from the assurance that our Father careth for us.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 6:19. , where) i.e. on earth. This has a causative force,[271] being equivalent to because there.[272]-, corrosion) This word, in opposition to moth, expresses rust, and every evil quality by which anything can become useless.- , and thus steal.

[271] Aetiology. See Appendix.-ED.

[272] Such is the principle of the life of not a few men, that they seem to exist in the world only for the purpose of amassing an abundance of earthly possessions.-V. g.

The particle in Mat 6:20 indicates that both cannot at the same time stand together.-V. g.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 6:19-34

12. TEACHINGS AGAINST RICHES AND THE

CARE OF THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

Mat 6:19-34

19, 20 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. -The “treasures” of the people in the East were of two kinds –the precious metals and clothing; the clothing was better adapted for accumulation then than now, because nothing went out of fashion then; the precious metals might suffer from rust and their clothing from the moth; their best earthly treasures were perishable; their houses were of such material that thieves could easily “break through and steal.” Jesus does not prohibit the accumulation of property here, but the prohibition of hoarding; the first reason for not laying up our treasures upon earth is that the moth and rust will destroy them;again they are temptations to thieves. One of the most common forms of riches in the East was garments, which were liable to moth (Josh. 7:21; 2 Kings 5:22; James 5:2, 3);the rust would consume the precious metals; and the owner would put his trust in his riches.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.-This means that we should prefer heavenly treasures to earthly ones , the laying up of treasures in heaven is to be preferred to laying treasures up upon earth , we should make our earthly trea-sures the means by which we lay up heavenly treasures. There are many reasons why we should lay up treasures in heaven; they are not subject to moths and rust, neither can thieves “break through nor steal” them. The treasures in heaven are secure; they are put in contrast to earthly trea-sures. How may we lay up treasures in heaven? We do this by living as God teaches us to live; we go about as did Jesus doing good, and in this way were laying up treasures in heaven.

21 For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.- “Heart” here means the affection and includes the thought and volition; our hearts go with our treasures. The heart is spoken of in the scriptures as the seat of affections; the thoughts, feelings, and will power are all involved in the “heart”; it is the seat and center of man’s life, especially the desires and aspirations, out of which are the issues of life. (Prow. 4:23.) If we lay up our treasures on earth, our de-sires and aspirations, and our life will be of the earth earthy.

[Laying up treasures in heaven means to live so that God keeps blessings in store in heaven. The same word is here translated “lay up treasures” as is translated “lay by in store” in 1 Cor. 16:2. It is used in the same way in Luke 12:21. No investment can be found on earth so safe, so permanent, or that pays so good dividends as laying up treasures in heaven. It is the only investment on earth that will pay dividends in the next world.]

22, 23 The lamp of the body is the eye.-All the light and vision of the body come through the eye; the eye supplies for the whole body the benefits of light and vision. “If therefore thine eye be single” means that the eye does not see double or does not look at two objects at the same time. The picture is that of a piece of cloth or other material neatly folded once, and without a variety of complicated folds; the idea of sim-plicity or singleness is here expressed; in a spiritual sense the eye is not diseased, is not impure; it is sound and in good con-dition if it sees single or gives a perfect vision. Since the eye is the only organ to furnish sight and vision to the body, if it be in good condition, then the “whole body shall be full of light.”

But if thine eye be evil.-For the eye to be evil is for it to be in a diseased condition so that light and vision are blurred or obscured; in a spiritual sense if the eye be evil the power of distinct and clear vision of spiritual things is lost and the whole body in a spiritual sense is full of darkness. If the spiritual eye is evil, all spiritual vision is distorted and one does not understand; one is in darkness. If the organ which functions for light and vision is impaired, then the whole body will be in darkness, for there is no other organ to furnish light to the body. This figure used by Jesus has direct reference to laying up treasures; he who lays up treasures upon earth has an evil eye, but he who lays up treasures in heaven has a clear vision and the whole body is full of light.

[ The organ that carries light to our body is the eye. If the eye be kept single and free, receiving only the word of God, the true light of the world, how well the body is lighted! But if the eye is double, filled with error, how dark does the body become! Wealth and riches cannot bring earthly or spiritual happiness; wealth and earthly honors and fleshly gratifica-tions are short-lived, deceptive, and despoil us of true wisdom and a true goodness. They serve to distract our attention from a higher good and more lasting blessings and leave us to perish forever; this plunges us into total and eternal dark-ness.]

24 No man can serve two masters.-This is a truism; no man can be the servant of, yield full obedience to, two mas-ters, for they demand different and opposite things; the com-mands of different masters are opposite and no one can obey two contradictory or opposite commands. If a servant obeys one master he must disobey the other; the very act of obedience to one is disobedience to the other. Jesus tells the result of attempting to serve two masters; one will hate the one and love the other, or the other way round, “he will hold to one, and despise the other.” Jesus makes this more emphatic when he says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This is Jesus’ application of the principle. God and mammon are of such opposite natures that it is impossible to love either one supremely without hating the other; that which attracts to one repels from the other. The more one loves God, the more he must hate evil. “Mammon” is a Syriac word which means “riches”; it is riches or wealth personified. “Mammon” means the riches of this world; one cannot trust in wealth and trust in God; one cannot serve God and lay up treasures upon earth. Some claim that “mammon” is a name .of an idol wor-shiped as the God of riches; others dispute this. Jesus does not here condemn riches, but he does condemn becoming a slave to riches. God is a jealous God and will not accept a service that is divided with Satan.

[Two masters, each claiming to rule and guide men, cannot be served by one and the same spirit. All spiritual service must be gladly and cheerfully done. God accepts no service that does not come from the heart. If we seek to serve a dif-ferent master that divides the feelings, the affections, the ser-vice due to God, we deprive God of the service. Mammon is the god of riches, the god which bestows, the worship of whom gives riches and worldly power as its reward and bless-ing, the god of this world, and stands in antagonism to the worship of God. No one can worship the God of heaven and mammon, the god of this world. To love one is to hate the other.]

25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life. -The service of mammon leads to anxiety and worry, but the service of God leads to peace, joy, and happiness. Jesus here cautions his disciples against being anxious, overcareful for the necessary things of life. He would not have his people worry and be anxious for the things which belong to this world. Ordinary thought or care is not forbidden (2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:8), but an overanxiety which distracts the mind is forbidden. When thought about temporal things be-comes anxiety, it has become distrust of God. Jesus specifies the things about which we should not be anxious; these are food, drink, and raiment; the three essentials for the body are food, clothing, and shelter. Jesus would not have his disciples overanxious about these things. The world gives special em-phasis to these three things; in fact, these become the objects of greatest affection and interest. Jesus asks, “Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?” The ar-gument is, will not God, who has given the greater gifts, the life and the body, also provide the lesser, food and raiment? Since God gave us a body, he will provide in his own way the necessary things of this body.

26 Behold the birds of the heaven.-Jesus had laid down the principle that his disciple should trust in God and not in the uncertainty; that if they would trust in him that he would provide all things necessary for their trusting and serving him. He now illustrates this by “the birds of the heaven.” Man is greater than the birds; the birds do not sow, reap, “nor gather into barns,” yet God has provided for them; he feeds them. He asks, “Are not ye of much more value than they?” If the birds which neither sow nor reap nor store away are cared for in the way God appoints to them, how much more will he care for his disciples who put their trust in him? Men can sow, reap, and store away, and they should do this, but not with anxiety.

27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?-A “cubit” was a measure of eighteen to twenty-one inches in length; it was originally the length of a man’s arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. No man could add anything to his age or to his stature in an arbitrary way by being anxious about them; it is foolish to give anxiety to these things. Nobody thinks of adding a cubit to his height by any amount of attention given to it; Jesus cites this illustration to enforce his principle that man must trust in God and God will take care of him.

28, 29 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment?-This is another example or illustration that Jesus gives to impress the principle of trusting in God. Perhaps more attention is given to raiment than to any of the three necessary things of the physical life; even the disciples of Jesus are too anxious about clothing. All should dress in as neat and attractive way as their circumstances will permit, but to give so much atten-tion to and be anxious for clothing is a violation of the princi-ple that Jesus has laid down. He enforces this principle by calling attention to “the lilies of the field.” It is claimed that lilies were common in Palestine and that on every hand they were within sight of his auditors at the time he was speaking; some who have visited Palestine have said that in the spring the hillsides of Galilee are clothed with lilies of all shades and colors; they do not work in man’s way for their gorgeous array, yet they are far more beautiful than anyone can make himself by putting on raiment. Jesus cites Solomon and com-pares the beauty of the lilies which give no attention to their gorgeous array to his studied display of royal splendor: “Solo-mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Solomon represented to the Jewish mind the ideal of regal magnificence. (1 Kings 10:1-29.) Solomon’s glory was ex-ternal, a glory put on, while that of the flower is a part of its nature, being developed from within. God gives the beauty to the flowers, and he will give such adornment to his disciples as may be best for them.

30-32 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field.-The point here is that God’s wonderful providence clothes the lil-ies with their beauty and even the short-lived grass of the field, so he will take care of his disciples. Every kind of herb on earth is a product of God’s power and care; he gives to them their different shades, tints, and hues of color; these are far inferior to man; will he not care for man who is so superior to these things? “Shall he not mGod for these material blessings, but we do expect his children to trust him for them. He knows our needs and in his own way will supply them. He is wise enough to know our needs, good enough to supply them, and powerful enough to do so; furthermore, he has promised to do this;hence we can trust him.uch more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” He will provide such raiment as his disciples may need for their service to him. God will care for his peo-ple. But how? Does he forbid sowing and reaping? It is by our diligent sowing and careful reaping that he cares for us. “0 ye of little faith.” We have a God who can supply us with all the necessary things of life, and he has promised to do so; hence we should trust him for these things. It is a lack of faith in God when we are overanxious about these material things. We should not be like the Gentiles who scarcely know God and who are anxious about the material things of this life. We should remember that our heavenly Father knows how great and real are our needs for food, clothing, and shelter, and he is good enough to supply them. We do not expect the Gentiles or heathen to trust

33 But seek ye first his kingdom.– “Seek” means to search for, strive for, aim; his kingdom should be the chief aim of all; it should be first in time and first in importance. The kingdom of God, which is the church of God, is of greatest im-portance and must be so regarded by all who would follow Jesus. We should seek not to accumulate food and raiment, nor to hoard wealth, but the things which belong to the kingdom of God. Our anxiety should not be for material things, but for the kingdom of God. This kingdom of God has its righteousness. To the one in the world the seeking of the kingdom of God should come first, and to those who are in the church, they should seek the full and rich righteousness of the kingdom of God. If we put the kingdom of God and its righ-teousness first, we have the promise that “all these things shall be added” unto us; that is, all material necessities of life will be given to those who earnestly put the kingdom of God and its righteousness first.

