THE GOSPELS: LESSON 24: SERMON ON THE MOUNT, PART FOUR
TEXT: MATT. 6: 19 - 34 and 7: 1 - 6
MATTHEW 6: 19 - 34: PRIORITIES IN LIFE
Verses 19 - 21: Treasures on earth or in heaven?
Verse 19: This is speaking of the hoarding of great riches against future calamities.
Verse 20: Lay up treasures in heaven - that is, the rewards of your righteous deeds. See I Tim. 6: 18, 19.
Verse 21: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” You become like the thing you desire most.
What are these verses talking about? Materialism. And that old, seemingly outdated concept that we seldom hear much about: covetousness. COVETOUSNESS: a strong desire after the possession of worldly things. It assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is the mark of cold-hearted worldliness. (Thanks to Easton’s Bible Dictionary.)
There are people who pursue great riches to the exclusion of spiritual attainments. Their riches will avail them NOTHING in the life to come. "And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12: 15
What then should we do? Spend more time preparing for heaven than heaping up the goods of this earth. The covetous man is all out of balance – all materialism and no spirituality. The pendulum can (but seldom does) swing the other way as well – a man can be so intent on spiritual things that he neglects the needs of his own family. (See I Tim. 5: 8.)
Verses 22, 23: Having a sound eye.
Verse 22: The words translated “single” (KJV) or “clear” (NAS) or “sound” (RSV) is from the Greek haplous, which means “properly braided together.” The idea is that of something that works as it should. The word is also used in a figurative sense to mean “sincere and generous.” In other words, If you see the world properly, in the light of sincerity and generosity, then all your life will be full of light.
Verse 22: BUT, if you see the world through stingy, self-centered eyes, then your life will be marked by the darkness of empty self-indulgence and tight-fisted miserliness. Consider the story of Ebenezer Scrooge. When his eye was “dark” his life was empty and miserable and friendless. When his eye became “clear” the whole world became full of joy and his life had real meaning. As Jesus says, “If the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Verse 24 - 34: Overcoming the anxiety of life.
Verse 24: You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is the personification of riches and material goods. It is spoken of as an idol, and indeed, it is probably the most-worshiped idol of our time. This is what the whole last half of this chapter is all about. Either we can be devoted to the making of money and the pursuit of material things, or we can be devoted to the “things of God.” You cannot do both. Some (very few) rich men are saved by God’s grace through the years of their worship of mammon so that after they attain their wealth they then turn to God and pursue spiritual things. While they pursue their great wealth, they do not pursue God. That is why Jesus also said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 19: 24) A man who sets out to be wealthy is a fool. He is walking a tightrope that may break under him before he reaches the other side.
Verses 25, 26: “Therefore”, I.E. since it is undoubtedly true that no man can faithfully serve two masters, here are some ways to survive without worshiping Mammon.
Way 1. Don’t fret over food, drink, or clothing. Why? Because God provides for the birds, and YOU are much more valuable to Him than any bird.
Verses 27 - 30: “. . . will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?”
Way 2. If your worry cannot increase your life by one moment, then don’t worry, have faith in God.
Verses 31 - 34: Way 3. Don’t worry about material things, because God already knows what we need.
But, there is a price to be paid for God’s provision: “. . . seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” By seeking the things of God, we also assure to ourselves the material needs of the body. See Prov. 10: 3; Psalm 37: 25 - 27.
THEREFORE, don’t worry about tomorrow. What should we do? Leave it all in God’s hands and work with honest hands. See II Thess. 3: 10 - 12.
MATTHEW 7: 1 - 6: PROPER JUDGEMENT
Verses 1, 2: The way we judge shall be the standard of our own judgement.
Judge: from the Greek krino. The word has many meanings, all related to the idea of “distinguishing one thing from another.” However, Jesus clearly taught that we should judge and he recognized proper judgements, as in Luke 7: 41 - 43; Luke 12: 56 - 59; John 7: 23, 24; John 8: 15 - 17. See also Acts 4: 19; Acts 13: 46; Acts 16: 15; I Cor. 2: 15; et al. What Gill’s Commentary says is very much to the point:
“This is not to be understood of any sort of judgment; not of judgment in the civil courts of judicature, by proper magistrates, which ought to be made and pass, according to the nature of the case; nor of judgment in the churches of Christ, where offenders are to be called to an account, examined, tried, and dealt with according to the rules of the Gospel; nor of every private judgment, which one man may make upon another, without any detriment to him; but of rash judgment, interpreting men's words and deeds to the worst sense, and censuring them in a very severe manner; even passing sentence on them, with respect to their eternal state and condition.”
So, the sense here in Matt. 7: 1 is “do not pass a condemning judgement on others lest you be judged by the same unfair standard.” Too often, sinful people have used this verse like a talisman to ward off the scrutiny and disapproval of people who can very easily judge for themselves the sinfulness of certain actions. Without ANY judgement, the Christian life would be impossible, for we must constantly judge right from wrong, both in ourselves and in others. See Matt. 18: 15 - 17; Rom. 16: 17; II Cor. 6: 14, 15; Gal. 6: 1; I Thess. 5: 14; et al.
Verses 3 - 5: A “mote” is a little bit of straw dust that can fly into the eye. A beam is just that, a plank of wood. Obviously some measure of absurdity is used here to illustrate the absurd ways people put things out of proper proportion. They “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” They worry about someone’s hem length while they themselves are committing fornication, for example. (Matt. 23: 24.)
Do you see the different judgements required by this passage? We must be able to discern good from evil and weigh the relative “weight” of different types of behavior. (See Heb. 5: 14.)
Verse 6: “. . . do not throw your pearls before swine . . .” Does anyone understand this verse? I have heard so many different explanations of it that I sometimes doubt that anyone understands it. But, here goes . . .
“What is holy” and “pearls” are words of wise rebuke. The dogs and swine (both unclean animals under Moses’ Law) are obviously those who “know not God” – unbelievers who are content to remain unbelievers. The idea here is related to the idea of the preceding verses – rebuking a person for their sins. Verses 1 - 5 tell us to not be hypocritical and rebuke others when we are guilty of even worse things than they are. [Degrees of sin? It sure looks like it.] The 6th verse tells us not to even bother rebuking those who are firmly entrenched in sin, or they will turn on us and attack. This same idea is expressed in Proverbs 9: 7, 8.
NOTE: These first six verses of Matthew 7 are not telling us to never make any judgements, but are very clearly telling us to make proper judgements. Some rules of making proper judgements are found in John 5: 30; John 8: 15 - 18; Rom. 2: 1 - 3.
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