Matthew 7:24-25

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24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. ~ Matthew 7:24-25

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 7 which provides for us "these sayings" of the Lord Jesus Christ. These sayings made up the Sermon on the Mount and they were uttered to enable us to recognize the difference the religion of the Jewish religious leaders and the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews had developed a system of works-righteousness, a humanly devised system of self-stimulated fleshly efforts that fell far short of God's requirement of perfection. This is why the Lord Jesus came to this earth, to offer the willing of heart true righteousness which is His righteousness. Before anyone can receive the righteousness the Lord Jesus earned for us on the cross they have to recognize and admit to their own spiritual bankruptcy. This is why the Jewish religious leaders never came the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Their problem was they never took upon themselves the Beatitude mentality.

The teaching of the Lord Jesus leads to a whole new gospel-centered ethic, a cross-shaped way of living life. And His way is totally different than all the teachings of all the others. And at every turn, it seems as if the way of the Lord Jesus is the last thing we’d expect. But His way is the only way that has the power to bring true and lasting love, joy, and peace to our journey on this earth. 

In v.24 of today's passage we read, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock."

By use of an illustration, the Lord Jesus told His hearers that it is critical that we hear these words and do them. He told his disciples multiple times that He would be crucified in Jerusalem. This is the rock solid foundation of the believer's eternal state. The rock here speaks of the gospel which is the "good news" that overcame man's rebellion against God. Even though the Jews heard the Lord Jesus, they didn’t really hear Him. The Lord Jesus noted that we must hear in a transformational way. In order to hear the words of Jesus in a transformational way, we must be aided by the Holy Spirit who will always use God's Word to draw us into a personal relationship with the Lord. 

The word "whoever" in this verse is key because it reveals that everyone has the opportunity to build his life on the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Building a life upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus produces a life built on that which is substantive and enduring. And, even though we build our lives on His teachings, we will still encounter storms. We cannot prove the veracity of His word unless we go through trials. But, when the storms arrive we will be prepared to deal with the rain and the strong winds. This grants us the stability of soul that enables us to navigate this life.

In v.25 of today's passage we read, "And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock."

On the solid rock of the Lord Jesus Christ does any believer endure in the faith. His house does not fall because by being defined by the Lord Jesus he will be prepared for even the worst that may come. As we learn the solidity of the Lord Jesus' culture we will be prepared for the disasters of life like a wise man. Sadly, many fail to learn this as they should because by running from our trials, we discover that we are running from God. In this case is revealed the number one god of most: COMFORT.

The storms of life will always threaten our comfort. They will always sift out the true from the false. For those who build their lives on the teachings of the Lord Jesus, the storms of life will grant the opportunity for the believer to experience the faithfulness of God. And, of course, we have no faith without His faithfulness. When the rains of depression, fearfulness, and loneliness fall, when the floods of personal sin, family tension, and relational brokenness come, when the winds of cultural tension, social pressure, and godless societies blow, we will stand because the culture of Christ the Solid Rock is defining us.

Matthew 7:21-23

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21 Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" 23 And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"  ~ Matthew 7:21-23 

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 7 where the Lord Jesus continued to inculcate His culture into His hearers through the preaching of the Sermon on the Mount. When God gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, He did not give it in order to show the Jews how good they could become. He gave the Law in order to show us how sinful we truly are. In doing so, the Lord Jesus was showing the difference between His kingdom and that of the religious leaders of Israel which were not the same. 

In v.21 of today's passage we read, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

Previously the Lord Jesus compared the broad gate that leads to destruction to the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. He highlighted the fact that it is only through a broken heart that we are positioned to enter into a personal relationship with Him. And, even though we may refer to the Lord as our "Lord," that does not mean that we have a personal relationship with Him. The mistake the Jews made was they didn't understand that they could not keep God’s law and thus meet His standard to be acceptable before Him. This is why the Lord Jesus magnified the fact that it is difficult for sinful man to enter the narrow gate. Finding Him requires meaningful search. Accentuated here is the fact that nobody just stumbles along and falls into the kingdom of God inadvertently. No, we must come to the end of ourselves first.