34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow.-We should not be troubled, distracted, anxious, about the future; our anxiety should be for the kingdom of God and the righteous-ness of God. All worldly things are of minor importance, and as God will supply such of them as are needful, we should not be anxious about future supplies of them. The future day by day will bring its own troubles, and we need not be anxious for it. We should let “the morrow” take care of itself; today has its own responsibilities and sorrows, so we need not bor-row any from tomorrow; each day has enough of trials and burdens, and if we add more by anxiety about the future, we are adding to the present burdens of life; this is wrong and unfits us for present duties. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Each day brings its own responsibilities and evils; and if we add tomorrow’s evils to today, we have in-creased our burdens unnecessarily. We do this when we are anxious about the material things of this life.

[We are not only told to seek the kingdom of God, but we are also told to seek his righteousness-the righteousness of God. This is but another form of expressing the thought Seek the kingdom of God. The righteousness of God is con-stituted a feature of the kingdom of God; it is the outgrowth and fruit of seeking the kingdom. “Righteousness” means right doing. The righteousness of God means the right doing of God. Seek the right doing of God; seek to do right as God does right; seek then to make God’s ways our ways; this will make his character our character; it will make his standard of right our standard of right. We should make all efforts and labors of life subservient to the higher one of honoring God. This world is a temporary sojourning place in which we may be prepared to live with God in his eternal home. Let us not lose sight of this high end and be turned aside by earthly ends. To do this is to sell the birthright to immortal honors and glories for an earthly mess of pottage “that perishes with the using.”]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

What to Seek and Whom to Serve

Mat 6:19-26

What is in our inner life which answers to the eye of the body? Some have said that it is the intellect; others the heart. But it is truer to say that it is the inner purpose and intention of the soul.

When our physical eye is in an unhealthy condition, the image is doubled and blurred. To use a common expression, it has a squint, such as affected the noble face of Edward Irving, the noted English clergyman. We are told that as a babe he was laid in a wooden cradle, in the side of which was a small hole through which he watched what was going on. This distorted his vision through life. So we may look two ways at once.

The endeavor to serve God and mammon, to stand well with both worlds, to lay up treasures on earth and at the same time be rich toward God, is a spiritual squint. John Bunyan tells of Mr. Facing-Both-Ways, who kept one eye on heaven and the other on earth; who sincerely professed one thing and sincerely did another. He tried to cheat God and Devil, but in the end cheated only himself and his neighbors.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Chapter 15

A Cure for Care

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

(Mat 6:19-34)

Many years ago, I heard Pastor Henry Mahan make several statements in a message he preached. As I sat in the congregation, listening to the message, I could easily have been convinced that he was preaching to no one but me. Like barbed arrows, these five statements pierced my heart. I wrote them down because I hope never to forget them.

1.We have entirely too many fears for a people to whom the Lord has said, Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Why cant we believe God? Has he not proven himself faithful to us? David heard Gods promise and believed him. His faith in Christ quietened his fears. He said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

2.We have far too many doubts and fears concerning Gods mercy, love, and grace for a people to whom the Lord has said, Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast outI give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

I know that some who read these lines have trouble in this area. And I acknowledge my own shameful, baseless, sinful doubts. But I will not excuse them! On what grounds dare we call into question the mercy, love, and grace of our God? We have absolutely no reason to entertain the slightest shade of doubt! Did he not promise? Will he not perform it? God is not a man that he should lie (Num 23:19). Mr. Spurgeon reasoned like this, The Scripture says, He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life! I believe the Son of God. I have life! Why should we ever question that? Paul didnt (2Ti 1:12; 2Ti 4:6-8). Believing God, he raised these four challenges confidently: If God be for us, who can be against us?Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?Who is he that condemneth?Who shall separate us from the love of God? (Rom 8:31-39)

I refuse to doubt Gods love because of something I have thought, or said, or done. His love is free and unconditional! I refuse to question his grace because of my sin. While I acknowledge the abundance of my sin, I will rejoice in the superabundance of Gods free grace in Christ. I am not going to be suspicious of his mercy because I do not deserve his mercy. Mercy is for the undeserving!

3.We spend entirely too much time grumbling and complaining about our trials and troubles for a people to whom the Lord has said, In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We should not be surprised when troubles come. We ought to expect them. Every ounce of gold that has been perfected and made valuable has been refined by fire. Every diamond that sparkles with beauty has been broken out of the earth, cut by sharp blows, and polished by rough rubbing. God has chosen us in the furnace of affliction (Isa 48:10). He will break, and cut, and polish his jewels. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you (1Pe 4:12). Trouble is not strange. For the believer, the absence of trouble is strange!

4.We have entirely too much attachment to this world and to this present life for a people who are looking for a city whose Builder and Maker is God (Heb 11:8-10).

We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2Co 5:1). The sooner, the better! We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Believers are people who long to be with Christ. Yet, it is so difficult for us to turn loose of this world and this present existence. I cannot explain that. I just know its so. And I know that the only way for us to be delivered from these carnal principles, the only way we will ever be saved from our fears, concerns, doubts, grumblings, and attachment to this world is to find something better. Our religious works will be dropped like a hot potato if we ever see and get hold of Christs finished work. Our boasted good deeds will be of no value if we are ever allowed and made to see what Christ has done for sinners by his incarnation (2Co 8:9), his obedience to God as our Representative (Php 2:5-7), and his accomplished redemption in his death as our Substitute (2Co 5:21).

Our righteousnesses will appear to us as they really are, filthy rags, when we behold the righteousness of God in Christ. Our goodness will wither and die when God shows us his goodness, grace, and glory in Christ (Isa. 6:16). Find me a sinner who has seen Christ, and I will show you a sinner who has quit arguing about his goodness, debating over his worthiness, and fussing about the power of his will! Our fears, doubts, grumblings, and complaints against our little trials, against God purpose and his providence will disappear in proportion to the faith we have in his promises (Isa 43:1-5; Isa 46:4). The more I believe God, the less I will live in fear. The less I believe God, the more I will live in fear.

5.We have far too much anxiety, care, and fear, far too much concern for earthly, material things for a people to whom the Lord has said, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things (Mat 6:32).

It is written, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Php 4:19). Why should I fret when my God has promised to provide? Why should I concern myself about that which God has promised to do?

Those five, heart-piercing statements are the very matters addressed in our Redeemers message to us in Mat 6:19-34. If we seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, if we truly seek the will of God, the glory of God, and the kingdom of God in Christ, we have no reason to concern ourselves with earthly things.

Worldliness

The passage before us begins with a warning against worldliness. One of the greatest dangers we face is worldliness. It is one of Satans most cleverly disguised snares. It seems an innocent thing to pay close attention to business and seek happiness and prosperity in this world, so long as we avoid open sins of immorality. Yet, our Lord warns us that worldliness is the rock on which many a man has made shipwreck of his soul.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (vv.19-21).

Worldliness is the love of this world (1Jn 2:15). Worldliness is conformity to the principles, aspirations, and behavior of unregenerate men. Worldliness is a spirit, an atmosphere, an influence permeating the whole of life and human society, and it needs to be guarded against constantly and strenuously. Griffith Thomas

The only way to lay up treasure in heaven is to trust Christ. He is our Treasure! Where your treasure is, there will your heart be (Col 3:1-3). Learn, ask God to teach you, to look upon everything constantly in the light of eternity. Value nothing here more than you will value it when you have to leave it. Beware of worldliness (Mat 13:21-22). J.C. Ryle wrote, Open transgression of Gods law slays its thousands, but worldliness its tens of thousands. There is no surer evidence of an unconverted state, wrote Joseph Alleine, than to have the things of the world uppermost in our aim, love, and estimation.

Light or Darkness

Next, our Savior warns us against light that is darkness and the folly of a divided heart.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Mat 6:22-24)

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! There are multitudes who have light that is nothing but darkness. The light they have is nothing but an acquired head-knowledge of sacred things, without the experience of grace. It is knowledge that puffs up, having no influence upon the heart. Like the devils, they have a clear apprehension of some of the great truths of Holy Scripture, but no love for them. That is the kind of knowledge Balaam possessed. Few men have understood the things Balaam stated in Numbers 23 so clearly as he did (Num 23:8-10; Num 23:19-24). His eyes were opened (Num 24:3-4), but not his heart. He knew who the Lord God is, but did not know him. He knew many great things about him, but not him. He knew much about Gods grace, but had no experience of grace. There was no love created in his heart for the God he professed to serve. Though he possessed great knowledge about God, he hired himself out to curse the people of God.

While our Savior walked upon the earth, the devils gave the same testimony concerning him as Balaam gave. We know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God (Luk 4:33-34). Yet, they are devils still, devils with the full knowledge and conviction that our Lord Jesus Christ is himself the eternal God! That is just the condition our Lord is describing. What a terrible condition it is! That knowledge men may acquire, be it ever so great, that is nothing but factual knowledge, never reaching the heart, knowledge without grace, void of life, is great darkness, indeed! In this world it is blinding. In the world to come it will be utter darkness and everlasting torment.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Where such darkness rules, the heart is always divided. It is impossible to serve Christ and the world at the same time. The ark of God and Dagon cannot stand in the same house. Christ must be King in our hearts, ruling over us, so that his will, his glory, his kingdom receives the devotion and commitment of our hearts. Unless our lives are so ordered, everything is confusion. Thy whole body shall be full of darkness!

