Matthew 6: 19-34, Sermon on the Mount, Part 4 (Heaven v. Earth)

Jesus continues, in his "Sermon on the Mount", to lay out the attitudes and actions of the citizens of a coming kingdom.

Matt 6:19-21, Your treasures should be eternal (and your heart will follow)
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth  and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Verse 21 here represents a simple principle Jesus will repeat in this speech.  What one commits to matters.  This is especially true if one is not conscious of that commitment!

Matt 6:22-24, Eyes and two masters
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Verse 24: God OR money.  I can't have both!  Other idols create the same problem.  If one swears allegiance to his/her work, his/her country, his/her ministry, his/her family and puts that above God, that object becomes a type of idol.  (For a good look at modern idolatries, I recommend Tim Keller's Counterfeit Gods.)

Matt 6:25-27, Trust, don't worry
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

The rest of this passage promises God's care to those in God's kingdom.  Trust God; don't worry.  (I wish this were so easy to do!)

NIV Footnotes: in verse 27: we could also (apparently?) translate that phrase as "Who of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his height?"

Matt 6:28-32, Do not run around like the pagans but trust God
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Don't worry about clothes.  Don't worry about food.

The "pagan" in this story is one who has no belief in God.  The Jew was proud of his faith; Jesus is suggesting that a true member of this (Jewish) kingdom should step up to a higher view and higher actions.

Matt 6:33-34, Seek first his kingdom and citizenship
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The chapter concludes with a clear final summary.  As C. S. Lewis writes, "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.  Aim at earth and you get neither."

In the next chapter of Matthew we will see the conclusion of the sermon on the mount.