The reason the Jews didn't come to the Lord is due to the fact that they didn't come to the end of themselves. This prevented them from noticing that the Lord Jesus is "He" in this verse who did the will of the Father completely. The Lord Jesus is the narrow gate, and if we come to Him through our brokenness, we will see Him as our only Savior. Those in this verse who call Him, "Lord" are those who depend upon self-righteousness rather than divine righteousness for entry into heaven.

In v.22 of today's passage we read, "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'"

Even though some will claim that they earned God's favor through their performance this verse clearly warns us against such a conclusion. Our acceptability before the Lord has always been based upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross because He is the only one perfect enough to earn the favor of God. Even though these will say repeatedly, "in thy name" revealing that these miracles happened because of the name of the Lord Jesus, they will miss the Lord's salvation because of their dependency upon themselves. 

In v.23 of today's passage we read, "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"  

The entry of anyone into heaven has always been determined by the word "knew." Of course, God knows all things. This was not what the Lord Jesus was talking about here. You see this type of knowing is actuated by our faith in Him. It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we recognize Him as our Savior and He comes to live within us. The word "knew" reveals more than just awareness, it is used to denote personal involvement and relationship.  

To those who lack faith in the Lord, the Lord Jesus will say, "depart from me." These will be those who "practice lawlessness." The word "practice" is key to understand here. This one word describes someone who habitually lives a lifestyle that is contrary to God's desire for them. These are those who sit on the throne of their own hearts and are not bothered by their sin. Sadly, these will spend their eternity in Hell separated from God and all that is good.

Now, let me make clear here, we all struggle with sin. But, for those who have a personal relationship with the Lord, their sin bothers them. In fact, a Christian doesn't "practice" or perpetually live in sin, though occasionally may fall into sin. A Christian is someone to whom sin clings and the non-christian is someone who clings to sin. The Lord Jesus was not describing somebody who struggles with sin here and there, He was describing a person who continually shuns the definitions of God in his life and who lacks personal relationship with Him.

Matthew 7:15-20

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15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. ~ Matthew 7:15-20

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 7 where we find the Lord Jesus teaching His disciples and the thousands who had gathered on a mountain over-looking the Sea of Galilee. For three chapters now the Lord Jesus had been juxtaposing His teaching with that of the religious leaders of Israel. Sadly, the religious leaders missed the truth because even though they taught some truth they failed to teach the importance of the involvement of the heart in the process. This is why the Lord Jesus said to His hearers the words in today's passage.

In v.15 of today's passage we read, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves."

In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus introduced two gates, the narrow gate and the broad gate. The first leads to eternal life while the latter leads to destruction. The first is the Savior's gate and the second is the gate of the self life. In this verse, the Lord Jesus established the link between the broad gate and the false teachers of Israel. These "false prophets" always appeared to be good but in reality they were bad just like all sinful humans. These false prophets are noted by the Lord Jesus as wolves come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they were extremely greedy. 

There is a huge difference between sheep and wolves. Sheep offer us wool, meat, companionship, milk, and even more. Wolves offer us nothing. In fact, wolves take everything. They take livestock, safety, crops, and sometimes even our children. They steal and destroy. There’s nothing really positive about a wolf. Wolves seem to be trustworthy but they are actually animals not to be trusted. Like wolves, false prophets seem to be those who should be trusted, but in reality, they are ravenous or strikingly greedy.  

The manual for recognizing false prophets is the Bible. God’s Word is ultimate truth because God is the ultimate reality. The concept of truth depends on the concept of what is real. For something to be true something behind it must be real. And the truth is telling us what is real. God alone is the ultimate reality. That is, no reality was before Him. He doesn’t depend on any other reality. All other reality was created by Him. God is the One who has determined and defined what is real. And since what makes something true is that which corresponds to what is real, God determines and defines all truth. 

In v.16-17 of today's passage we read, "16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."