Let us be people of one thing, having our eyes fixed on one thing; and let that one thing be the one thing needful, the Lord Jesus Christ! Decisive consecration to Christ is the secret of happiness for any believer. God help us to be a people of one thing (Psa 27:4; Luk 10:42; Joh 9:25; Php 3:13; Col 3:1-3).

Jesus is the one thing needful,

O our precious Lord and Savior!

Ever true and ever faithful,

Well sing His praise forever.

In Him a boundless fulness dwells

Of grace to all His chosen,

And like a flooding river swells

To weary sinners broken.

What mercy from His bosom flows

To every true believer!

He put away the countless woes

Of us poor, needy sinners.

Oh, blessed are His saints, indeed,

Christ Jesus is our Savior!

And everything that we can need

Is ours in Him forever!

Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Cure for Care

Our Lord knows our hearts. He knows how quickly we turn off warnings against worldliness and how easily we excuse our pursuit of earthly things. Knowing our hearts, our Lord here nips in the bud every excuse we might offer for these things in Mat 6:25-34. Here is a cure for our earthly cares.

First, our Savior tells us in Mat 6:25 that we ought never be possessed of an overly anxious spirit. “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” Four times in these verses he says, Take no thought. Prudent provision and care about earthly responsibilities is right. We are to work and provide for our families. But greed, worry, and tormenting care over earthly things is wrong.

To cure us of care and teach us to trust him, the Lord Jesus here reminds us of Gods providential care of everything he has created. He sends us to the birds of the air for instruction. “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? In Mat 6:27 he reminds us of the utter uselessness of worry, Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Then, in Mat 6:28-30 he sends us to the fields to observe the flowers to rebuke our unbelief. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? In Mat 6:31-32 our blessed Savior tells us that any failure to implicitly trust our heavenly Father is utterly shameful. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. In Mat 6:33 he gives us a great, precious promise. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psa 84:11). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

In Mat 6:34 our Savior seals up his instruction on this subject with a universally known and acknowledged fact, saying, Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. Why carry trouble before it comes? Attend to todays business and leave tomorrows worries to tomorrows troubles. If tomorrow comes, the Lord will be with you. If he sends trouble, he will give you grace sufficient. “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Any attempt to explain the wondrous things here declared by our Lord would be, at least on my part, utter folly. They are too sweet and delightful to need comment. Rather, let them be rolled over in our hearts, praying that God the Holy Spirit will effectually seal them to our hearts. Contemplate with joy the eternal love of God in Christ to our souls. All that is contained in creation, providence, redemption, grace, and glory to come are countless tokens of that love and goodness! Loved in Christ with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3), chosen in Christ by immutable grace, blessed in Christ with all blessings of grace and salvation from eternity, accepted in Christ from everlasting (Eph 1:3-6; 2Ti 1:9), preserved in Christ and called (Jud 1:1). Surely, his goodness to us in time, in every work of providence, cannot be doubted. His compassions never fail. His faithfulness is indescribably great. His mercies are new every morning. Yes, the Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him (Lam 3:22-25). He who redeemed us with his precious blood will never forget to take care of us. May he give us grace to leave all our concerns with him and be anxious only to be found in his kingdom, robed in his righteousness, and accepted as one with him. Let us take no thought for tomorrow, knowing that whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s (Rom 14:8).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

The King gives Commands as to the Cakes of this Life

He would not have his servants seeking two objects, and serving two masters. He calls them away from anxieties about this life to a restful faith in God 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

Lay not out your life for gathering wealth: this would be degrading to you as servants of the heavenly kingdom. If you accumulate either money or raiment, your treasures will be liable to “moth and rust”; and of both you may be deprived by dishonest men. That earthly things decay, or are taken from us, is an excellent reason for not making them the great objects of our pursuit. Hoard not for thieves, gather not for corruption: accumulate for eternity, and send your treasures into the land whither you are going. To live for the sake of growing rich is a gilded death in life.

Mat 6:20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

Let our desires and efforts go after heavenly things. These are not liable to any decay within themselves, nor can they be taken from us by force or fraud. Does not wisdom bid us seek such sure possessions? Out of our earthly possessions that which is used for God is laid up in heaven. What is given to the poor and to the Lord’s cause is deposited in the Bank of Eternity. To heaven we are going; let us send our treasures before us. There they will be safe from decay, and robbery: but in no other place may we reckon them to be secure.

Lord, let me be rich towards thee. I had better send on to my treasury in heaven more of my substance than I have already sent. I will at once remember the Church and its Missions, orphans, aged saints, and poor brethren: these are thy treasury boxes, and I will bank my money there.

Mat 6:21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This is a grand moral motive for keeping our desires above grovelling objects. The heart must end will go in the direction of that which we count precious. The whole man will be transformed into the likeness of that for which he lives. Where we place our treasures our thoughts will naturally fly. It will be wise to let all that we have act as magnets to draw us in the right direction. If our very best things are in heaven, our very best thoughts will fly in the same direction: but if our choicest possessions are of the earth, our heart will be earthbound.

Mat 6:22-23. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

The motive is the eye of the soul, and if it be clear, the whole character will be right; but if it be polluted, our whole being will become defiled. The eye of the understanding may also be here understood: if a man does not see things in a right light, he may live in sin and yet fancy that he is doing his duty. A man should live up to his light; but if that light is itself darkness, what a mistake his whole course will be! If our religion leads us to sin, it is worse than irreligion. If our faith is presumption, our zeal selfishness, our prayer formality, our hope a delusion, our experience infatuation, the darkness is so great that even our Lord holds up his hands in astonishment and says-” How great is that darkness!”

Oh, for a single eye to God’s glory, a sincere consecration unto the Lord! This alone can fill my soul with light.

Mat 6:24. No man can serve two masters: for cither he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Here our King forbids division of aim in life. We cannot have two master passions: if we could, it would be impossible to serve both; their interests would soon come into conflict, and we should be forced to choose between them. God and the world will never agree, and however much we may attempt it, we shall never be able to serve both. Our danger is that in trying to gain money, or in the pursuit of any other object, wo should put it out of its place, and allow it to get the mastery of our mind. Gain and godliness cannot both be masters of our souls: we can serve two, but not “two masters.” You can live for this world, or live for the next; but to live equally for both is impossible. Where God reigns, the lust of gain must go.

Oh, to be so decided, that we may pursue one thing only! We would hate evil and love God, despise falsehood and hold to truth! We need to know how we are affected both to righteousness and sin; and when this is ascertained to our comfort, we must stand to the right with uncompromising firmness. Mammon is the direct opposite of God as much today as in past ages, and we must loathe its greed, its selfishness, its oppression, its pride; or we do not love God.

Mat 6:25. ‘Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

“Therefore” in order that our one Master may be served, we must cease from serving self, and from the carking care which self-seeking involves. Read the passage, “Be not anxious for your life.” Thought we may take; but anxious, carking care we must not know. Our most pressing bodily wants are not to engross our minds. Our life is more important than the food we eat, or the clothes we wear. God who gives us life will give us bread and raiment. Wo should much more care how we live than how we eat: the Spiritual should go before the bodily, the eternal before the temporal. What we wear is of very small importance compared with what we are. Therefore let us give our chief care to that which is chief, yea, our solo thought to the one all-absorbing object of all true life, the glory of God.

Mat 6:26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

The birds are fed by God; will he not feed us? They are free from the fret which comes of hoarding and trading; why should not we be? If God feeds the fowls of the air without sowing, or reaping, or storing, surely ho will supply us when we trustfully use these means. For us to rely upon these means and forget our God would be folly indeed. Our King would have his subjects give their hearts to his love and service, and not worry themselves with grovelling anxieties. It is well for us that we have these daily wants, because they lead us to our heavenly Father; but if we grow anxious, they are turned from their design and made into barriers to shut us out from the Lord. Oh, that we would be as good as the birds in trustfulness, since in dignity of nature we are so “much better than they “!

Mat 6:27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

It is a small matter whether we are tall or short; and yet all the worry in the world could not make us an inch taller. Why, then, do we give way to care about things which we cannot alter? If fretting were of any use it would have some excuse; but as it does no good, let us cease from it.

Mat 6:28-29. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Clothes must not be made much of; for in our finest array, flowers far excel us. We must not be anxious about how we shall be clad; for the field lilies, not under the gardener’s care, are as glorious as the most pompous of monarchs; and yet they enjoy life free from labour and thought. Lovely lilies, how ye rebuke our foolish nervousness! The array of lilies comes without fret: why do we kill ourselves with care about that which God gives to plants which cannot care?

My Lord, I would grow to thy praise as the lily doth, and be content to be what thou dost make me, and wear what thou dost give me.

Mat 6:30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?

It is not merely that lilies grow, but that God himself clothes them with surpassing beauty. These lilies, when growing, appear only as the grass, commonplace enough; but Solomon could not excel them when God has put them in their full array of cloth of gold. Will he not be sure to take care of us, who are precious in his sight? Why should we be so little trustful as to have a doubt upon that point? If that which is so very shortlived is yet so bedecked of the Lord, depend upon it, he will guard immortal minds, and even the mortal bodies with which they are associated. “Little faith” is not a little fault; for it greatly wrongs the Lord, and sadly grieves the fretful mind. To think the Lord who clothes lilies will leave his own children naked is shameful. O little faith, learn better manners!

Mat 6:31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

“Be not anxious” is the right interpretation. Think, that you may not have to be anxious. Do not for ever be following the world’s Trinity of cares. The questions in this verse are taken out of the worldlings’ catechism of distrust. The children of God may quietly work on from day to day, and cast all foreboding cares from them.

Mat 6:32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

We are to excel those who are aliens and foreigners: things which “Gentiles seek” are not good enough for the Israel of God. The men of the world seek after earthly things, and have no mind for anything beyond; we have a heavenly Father, and therefore we have higher aims and aspirations. Moreover, as our Father knows all about our necessities, we need not be anxious; for he is quite sure to supply all our needs. Let the Gentiles hunt after their many carnal objects; but let the children of the Lord leave their temporal wants with the Lord of infinite grace, and then let them follow after the one thing needful.

Lord, enable me to be a non-anxious one. May I be so eager after heavenly things, that I altogether leave my earthly cares with thee!

Mat 6:33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek God first, and the rest will follow in due course. As for “all these things”, you will not need to seek them; they will be thrown in as a matter of course. God who gives you heaven will not deny you your bread on the road thither. The kingdom of God, and the righteousness suitable to that kingdom-seek these first and foremost, and then all that you can possibly need shall be your portion. To promote the reign of Christ, and to practise righteousness, are but one object; and may that be the one aim of our lives! Let us spend life on the one thing, and it will bo well spent: as for the twenty secondary objects, they also will be ours if we pursue the one thing only.

Mat 6:34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Understand the former verses as the argument to this “therefore.” Anxiety cannot help you (Mat 6:27); it is quite useless, it would degrade you to the level of the heathen ( Mat 6:32); and there is no need for it ( Mat 6:33)-therefore do not forestall sorrow by being anxious as to the future. Our business is with today: we are only to ask bread day by day, and that only in sufficient abundance for the day’s consumption. To import the possible sorrows of to-morrow into the thoughts of today is a superfluity of unbelief. When the morrow brings sorrow, it will bring strength for that sorrow. To-day will require all the vigour we have to deal with its immediate evils; there can be no need to import cares from the future. To load today with trials not yet arrived, would be to overload it. Anxiety is evil, but anxiety about things which have not yet happened is altogether without excuse.

“Cast foreboding cares away, God provideth. for today.”

O my heart, what rest there is for thee if thou wilt give thyself up to thy Lord, and leave all thine own concerns with him! Mind thou thy Lord’s business, and he will see to thy business.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

Job 31:24, Psa 39:6, Psa 62:10, Pro 11:4, Pro 16:16, Pro 23:5, Ecc 2:26, Ecc 5:10-14, Zep 1:18, Luk 12:21, Luk 18:24, 1Ti 6:8-10, 1Ti 6:17, Heb 13:5, Jam 5:1-3, 1Jo 2:15, 1Jo 2:16

Reciprocal: Exo 16:20 – bred worms Exo 22:2 – breaking Deu 17:17 – neither shall he Jdg 14:12 – change Job 21:19 – layeth Job 27:16 – prepare raiment Pro 2:4 – thou Pro 8:18 – durable Pro 21:20 – treasure Ecc 5:14 – those Isa 23:18 – it shall Eze 26:12 – make a spoil Oba 1:6 – are the Mat 7:24 – whosoever Mat 19:21 – go Mar 10:21 – treasure Luk 12:19 – Soul Luk 12:33 – provide Luk 16:9 – Make Luk 18:22 – sell Joh 6:27 – the meat 2Co 6:10 – and Phi 3:20 – our Col 1:5 – laid Col 3:2 – not 1Ti 6:19 – Laying 2Ti 4:8 – there Heb 10:34 – in yourselves that ye have Jam 5:2 – Your riches

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

6:19

For yourselves is the key to this verse and is in line with 1Ti 6:18. To say the passage forbids the accumulation of property beyond the present day needs would be to set some scriptures against others. We may lay up something for the future but not simply for ourselves: it Is that “we may have to give to him that needeth” (Eph 4:28). When we have thus accumulated a surplus we must be careful not to trust in it or become attached to it lest we make it an idol.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 6:19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures, literally, treasure not for yourselves treasures.

Upon the earth. This qualifies Lay not up, rather than treasures. Earthly treasures are not forbidden in themselves, but the earthly storing up, the earthly desire manifesting itself in the common striving after wealth. It is no sin to be rich, but it is a sin to love riches, which the poorest may do; while the rich man may glorify God and benefit man by his wealth.

Where moth and rust consume. Moth; in oriental countries, treasures of clothing were laid up. The Greek word translated rust means, literally, eating, consumption, referring here to the wear and tear of time which consumes our possessions. Consume is better than corrupt.

Thieves break through (lit, dig through) and steal. The term, thieves is quite general. Robbers in the East often break through the walls of mud or unburnt brick common in those regions. The verse exhibits in general the variety of all earthly treasures, which are earthly in their place, their kind, and the manner of their collection. Not likely to be understood too literally.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Section 4. (Mat 6:19-34.)

The way amid the temptation of the world.

4. We pass now out of the sanctuary into the world, but carrying with us the sanctuary still, as Israel did in their journey through the wilderness. The way is thus not merely marked out morally for us, but we are empowered also for it; and we need this, for, wilderness as it is, the trials of the way are real ones, and if they are not in the way of allurement, the allurements of Egypt are felt through them, as we see with Israel. “The leeks, and the onions and the garlic” – earthy enough and never much above the earth, – displace (for they only compete with by displacing) the “bread from heaven;” and it is to Egypt that the heart turns back.

(1) Here we have the remedy for it all: a word which, if it could be spoken to a Jewish remnant in view of millennial blessing, is so fully and transparently our own as Christians that the natural thing is to take it as if it had no other application. Yet, for those who are to inherit the earth, in the day to which all this looks forward, there will be abundant need to lay up their treasures in heaven, in the care of Him who is coming to give reward to His saints, and while the earth is yet vibrating with shocks of upheaval, such as the Old and New Testaments combine to assure us will be, and which God will use also to make the frightened hind to calve (Psa 29:9, see notes) – the nation of Israel thus to be born spiritually, as in one day (Isa 66:8).

From this, however, without losing sight of it, we may turn to consider our Lord’s words in the way most profitable to ourselves; and here, as I have said, all is transparent. Heaven is where we belong; the earth is simply what we are traveling through. Our need and our privilege are one – to have our treasures there where nothing decays or corrupts, and where nothing can deprive us of them. Not only shall we then not lose the treasures, but the heart too will rest in undisturbed security, outside all alarms, and our feet will not be endangered by a loss of balance.

Let us note well that the Lord says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” He does not say, “ought to be,” but “will.” We are not allowed to escape with the easy assurance that what we are diligently accumulating our hearts are not engaged with. Why, then, accumulate it? We should say of a man who was heaping up sticks and straws and rubbish, that he was a maniac. But to him, nevertheless, the worthless pile is valuable; and that you can argue most surely from the fact of the accumulation. Who would not change worthless paper into good security? and this we are privileged to do; while treasure in heaven will keep the heart there, and draw the feet on to where the heart is.

And this alone gives a single eye: there is no confusion, no distraction of vision; no unsteadiness therefore, or uncertainty. The eye is the lamp of the body; not the light, but what holds and fixes the light. The light comes from elsewhere: the organ of perception does not create the light, but receives it. The light for us is in the Word alone: it is this that judges and makes plain; but there must be spiritual reception and, for this, capacity of reception, which the Lord indicates here, as it is stated by the apostle (Eph 1:18, R.V.) to be in the heart and its condition. With the heart set on things above, the eye is single and clear: God is before it, and in His light we see light. Then the whole body becomes full of light:* the hands and feet have plenty of it for work and walk. On the contrary, if the eye be evil, the very light may blind one; and when the word of God becomes this, how great may the resulting darkness become.

{*Not “luminous,” as it has been strangely taken: for this is never the effect of the eye receiving light.}

(2) Separate interests distract thus and divide the heart. God and mammon – that is, the treasures of earth personified and viewed as an idol, – each claim the man in ways entirely incompatible with one another. Such service, if attempted, can only be a form on one side. One master will be despised, if not hated. “He who will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God;” he who cleaves to God will despise all the world can offer. Yet how many are seeking to unite things that cannot be united! the result being only a halting inconsistency of life in which the Christian side is necessarily that which suffers eclipse.

(3) But are there not, in going through the world, necessities which demand one’s attention; from which one cannot escape, and which tend to such distraction as this, even when the heart would gladly be free? Yes, surely; but there is a remedy also, which is an effectual one, – a sanctuary-refuge which faith finds ever open: it is the apprehension of a Father’s care, of which His creatures preach incessantly. The birds of heaven are fed, and we are of more value: the life, indeed, of too great value to make it a question of the food by which it is sustained; or the body, of what it may be clothed with.

(4) The human impotence that we feel has its own instruction. All one’s anxiety cannot add a cubit to the stature; and how much there is in this way for which we are absolutely dependent on the will of another! why not, then, leave all things to Him to whom we have to leave so much, and who clothes the perishing lilies of the field with a glory greater than Solomon’s? The weakness of a man’s faith is the only really sorrowful weakness, after all.

(5) And here, the Lord appeals to us, whether those who know God are to find His presence with them count for anything or not. The Gentiles, away from God, seek after these things as His people do; but we have a Father in heaven who knows our need. We have but to set the heart on His things, and let Him take the burden of ours. Seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness, all these things shall be added to us.

(6) Finally, He gives us a limit for care, which by itself would very much exclude it. How much of the burden that we carry belongs really to the morrow, – a burden not yet legitimately ours: for who can really tell what shall be on the morrow? Each day will have its own sufficient evil – not too much, for a careful hand has apportioned it: but by borrowing trouble not yet come, we not only necessarily make the burden of the day too heavy, but we cannot reckon upon divine grace for that which is not come, and bear it thus so far without assistance. Nay, we have lost Him from our thoughts in all this calculation of the unknown future which is in His hands. How often has love in the most undreamed of way, disappointed all our fears!

In all this it is not taking thought for the morrow that is forbidden us, but taking care, (in the full sense of care). The word used has been claimed in these different senses by different interpreters; but it certainly is derived from one* which suggests “division,” and so “distraction” of heart; and this is completely in accordance with the warning about singleness of eye and divided service. Moreover, James, where he is speaking explicitly of the boasting of those who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain,” corrects such a speech in this manner, that “ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that” (Jam 4:13; Jam 4:15). He blames only the confident assurance of the speech, and not all “taking thought for the morrow.” This, in fact, should be evident: the whole current of our lives would be changed by the contrary supposition, which those who make it have immediately and seriously to modify.