The Lord Jesus referenced those who produce fruit. In context, He referred to the religious leaders of Israel. Religion is always faithful to require of us the production of good behavior, but sinful man is unable to produce good fruit. You will note that the Lord said the real believer will bear or yield fruit. Right after the Lord Jesus said, "Enter into the narrow gate," He said, "beware of false prophets?" There is one common characteristic of all false prophets, they always make things sound better than they actually are. In the Old Testament, false prophets proclaimed peace and safety when that wasn’t the case at all. 

In v.18-20 of today's passage we read, "18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Today's teaching is not contradictory with that which the Lord Jesus said in v.1 of this very same chapter. There, the Lord Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged." Here, in today's passage the Lord Jesus tells us to make a judgement to determine if someone is a false prophet. This isn't a contradiction because unless we are willing to make a critical evaluation of a person's teaching, we can't determine whether what they are propagating is false or not. Instead of condemning them, we must be careful to take note of their fruit. This chapter is the fruitiest passage in all of the Bible! The Lord Jesus mentioned fruit seven times in five verses. His point? Healthy trees bear good fruit and diseased trees produce bad fruit.

I find it most interesting that the Lord Jesus said of the real believer that he cannot bear or yield bad fruit. If you are anything like me, you will quickly admit that I produce a lot of bad fruit. But, as the Lord Jesus said, we bear or yield good fruit. Of course, He is the One who produces the good fruit because it is of Him. We bear or yield good fruit, yet we produce bad fruit at times.

So here, the Lord Jesus gave us a test for false prophets that requires relationship and time. This is the venue where I have discovered that deepest ministry happens. True ministry where God's culture is being forged within us most deeply is in those everyday moments with Him and with one another over a period of time. We minister one to another as we walk with God and follow the Lord Jesus for ourselves. We have to know each other to really speak truth into one another's lives. Eventually, as we relate we will see fruit. The Lord Jesus began this teaching by warning us against people who deceive us. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, it has been our default mode to deceive. But, when we trusted in the Lord Jesus, we acquired another nature, the nature of God. This explains how we sometimes bear or yield good fruit and we sometimes produce bad fruit. The false prophets always produce bad fruit because they have not God's nature within. 

In order to determine a prophet as being false, we must look at their fruit to determine that they are false. As we examine the fruit, we must first recognize that the fruit of the tree is not its accomplishment. It is clear here in context, God does not use us because we are productive. He has always looked for followers who bear His image. The fruit that a tree yields is yielded slowly over time, naturally and organically. Our fruit is what grows out of our lives naturally over time. It’s how our life spills out into the world around us. We do well to remember that we produce bad fruit sometimes and we yield good fruit sometimes. The bad fruit ultimately is the expression of the deceiver in and through our lives. The good fruit that we yield is the expression of the Holy Spirit living in and through our lives. The key is that we are yielding to the Lord.

Matthew 7:13-14

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13 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. ~ Matthew 7:13-14

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 7 where the Lord Jesus continues to compare His gospel with the teaching of the religious leaders of Israel. He had just given what is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon demands a decision about whom will we put our faith in which is what will determine where we will spend our eternity beyond our time on this earth.

Prior to this, the Lord Jesus had been demonstrating to the Jewish folks whom He addressed on that mountain over-looking the Sea of Galilee regarding the difference between His teaching and that of the Jewish religious leaders. The primary difference was that of heart motive. The Jewish religious leaders placed the spotlight on the abilities of their hearers to obey the Law of Moses and thus they were their own savior. The Lord Jesus on the other hand pointed his hearers to the fact that they could not be good enough to earn God's favor. The teaching of the Jewish religious leaders had led no one to heaven because it was religion. No matter how often they obeyed the Law of Moses, they could not pay the penalty for their sin. Their goodness fell far short of what God required. They had a very superficial approach to the truth.

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."

That day the Lord Jesus offered something completely different than that which religion had offered the people. It had to be different, it had to be a gift. Enter the grace of God. Even though man's default mode since our fall in the Garden of Eden is religion, our many attempts at bridging the gap between ourselves and God could never be great enough. This is why the Lord Jesus spoke of the narrow gate here. This is a path that leads to life, Real life, and the Lord Jesus walked that path on the behalf of all who would trust Him. His path leads us to life abundant and which will yield for us a deepening personal relationship with God.