{*Merimnao from merizo.}

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Observe here, 1. Something implied; namely, that every man has his treasure; and whatsoever or wheresover that treasure is, it is attractive, and draws the heart of men unto it: for every man’s treasure is his chief good.

2. Something permitted, namely, the getting, possessing, and enjoying, of earthly treasure, as an instrument of doing much good.

3. Something prohibited; and that is, the treasuring up of worldly wealth as our chief treasure; Lay not up treasure on earth; that is, take heed of an inordinate affection to, of an excessive pursuit after, of a vain confidence and trust in, any earthly comfort, as you chief treasure.

4. Here is something commanded; But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven: treasure up those habits of grace which will bring you to an inheritance in glory; be fruitful in good works, laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may lay hold of eternal life.

Observe, 5. The reason assigned, 1. Why we should not lay up our treasures on earth; because, all earthly treasures are of a perishing and uncertain nature, that they are subjct to moth and rust, to robbery and theft; the perishing nature of earthly things ought to be improved by us, as an argument to sit loose in our affections towards them.

2. The reason assigned, why we should lay up our treasures in heaven, is this; because, heavenly treasures are subject to no such accidents and casualties as earthly treasures are, but are durable and lasting.

The things that are not seen, are eternal. The treasures of heaven are involable, incorruptible, and everlasting. Now we may know whether we have chosen these things for our treasure, by our high estimation of the worth of them, by our sensible apprehension of the want of them, by the torrent and tendency of our affection towards them, and by our laborious diligence and endeavours in the pursuit of them. Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 6:19-21. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money and earthly things, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise: where moth and rust doth corrupt, &c. Where all things are perishable and transient. In the eastern countries, where the fashion of clothes did not alter as with us, the treasures of the rich consisted not only of gold and silver, but of costly habits, and finely-wrought vessels of brass, and tin, and copper, liable to be destroyed in the manner here mentioned. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven Build your happiness on a more noble and certain foundation, where none of these accidents can happen; but the arms of everlasting power and love shall secure you from every calamity and invasion. Nothing can be conceived more powerful to damp that keenness with which men pursue the things of this life, than the consideration of their emptiness and uncertainty; or to kindle in them an ambition of obtaining the treasures in heaven, than the consideration of their being substantial, satisfying, durable, and subject to no accident whatever. These considerations, therefore, were fitly proposed by our Lord on this occasion. Macknight. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also A most undoubted truth, and a most weighty reason why we should not make any thing on earth our treasure: for whatever we make our treasure gains possession of our hearts; we set our affections upon it, and of consequence, according to St. John, (1Jn 2:15,) the love of the Father is not in us, and we are not his children.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

XLII.

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

(A Mountain Plateau not far from Capernaum.)

Subdivision F.

SECURITY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES CONTRASTED

WITH EARTHLY ANXIETIES.

aMATT. VI. 19-34.

a19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal. [In our Lord’s time banks, such as we have, were unknown, and in order to keep money its possessor frequently buried it, thus subjecting it to rust and corrosion. The havoc caused by moths is too familiar to need comment ( Jam 5:2). Costly and ornamental apparel was reckoned among a man’s chief treasures in olden times. See Jos 7:21, 2Ki 5:5, Luk 16:19. Oriental houses were frequently made of loose stone or sun-dried bricks, so that the thief found it easier to enter by digging through the wall than by opening the barred door. A too literal compliance with this negative precept would discourage thrift. The precept is not intended to discourage the [255] possession of property in moderation, but it forbids us to hoard for selfish purposes, or to look upon our possessions as permanent and abiding. The lives of many men of our day seem to be employed to no other purpose than that of amassing an abundance of earthly treasure. But no true Christian can envy them, or follow their example]: 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal [As the impossibility of hoarding earthly treasures is in the Mat 6:19 urged as a reason against it, so in this verse the possibility of amassing perpetual possessions in heaven is set forth as the reason why we should do it. Thus the striking contrast between the two kinds of treasures is brought to our notice, so that it is the height of folly not to make a proper choice between them]: 21 for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. [Having contrasted the two treasures, Jesus here suggests the contrast between the two places where they are stored up. Since the heart follows the treasure, that it may dwell with the object of its love, we should place our treasures in heaven, even if the treasures there were no better than the treasures on earth; for it is better that our hearts should abide in the city of God than on this sinful earth.] 22 The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness! [In these two verses there is a brief allegory, the meaning of which is to be ascertained from the context. The subject under consideration is the propriety of laying up treasures, not on earth, but in heaven, and the effect which treasures have upon the heart. Now, the heart or affection is to the soul much the same as the eye is to the body. If we do not set our affections upon spiritual things, the time quickly comes when we can not see them ( 1Co 2:14, Joh 3:19-21). Jesus therefore represents our affections as if they were an eye. If the eye is single–i. e., [256] if it sees nothing with a double or confused vision–then the man receives through it clear views of the outside world, and his inner man is, so to speak, full of light. But if his eye is diseased or blinded, then his inner man is likewise darkened. Applying the allegory to the spiritual man, if his heart is single in its love toward God and the things of God, then he has clear views as to the relative importance and value of things temporal and eternal, things earthly and things heavenly. But if the heart looks with a double interest upon both earthly and heavenly treasure, it makes the man double-minded ( Jam 1:6-8), and so spoils his life. God does not permit a double affection any more than he does a double service, and a man who seeks to continue in it will soon be visited with great darkness as to the things of God, and will become blind in heart and conscience– Rom 1:21-25.] 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. [Mammon was a common Chaldee word used in the East to express material riches. It is here personified as a kind of god of this world. Jesus here assumes that we are framed to serve ( Gen 2:15); and hence that we must choose our master, for it is impossible to serve two masters whose interests are different and conflicting. They conflict here, for it is mammon’s interest to be hoarded and loved, but it is God’s interest that mammon be distributed to the needy and be lightly esteemed. God claims our supreme love and our undivided service.] 25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? [The word “anxious” is derived from a word which indicates a state of doubt or double-mindedness. It therefore indicates that sense of suspense or worry which comes from a mind in doubt. Compare Luk 12:29. Hence we may say that Jesus is here continuing the contrasts of the Mat 6:24, and that, having warned [257] against a double vision and a double service, he now warns against a double mind as to the comparative value of the benefits to be derived from the service of God or the service of mammom. Mammon can only supply food, but God gives the life; mammon can only furnish clothing, but God gives the body. By single-mindedness we can find peace, for God is to be relied upon. By double-mindedness we fall to worrying, for mammon may fail to supply those things which we feel we need.] 26 Behold the birds of the heaven they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they? [Literally, do ye not greatly excel them. The birds do not serve mammon at all, yet God feeds them. Surely, then, man who excels the birds both in his intrinsic value and in his capacity for temporal and eternal service, can expect to receive from God his sufficient food.] 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? [Peace and trust characterize the service of God. The rewards of mammon, on the contrary, are won by anxiety. But the rewards of mammon can not lengthen life as can God. Therefore we should not hesitate to choose God’s service.] 28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [The magnificence of Solomon and of his court is proverbial in the East unto this day. To the Jew he was the highest representative of earthly grandeur, yet he was surpassed by the common lily of the field. Which lily is here meant can not be determined. Calcott thinks it was the fragrant white lily which grows profusely all over Palestine. Smith favors the scarlet martagon; Tristam, the anemone coronaria; and Thomson, the Huleh lily, a species of iris. It is likely, however, that scholars are trying to draw distinctions where Jesus himself drew none. It is highly probable that in popular speech many of the common [258] spring flowers were loosely classes together under the name lily.] 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? [“This is the only term of reproach Jesus applied to his disciples” (Bengel). As to the grass and oven we may say that the forests of Palestine had been cleared off centuries earlier, and the people were accustomed to use the dried grass, mingled with wild flowers and weeds, for fuel. The oven was a large, round pot of earthenware, or other material, two or three feet high, and narrowing toward the top. This was first heated by fire within, after which the fire was raked out, and the dough put inside. Such is still the universal practice.] 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? [God’s care for the grass which lasts but for a day should teach us to expect that he will show more interest in providing for those who have been fashioned for eternity.] 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. [Christians having a heavenly Father to supply their wants, should not live like the Gentiles, who have no consciousness of such a Father. Of what use is all our religious knowledge if we are still as careworn and distrustful as the benighted heathen?]; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. [Here is the panacea for anxiety. Being God, the Supreme One knows; being a Father, he feels. Many repose with confidence upon the regularity and beneficence of his providential laws; but far sweeter is that assurance which arises from a sense of God’s personal interest in our individual welfare–an interest manifested by the gift of his Son.] 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. [The kingdom of heaven is the real object of our search. It must be sought first both in point of time and of interest, and it must be kept ever first in our thoughts after it is found. That Christian faith and obedience leads to worldly prosperity is proved by countless [259] instances which are multiplied with each succeeding day. The security of Christ’s kingdom leads to that cheerfulness which renews the strength, and to that undistracted industry which brings success.] 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. [Each day has trouble enough without adding to it by borrowing somewhat from the morrow. Serve God to-day with the strength you used to expend in carrying troubles which you borrowed from the future, and God will order the affairs of to-morrow.]

[FFG 255-260]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Mat 6:19-34. True Righteousness in Relation to Wealth.The Sermon here passes from the shortcomings of the Scribes and Pharisees. There are scattered parallels to this section in Lk.

Mat 6:19-21. Treasure (Luk 12:33 f.).Jesus has already spoken of earthly and heavenly reward; here the theme is earthly and heavenly wealth. Note the Hebraic parallelism and tautology in this thumbnail sketch of Oriental wealth, consisting largely of garments (cf. Jas 5:2 f.).rust (Mat 6:19 f.) is literally eating, and refers to the mice and other vermin that play havoc in the granary.dig through (mg.): see Exo 12:22*.

Mat 6:22 f. The Single Eye (Luk 11:34 ff.).If the eye, the outer lamp of the body, is healthy, the body is wholly lit up; if it is out of order, the body is wholly dark. In the same way, if the inner light be extinguished, how great is the darkness! By putting the saying here, Mt. seems to have interpreted it of a right and wrong attitude towards material possessions. Single often means liberal; evil, grudging, or niggardly. Dark was a colloquialism for uncharitable. The verses are a warning against covetousness.

Mat 6:24. The Single Service (Luk 16:13).The papyri show cases where a third as well as half a slave is bequeathed in a will. Such a usage may have been in our Lords mind, and the strife it engendered may have given point and force to His saying.hold to: stand by, or look to for support and help.mammon: an Aramaic word (meaning gain or wealth) preserved by Mt. probably because it is personified. Either God or wealth must be loved and held to or hated and despised. The principle is stated, as usual, in the most absolute way.

Mat 6:25-34. Earthly Anxiety (Luk 12:22-31).As the service of wealth only causes anxiety, we should give it up.Life (psuche) is the life-principle embodied in the body; it needs food as the body needs clothes. If God has given the greater things (life and body), He can surely provide the less (food and raiment). Learn from the birds, not idleness, but freedom from worry; if God provides food for them, He will surely provide food for you.

Mat 6:27-30 returns to the question of the body. To add a cubit to ones height (less probably age) is beyond mans most anxious effort. But God can do itwhy then worry about the smaller matter, clothing?lilies: rather blossoms, in-eluding gladioli and irises, whose stems are used as fuel (Mat 6:30). The flowers neither toil (like men in the field) nor spin (like women in the house).

Mat 6:31 ff. Anxiety is not only unreasonable and useless, it is irreligiousnatural perhaps in Gentiles (note how Lk. adds of the worldto him many Gentiles were the Fathers children), but not for sons of God. With Mat 6:33 cf. the Lords Prayer, where Gods name, kingdom, and will take precedence of the request for food. The thought of Mat 6:34 is different from that of Mat 6:25-33, where no day will have its trouble because God will provide. Here we are not to worry about to-morrow, because to-morrow will bear its own worry; and, further, there is enough worry for to-day. Cf. Mat 10:9 f.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 19

Moth and rust. The treasures of wealthy persons, in ancient times, consisted of accumulations of property in their own hands, much of which was of a perishable nature. (Joshua 22:8; Luke 12:16-19.) Hence moths, rust, and thieves, were then the sources of insecurity. In modern times, the dangers to which property is exposed, are still greater, though of a different kind.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Lay not up, &c. Gr. Treasure not for yourselves treasures. Christ here shows which are the true riches, and which the false-the true, heavenly; the false, earthly. Note the three modes of corruption. The moth corrupts garments; rust, gold and silver; thieves steal all other things.

Christ here calls men away from the desire of riches by three considerations. 1. Because they are fleeting and corruptible. 2. Because they darken the mind. 3. Because they draw the whole mind to themselves, so that it cannot serve God, for no one is able to serve two masters such as God and mammon.

But lay up for yourselves, not for children or grandchildren, not for ungrateful heirs, but for yourselves, i.e., for your soul. “What folly,” says S. Chrysostom, “to leave your treasures in the place from whence ye are going away, instead of sending them before you whither ye are going.” Further on he says, “If you should wish to behold the heart of a man who loveth gold, you will find it like a garment that is being eaten away by ten thousand worms, for you will find it perforated by cares on every side, putrefying with sins, full of corruption. But not like this is the soul of the man who is voluntarily poor. Rather, it doth shine like gold, it is resplendent like jewels, it blossoms like the rose. There is no moth there, no thief, no anxiety about the things of this life, but like the angels, so it liveth. It is not subject to the devils, it doth not stand beside the king, but it standeth near to God. Its warfare is not with men, but with angels. It hath no need of servants, rather doth it subject the passions unto it as its servants. What can be more noble than such a poor man as this? Be it that he hath not horses and a chariot. But what need hath he of them, who shall be borne above the clouds to be with Christ?”

For where, &c. Your treasure, i.e., what thou valuest, what thou lovest and delightest in, what is the dearest to thee of all things, on which thou spendest thy time and thoughts.

Dost thou wish to know what is thy treasure, what thou lovest and valuest? Consider what thou most often hast in thy mind. If thou thinkest most frequently of heavenly things, then thou lovest heaven; but if of earthly things, then thy treasure is on earth. Like a mole, thou buriest thy heart in the earth.

The light of the body, &c. Those who have bad sight, says S. Jerome, see many lamps instead of one. A single and clear eye beholds things simply and purely as they are.

But if thine eye be evil, &c. A single eye is one that is sound, and free from humours which affect and disturb the sight. Thy whole body will be luminous, as though it be full of eyes; because the light of the eye going before will direct all thine actions in the right way. But if thine eye be evil, Gr. , i.e., badly affected, and full of vitiated humours, thy whole body will be dark, because it will lack light and a guide, i.e., the illumination and guidance of thine eye. If therefore the light (of thine eye) that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness! For the rest of the body which is naturally dark, since it has no light except from the eyes, if it be deprived of them, how dark must it be! How will it go astray, and grope in blindness. “What blackness of darkness will there be in thee!” says S. Hilary.

These words are a parable, like several others of the sayings of Christ in this sermon. By the eye we may understand with SS. Jerome, Chrysostom, Jansen, Maldonatus, Toletus, and others, the mind or understanding. For what the eye is to the body the understanding is to the mind. As the eye directs the body, so does the practical understanding direct the mind. Whence the error and fault of the soul springs in action from the error and fault of the understanding, and this again frequently arises from depraved inclinations and covetous desires. For what the desire lusteth after, that the understanding affecteth, so that it judgeth it to be good and sought after. This has to do with what He has spoken a little before: Where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. He here explains what He means by the heart-calling it the eye of the mind-i.e., the practical understanding, which goes before and directs all our actions by its light. Christ wishes to teach that the mind cannot be right and pure, nor consequently the actions which flow from it be pure where the heart is blinded by avarice and cupidity.

2. We may with S. Augustine and S. Gregory (lib. 28 Moral. c. 6), and Bede, understand by the eye the intention of the mind. For this moves, rules, and bends the mind and the understanding whithersoever it will. If it be directed purely to God and divine things as its end and aim, it will cause that the work originating in the mind shall be altogether pure and holy. But if the intention be depraved and impure, it will make the work flowing from it, even if it be a good work, become impure, evil, and vitiated. For in the whole chapter, from the first verse, Christ demands a good intention, and requires it in alms, in prayer, in fasting, indeed in every good work. S. Luk 11:36 adds some things to this parable, which will be expounded in the proper place.

No man can serve two masters, not only opposite but even different masters. It is a proverb, signifying that it is a rare and difficult thing to satisfy two masters of different dispositions and tempers, or to belong equally to both. Christ applies this proverb to avarice and the religion and worship of God. It is impossible to be the servant of God and also of money. Wherefore if you desire to serve God and give Him your heart, you must tear it away from gold and riches. This is Christ’s third argument and the most powerful of all, by which He calls away the Scribes and all men from the love of riches, because it is indeed impossible to serve them and serve God.

For either he will hate the one, &c. Instead of hold to, Augustine reads will suffer, endure (patientur), and explains it to refer to mammon, or riches, meaning that mammon is so imperious and hard a master, that the avaricious serve him with hard servitude, that they do not love him, but that they bear or suffer his harsh slavery. Vatablus translates, will owe himself to one-i.e., will give him his heart, will render him a loving servitude. The meaning of this disjunctive sentence is: “The slave of two masters will not in reality serve two, but will either hate one and love the other, or vice versa, will love and sustain the one, will hate and despise the other.”

Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Ye cannot give yourselves up to God and the desire of riches, so as to set your heart upon both, to expend your cares and works and labours upon both, especially since God so wills to be worshipped and loved above all things, that He will suffer no rival in the love of Himself.

Observe, the Heb. matmon, the Chald. mamon, the Syriac mamoma, as S. Jerome says, mean riches and treasures which rich men hide in secret receptacles, from the root to hide. Or as Angelus Caninius says from aman, to strengthen, establish. For as it is said in Pro 10:15, “The substance of a rich man is the city of his strength.” (Vulg.) So, too, riches are called in Hebrew charil, from strength, because they make the rich strong and powerful. And for this reason mamon is more correctly spelt with one m, as it is in the Chald. and Syriac books. Also gain in the Punic language, which is akin to Hebrew, is called mammona, as S. Augustine tells us (lib. de Ser. Dom. in Mont. c. 22). Hence also the Persian version of this passage renders mammon by transitory riches and possessions.

Observe, Christ does not say, “Ye cannot possess riches and God,” for Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, and many saints had both; but they did not set their hearts upon riches, but used them for pious purposes. But He said, “Ye cannot serve God and riches.” For he who serves mammon is the slave of riches. He does not rule them as their master, but he is ruled by them as their slave, so as to undertake all labours and sufferings which the desire of wealth suggests to him. Verily this is a hard and miserable servitude. But “to serve God is to reign.” Well does S. Bernard say (Ser. 21 in Cant.), “The covetous man hungers after earthly things like a beggar-the believer despises them like a lord. The former in possessing them is a beggar, the latter, by despising them, keeps them.”

Hear S. Augustine (lib. 4 de Civit. c. 21)-“The heathen were wont to commend themselves to the goddess of money, that they might be rich-to the god. sculanus and his son, Argentinus, that they might have bronze and silver money. They made sculanus the father of Argentinus, because bronze money was first in use, afterwards silver. I really wonder why Argentinus did not beget Aurinus, because gold followed silver coin.” The reason why money was made a goddess was because of her power and empire; for, as it is said in Ecclus. x., “All things are obedient to money.” By money are procured dignities, wine, feasts, clothes, horses, chariots, and what not? Whence Hos 12:8 says of such men, “Verily I am made rich; I have found my idol.” (Vulg.) Hence also Juvenal (Satr. 1) says, “With us the majesty of riches is the most sacred of all things.” And Petronius Arbiter makes them equal, or indeed superior to Jupiter.