Both gates purport to introduce us to the path that leads us into heaven. Both gates point to salvation, to eternal joy and bliss in heaven. Neither of these gates says, "enter hell here," but one of them goes there. Nobody was selling hell. But, according to the Lord Jesus, the broad way guarantees us eternal hell. This is the road of religion, which with muffled mouth says, "Join our religion and go to hell with us." But, they did not blatantly deliver that message. No, they all promised heaven but upon what basis? Our options are the way of ourselves or the way of the Lord Jesus. One is the path paved with self-righteousness and the other is the paved with divine righteousness applied to the sinner hoping by faith that grace really exists. 

The Lord Jesus implores us to "enter by the narrow gate." Although many believe the narrow gate speaks of the pathway whereby we improve our lifestyle and subsequent choices, this gate has a different subject. The Lord Jesus is the only way for sinful man to get into heaven. He is the narrow gate and we arrive in heaven on the basis of His sacrificial work on the cross. It is only the gospel message that garners the favor of God for those who have come to the end of themselves.

Those on the broad way, by the way, are many. In fact, later in this chapter in v.22-23 we read, "22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

The requirement for us coming into a personal relationship with God is that we must enter the gate which is tantamount to placing our faith in the Lord Jesus as our Savior. It is not enough to listen to preaching about the narrow gate. It is not enough to study the narrow gate, to admire the structure of the narrow gate, to admire the wisdom of the gospel. The gate must be entered. And the world is full of people who admire the gospel. They admire the work of Christ on the cross, and even admire the work accomplished through His conquering death and resurrection. And they admire the ethics and the virtues of the Lord Jesus. But hell will be literally filled with people who admired Jesus Christ, who admired His teaching and His ethics.

A gate serves two purposes: to let people in, and to shut people out. Those who do not enter are then eternally barred from the kingdom of God. We must go beyond the admiration of the gospel, we must enter the gate of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Any deviation from the person and the work of Jesus Christ will lead to hell. We must believe. And, the key isn't the amount of our faith. No, no, no! The key is the object of our faith.

The life the narrow gate leads to is life of the eternal nature. Eternal life is not living forever, because no one ceases to exist when they die. Everyone lives forever in either heaven or hell. Eternal life isn't living forever in heaven instead of hell. Eternal life is a present-tense possession, it is not something that begins when we get to heaven. Eternal life is knowing God. Eternal life speaks of an intimate, close, personal relationship with God. Yes, the Lord Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sin, but that happened so that we could enter into a personal and an intimate relationship with God the Father.

Matthew 7:7-12

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7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. ~ Matthew 7:7-12

Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. In this sermon the Lord Jesus describes the journey involved in our lives as God changes our hearts. This change of heart takes us from being hard-hearted and non-responsive to God to being broken and obedient to Him. This journey began when we realized that needed Him due to our spiritually bankrupt state before Him. This journey will continue daily until He calls us to be with Him for eternity. 

In v.7 of today's passage we read, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

These words are logically connected to the previous thought of the Lord Jesus about being careful with whom we share the truth. Before that He spoke about not judging, but that didn’t mean not judging at all. Rather, it is to be based on the attitude in which one judges. This is obvious because He then told His disciples how and when to make judgments. These words in today's passage were given in the sense of asking for His wisdom and discernment as we judge between that which is right and wrong. 

The words "ask," "seek," and "knock" are all present, active, imperatives which means we never come to the place where we no longer pursue fellowship with God. When we persistently ask God for His wisdom, God promises to inject us with that which we will need to do His will. The word translated "knock" here implies a request for permission to enter. The words "seek" and "ask" reveal there is more involved than just getting God's attention. These words reveal that a proper search must be involved. The path to obtaining God's wisdom in how to deal with others and how to make right judgments is something that has to be conducted through a proper search. In response, the Lord Jesus promises He will open the door. It doesn’t say the one praying opens the door for himself. God promises that when we ask, seek, and knock, the door will be opened. 