“Be money there, ask what you please,

‘Twill come: your chest great Jove will sieze.”

Well does S. Jerome say (Epist. 28 ad Lucinium), “Ye cannot, saith the Lord, serve God and mammon. To put away gold is the work of beginners, not of the advanced Christian. Crates, the Theban, did that, so did Antisthenes. But to offer ourselves to God is the distinguishing mark of Christians and Apostles: for they, casting with the widow the two farthings of their poverty into the treasury, delivered to the Lord all the living that they had, and deserved to hear the words, ‘Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'”

Ver. 25.-Wherefore I say unto you, &c. For your life, Vulg., anima, “for your soul.” For it has need of food, not strictly speaking, but that it may be kept in the body, and animate the body. And again, in the soul resides all sense of food, all taste of and pleasure in it. For the soul, i.e., for the life, as S. Augustine says, because the soul is the cause of life.

For, take no thought, the Greek has , take no anxious thought, lest, through care, ye be troubled with anxiety and distress; for the desire of gathering wealth divides the mind, and distracts it with various cogitations, cares, and anxieties, and as it were cuts it in twain. Christ, then, does not forbid provident diligence and labour in procuring the necessaries of life for ourselves and those who belong to us, as the Euchit maintained, who wished to pray always without working, against whom S. Augustine wrote a book, On the Work of Monks. But Christ forbids anxious, untimely, fearful solicitude, care that distrusts God, a heart grovelling in the earth, and distracted from the service of God.

And in order that He may remove it from us, He gives us seven reasons or arguments against it. The 1st is in this verse in the words which immediately follow; this reason is from the care which God has of our bodies. The 2nd reason is drawn from the birds, for whom God cares and whom He feeds. The 3rd, in ver. 27, from the uselessness of all our care without God. The 4th, in ver. 28, from the lilies and the grass, which God clothes and adorns. 5th, in ver. 31, because such a care is fit only for pagans, not for Christians. 6th, in ver. 32, because God knows all things, and it pertains to His providence to provide us sustenance, that He should add food to those who seek the kingdom of God. The 7th, ver. 34, because sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So many arguments does Christ use, because by far the greater part of mankind labour under this undue anxiety about providing food and raiment for themselves and their families, which is a great misery, and more than asinine toil.

Is not the life, &c. This is the first reason drawn from a minor to a major probability, as though He said, “God who gave us our souls and bodies, yea, created them out of nothing, and who continually, as it were, recreates them, He surely will give those things which are less, as food and clothes, without which the body cannot subsist. As S. Chrysostom says, “When God is our Feeder, there is no need to be anxious, for ‘the rich have wanted, and suffered hunger, but they that seek after the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good.'” (Ps. xxxiv. Vulg.)

Behold the fowls of the air, &c. Are ye not much better than they? Gr. . Are ye not very different from them? This is the second argument. If God feeds the irrational birds, who are not anxious about their living, and gives them corn and food which they have not laboured for, how much more will He feed you, who are reasoning men, created after His Image, you who are His sons and heirs, and redeemed with the Blood of Christ. He compares men not to the oxen of the earth, but to the birds of heaven, to teach them that they ought to be heavenly, and be like birds, and fly away in spirit from earth to heaven, and expect from God necessary food both for their souls and bodies. For the birds are contented with provision for the day, and are not anxious about to-morrow, but rest calmly on Gods providence, and give up their leisure time to flight and song. “Christ,” says S. Chrysostom, “might have brought forward the examples of Moses, Elias, John, who were not anxious about their food, but He preferred to take the irrational birds, that He might the more deeply impress His hearers.” For why cannot men do what birds do? Why should men be anxious when birds are not?

S. Francis had a wonderful delight in birds, especially in larks, and used to invite them to sing the praises of God. So a little after his death, some larks came and assisted at his funeral. In a vast multitude they flew to the roof of the house in which his body lay, and circling around it with gladness more than common, they celebrated the praise and glory of the Saint. He was accustomed to compare the brethren of his Order to larks, and to exhort them to imitate them. “For the lark,” he said, “has a crest like a cap. So also the Friars minor wear a cowl, or hood, to put them in mind that they ought to imitate the humility and innocence of boys, who hide their faces in their caps. 2. The lark is of an ashen colour, and the frock of the brethren is of an ashen grey, to put them in mind of the saying of God to the first-formed man, “Remember that thou art dust, or ashes, and unto ashes thou shalt return.” 3. Larks live in poverty without anxiety, they pluck the grains which the earth affords; so also the brethren profess poverty; they live by begging, without care, placing their hope of a harvest in the providence of God and the charity of the faithful. 4. Larks, as soon as they have found a grain and eaten it, are borne by a direct flight aloft towards heaven, that they may shun the eyes of beholders, singing as they fly, and returning thanks to God, the Parent and Nourisher of all creatures. The brethren do the same, “for man hath eaten angels’ food,” i.e., bread asked of alms. And the angels incite those who are rich to give the brethren bread when they beg. Lastly, larks are called in Latin, alaud, from laus, praise, because they praise God by their constant songs. So also the brethren despise earthly things, and seek for heavenly, because they are strangers on earth, and citizens of heaven, and they know they have been called by God for this object, that they may praise Him perpetually with psalmody, by preaching and by a holy life. (See Luke Wadding, in Annal. Minor. A. C. 1226, num. 39 et alii.) Listen to S. Ambrose (Serm. in c. 1. Malachi): “The birds,” he says, “give thanks for worthless food, wilt thou banquet on the most precious feasts and be ungrateful? Who then that has the feeling of a man should not blush to close the day without the singing of psalms, when the birds themselves manifest their exceeding gladness by the melody of their hymns? And who would not sound His praises in spiritual songs, whose praises the birds pronounce with their modulated notes? Imitate, then, my brother, the tiny birds by giving thanks to thy Creator every morning and evening. And if thou hast greater devotion, then imitate the nightingale for whom the day is not long enough to sing praise, but makes sweet the night watches by her melody. So do thou, passing the day in giving thanks and praise, add to this employment the hours of the night.”

Which of you by taking thought, Gr. , i.e., being solicitous, anxiously thoughtful, or careful. This is Christ’s third argument against cares. “If the thought and solicitude and labour be utterly vain, by which a man would wish to devise some plan whereby he might add one cubit to his stature, so that he should be higher or taller, yea though he should cogitate for a thousand years, and torment himself by devising plans, he would never accomplish it; how much more vain is that anxious care by which men strive to prolong life by anxiety and their own pains. For as it is the office of God alone to increase the body which He has created, and make it attain its proper stature, so much more is it His by His fatherly providence, to preserve and lengthen out to its appointed end the life which he has given, and supply it with necessary food.”

Euthymius here takes notice that a cubit is spoken of because a cubit is the proper measurement for a man’s height. For every properly proportioned man is four cubits in height, and four in width; that is, when his arms are extended from his shoulders. This extension of the arms is the measure of every man’s stature. And thus man is found to be four-square, that is to say, as broad as he is long; to teach him to be four-sided and solid in constancy and virtue.

Vers. 28, 29.-And why take ye thought for raiment? &c. This is the fourth argument, drawn from the beauty of lilies. He intimates that as lilies grow, and are nourished, they are clothed in their petals as with raiment. The beauty, fragrance, grace, and elegance with which God adorns lilies are very wonderful. (See Pliny, lib. 21, c. 5.)

Christ makes mention of lilies in connection with Solomon’s robe, or cloak, because it was of a shining white colour, and ornamented with flowers of lilies, worked or embroidered upon it with a needle, and vying with lilies in its beauty. Such was the nature of the robes worn by kings and princes. Hear Pausanias (in Eliacis, lib. 5); where he describes an image of Jupiter: “Besides other things, he had a pallium of cloth of gold, on which were embroidered animals of many kinds, but especially lilies.” (See Pineda, lib. 6 de rebus Salomonis, c. 5.)

Anagogically, lilies and vestments embroidered with lilies represent the robe of glory and immortality with which Christ shall clothe His elect in heaven. Wherefore, Ps. xlv. is entitled, For Lilies, or For those who shall be changed, viz., from death to immortality, from misery to glory. Wherefore Hilary says that by the lilies which neither toll nor spin, the brightness of the heavenly angels is signified, upon whom, in a manner surpassing the erudition of human learning, the brightness of glory has been placed by God. And since, in the Resurrection, all the saints shall be like the angels, He desires us to hope for the robe of glory after the fashion of angelic splendour.

Moreover how lovely lilies are, and how they adorn princes at their nuptials, especially Solomon and Christ, and how greatly Solomon delighted in them is plain from his Song of Songs, where he often says of the bridegroom, “He feedeth among lilies.” And again, “I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.” (Vulg.).

Now Christ prefers the loveliness of lilies to the garments of Solomon, which were made of silver tissue, embroidered with lilies, because they being natural surpass all the elegance of art, which is nothing more than an imitation and adumbration of reality. For art is, as it were, the ape of nature, and as much as a shadow is surpassed by the reality which causes it, so much is nature superior to art. As S. Jerome says, “What silk, what regal purple, what figures of embroidery, can be compared to flowers? What is as red as a rose? What is as fair as a lily? And that the purple of the violet is surpassed by no marine shell-fish is the judgment of the eye rather than of speech.”

Tropologically, lilies are virgins, who, by increasing in virtues, grow in God, and are clothed with the garments of grace now and of glory hereafter. Whence it is said in Song, “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.”

For if God so clothe, &c. To the beautiful lilies he adds the humble grass and hay for greater emphasis. The Greek is , herb or grass. “If God clothe the grass in the fields with such greenness, with such fair blades and germs, which to-day is green and to-morrow is cut down and dry, and becomes hay, and is cast into the oven or furnace to heat it that it may bake bread, how much more will He clothe you, who are believing men, and His own sons and friends? You, I say, who, without any reason, are of little faith in the providence of God?” Observe that by this rebuke Christ shows that the common anxiety about food, and raiment is born of distrust in Divine providence. For if men thoroughly trusted in it they would not be so anxious, but would securely rest upon it. And then, with moderate labour and trusting in Him, God would provide them with all needful things.

Ver. 31.-For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. This is the fifth argument, that anxiety about these earthly things is the mark of a Pagan, and does not become Christians, who believe in the providence of God, yea, who feel and experience it every day.

For your heavenly Father knoweth, &c. The sixth argument. God truly knows what ye have need of in the way of food and clothes; He sees and beholds your wants, because He is God. Therefore He will provide for them, because He loves you as His children, for He is your Father, and He is able to provide, because He is your Heavenly and Almighty Father. Why then do ye not roll off all your care upon Him? For He both knows and is willing and able to succour your necessity. Christ adds in Luk 11:29, Neither be ye of doubtful mind. Gr. , on which see what I have there said. Whence S. Francis was wont to give his brethren no other provision for a journey than the words of the Psalmist, “Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he will nourish thee.” (Psa 45:22.) Where for care the Hebrew has jehabcha, which the Chaldee renders, thy hope; S. Jerome, thy love; Vatablus, thy weight, thy burden, i.e., thy solicitudes, thine anxieties, thy troubles, thy poverty, and whatever burdens thee and weighs thee down. The Roman Psalter has, thy cogitation. The root of the word is yahab, signifying the desire of one who asks, whatever stirs and draws out thy anxious prayer. And He shall nourish thee. The Hebrew is, shall sustain, shall perfect, shalt take care of thee. S. Peter says, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” And S. Paul writes to the Philippians, “Be careful for nothing, but in all prayer and supplication with giving of thanks, let your requests be made known unto God.” See what is there said. We have a narrow mind, slender shoulders, a little strength. But God has the far-reaching eyes of His providence, and corresponding shoulders. For He is the true Atlas, who sustains heaven and earth upon His shoulders.

Ver. 33.-Seek ye therefore . . . all those things shall be added. Gr. , shall be set before you, as SS. Cyprian and Augustine read, as bread and meat are set before a hungry beggar in a rich man’s house. First, not so much in time as in dignity says S. Augustine, in estimation and appreciation. Seek chiefly and above all things the kingdom of God, esteem it above all other things, count it as of highest value, but count temporal goods of small worth, and as only to be sought after in subordination to the kingdom of God, as things which are added by God, overweight, so to say, so far, that is, as they conduce to our real good.

Wherefore they err who say:-

“0 citizens, 0 citizens, first money get,

Then, after that, on virtue’s crown your hearts be set.”

Such is the error of those who at this day seek after and procure rich appointments, benefices, dignities, bishoprics, with all diligence, but think little of the responsibility and their own capabilities, and little of their own eternal salvation. The kingdom of God, i.e., His heavenly kingdom, eternal glory and happiness, and His righteousness, viz., the means which lead us to the kingdom of God, such as God’s grace, virtue, good and righteous works, by which we become righteous, or more just before God, works which God has prescribed and commanded that we should do them.

All these things shall be added. Therefore they are not the reward of good works, for this is wholly kept for us in heaven, says S. Augustine, but they shall be added as overweight, a little trifling addition to the infinite reward.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow, i.e., for time future. The seventh argument, Leave for the morrow, i.e., for the time to come, the care and anxiety of the morrow. Why do ye wish to be anxious and wretched before the time? For even though to-day ye summon to you to-morrow’s cares, to-morrow will, on that account, bring you not one care the less. Let therefore each care be kept for its own time, to-day’s for to-day, to-morrow’s for tomorrow; thus solicitude being divided into parts will be diminished, will become lighter, and will be borne more easily. Verily if a soul when it enters a human body could see all the poverty, pain and trouble and anguish, which in a lifetime, day after day, minute after minute, it would suffer, it would shudder and despair, and would not enter the body. Wherefore God hides from us the afflictions which we shall have to undergo, that we may take them day by day, and so sustain them. Wisely does S. Chrysostom say in this passage, “Far be it from us that the cares of another day should bruise us. For thou knowest not that thou shalt behold the dawning of that day on account of which thou tormentest thyself with anxiety.” And “What does it profit to care about future contingencies which, it may be, will never happen?”

Similarly the poet sings-

“Thou knowest not what the late eventide may bring.”

And the Psalmist says, “Day unto day uttereth a word, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” (Ps. xix. 3, Vulg.)

Christ here does not forbid all provision for future time, as for instance storing up the harvests of corn and wine and oil: for prudence and economy require this to be done: and this is what Joseph did so prudently in Egypt. (Gen. xli. 35.) Whence S. Anthony (apud Cassian. Collat. 2) says, that some who would keep nothing for to-morrow were deceived, and could not bring the task they had begun to a suitable end. Christ only forbids useless anxieties about the future, unseasonable cares, as when a man is anxious about those things the care of which does not, according to right reason, pertain to present but to future time.

Solicitude then is of two kinds, the first moderate and business-like, such as right reason dictates ought to be employed for such or such an affair or business: this is laudable and needful, with all prudence and virtue. The other is immoderate, vain, and unbecoming, by which a timid or covetous man vainly torments himself about future events which are altogether uncertain, and can neither be foreseen nor delayed. This sort of care which the Greeks call is anxious care, worry; and it is this which Christ forbids. Whence the Gloss says, “Not labour, or provident care, is forbidden, but anxiety which chokes the mind.”

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. That, is the day’s trouble, care, affliction. Every day brings to man its own trouble and solicitude. The Greek is , evil, badness. It is put here for the bringing of evil, or afflicting. Thus Jacob said to Pharoah, “Few and evel,” that is, miserable, “have been the days of the years of my pilgrimage.” (Gen 47:9.) So, on the other hand, goodness or good, is to be taken for joyful, glad, pleasant, as Ps. cxxxiii., “Behold how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity.” Thus SS. Jerome, Chrysostom, Augustine, &c. S. Chrysostom gives the reason, “That He may rebuke them more sharply, He has almost personified time itself, and introduced it as though itself afflicted by men, as though it cried out against them on account of the superfluous affliction which they impose upon it.” Hear also S. Augustine: “Necessity He calls evil, because it is for a punishment: it pertains to mortality, which we have deserved by sin. When we see the servant of God providing for necessary things, we do not think he is acting contrary to the commandment of God. For the Lord, as an example, kept a bag. And in the Acts of the Apostles we read, that necessary things were provided for the future on account of the threatened famine. We are therefore not forbidden to provide, but to fight on account of those things.”

Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary

6:19 {6} Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

(6) The labours of those men are shown to be vain, which pass not for the assured treasure of everlasting life, but spend their lives in scraping together stale and vain riches.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The disciple’s relationship to wealth 6:19-34 (cf. Luk 12:13-34)

Having made several references to treasure in heaven, Jesus now turned to focus on wealth. In the first part of chapter 6 His main emphasis was on sincerity. In this part of the chapter it is on single-mindedness.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

In view of the imminence of the kingdom, Jesus’ disciples should "stop laying up treasures on earth." [Note: Nigel Turner, Syntax, p. 76.] Jesus called for a break with their former practice. Money is not intrinsically evil. The wise person works hard and makes financial provision for lean times (Pro 6:6-8). Believers have a responsibility to provide for their needy relatives (1Ti 5:8) and to be generous with others in need. We can enjoy what God has given us (1Ti 4:3-4; 1Ti 6:17). What Jesus forbade here was selfishness. Misers hoard more than they need (Jas 5:2-3). Materialists always want more. It is the love of money that is a root of all kinds of evil (1Ti 6:10).

"What Jesus precludes here is the accumulation of massive amounts of treasure as a life goal." [Note: Bock, Jesus according . . ., p. 142.]

It is foolish to accumulate great quantities of goods because they are perishable. Moths eat clothing, a major form of wealth in the ancient Near East. "Rust" (Gr. brosis) refers to the destructive force of rats and mildew as well as the corrosion that eats metal. [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 177.] Thieves can carry off just about anything in one way or another.

The treasures in heaven Jesus spoke of were the rewards God will give His faithful followers (Mat 5:12; Mat 5:30; Mat 5:46; Mat 6:6; Mat 6:15; cf. Mat 10:42; Mat 18:5; Mat 25:40; 2Co 4:17; 1Ti 6:13-19). They are the product of truly good works. These are secure in heaven, and God will dispense them to the faithful at His appointed time (cf. 1Pe 1:4).

The thing that a person values most highly inevitably occupies the center of his or her heart. The heart is the center of the personality, and it controls the intellect, emotions, and will. [Note: A Dictionary of New Testament Theology, s.v. "kardia," by T. Sorg, 2:180-84.]

"If honour is reckoned the supreme good, the minds of men must be wholly occupied with ambition: if money, covetousness will immediately predominate: if pleasure, it will be impossible to prevent men from sinking into brutal indulgence." [Note: John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke , 1:334.]

On the other hand if a person values eternal riches most highly, he or she will pursue kingdom values (cf. Col 3:1-2; Rev 14:13). Some Christians believe that it is always carnal to desire and to work for eternal rewards, but Jesus commanded us to do precisely that (cf. 1Co 3:11-15; 2Co 5:10). Serving the Lord to obtain a reward to glorify oneself is obviously wrong, but to serve Him to obtain a reward that one may lay at His feet as an act of worship is not (cf. Rev 4:10).

"What does it mean to lay up treasures in heaven? It means to use all that we have for the glory of God. It means to ’hang loose’ when it comes to the material things of life. It also means measuring life by the true riches of the kingdom and not by the false riches of this world." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:28.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Righteousness and the world 6:19-7:12

Thus far in the Sermon Jesus urged His disciples to base their understanding of the righteousness God requires on the revelation of Scripture, not the traditional interpretations of their leaders (Mat 5:17-48). Then He clarified that true righteousness involved genuine worship of the Father, not hypocritical, ostentatious worship (Mat 6:1-18). Next, He revealed what true righteousness involves as the disciple lives in the world. He dealt with four key relationships: the disciple’s relationship to wealth (Mat 6:19-34), to his or her brethren (Mat 7:1-5), to his or her antagonists (Mat 7:6), and to God (Mat 7:7-12).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)