In v.8 of today's passage we read, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

This conditional promise from the Lord must be in accord with His word and His will. When we acknowledge through prayer that we need God's involvement, God promises an answer. But, these words of the Lord Jesus must not be taken as a carte blanche approval by God of getting everything we want. When we pray according to God's will it means we will trust in His guidance and we will desire that which He wants for us.

In v.9-10 of today's passage we read, "9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?"

Here, the Lord Jesus used the most intimate and selfless human relationship, a father's care and love for his child, to get His point across. No father would give his son a stone when he has requested bread or a shake if he has asked for a fish. No father could be trusted if he responded this way. The point here is if God is God and the knowledge of what and how He has done things is attainable by us, then we need to be persistent in asking, seeking, and knocking according to His will. To ask not in accordance with His will is a waste of time and reveals our arrogance which is what put us in our sinful dilemma in the first place.

In v.11-12 of today's passage we read, "11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

The Lord Jesus reminded us that the Father gives good things to those who ask him. It is not about getting stuff, though, it is about a burgeoning relationship with God. He doesn't just drop stuff into our lives without us asking because that does not deepen our relationship with Him. He yearns for us to know Him because we are damned on our own otherwise. I love what happened right after the Lord Jesus died on the cross. The curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn from top to bottom. That event reveals there no longer is a separation between God and sinful man. This is due to the satisfying sacrifice of the Lord Jesus which bridged the gap between sinful man and God. Since His death paid the penalty for that which separated us from God in the first place, we can now go directly to God and enjoy relationship and fellowship with Him.

In the final verse of today's passage we are given the Golden Rule. It is the Golden Rule that sets Christianity apart from the philosophies and the religious systems of this world. Many believe the Golden Rule is found in other philosophies or religions but this is not the case. The religious leaders of Israel said, "Whatever is not helpful, don't do that to other people." Confucius said, "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you." The Greek philosophers said, "Whatever you want people not to do to you, don't do that to anyone else." The emphasis in all of those statements are negative. Their quotes focus on self-preservation. Their statements are a far cry from, "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." In the final analysis, the evidence that we have been the recipients of God's goodness is discovered in how we treat others.

Matthew 7:6

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Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. ~ Matthew 7:6

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 7 where the Lord Jesus juxtapositioned His teaching with that of the religious leaders of Israel. In today's passage, the Lord Jesus admonishes us to avoid trying to control people. Don’t condemn them and don’t force them to be something they are not. We do well to remember what the Lord Jesus said just prior to the Sermon on the Mount: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." With the coming of Christ and the Holy Spirit, the loving rule of God has drawn near to us. In fact, He taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." And, one of the greatest aspects of the kingdom of heaven is that God even uses bad to bring about good. 

The biggest difference between the teaching of the Lord Jesus and that of the religious leaders of Israel was the involvement of the heart. In order to be assured that our hearts are right in a given situation, we should first examine ourselves and remove anything from our own eye before considering the speck in another's eye. In so doing, we are granted a heart for others because we have chosen to be honest about our own allegiance to sin. And, it is from this honest evaluation of ourselves that we are best positioned to help a brother in need. It is always from a humbled disposition that we value the deepest spiritual truths the best. Sadly, the religious leaders of Israel lacked this kind of an appreciation for the truth. 

The Lord Jesus said, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs." Dogs, in their culture, were metaphoric for Gentiles or people who lacked a heart for God. According to Leviticus 22:10, the holy meat that was sacrificed in religious services was reserved for priests to eat. Everyone knew that to give such special meat to dogs, would have been a waste because the dogs would not have appreciated it. To a dog it is just meat. To this day, many cultures in the Middle East despise dogs because they scavenge, they eat unclean food, they are predators that feed off of others, and they are themselves unclean. 

Although today's verse immediately follows five verses admonishing the right and wrong ways to judge others, with it the Lord Jesus shifted attention from judgment to discernment. No one would consider giving away what he holds important, knowing it would be rejected as invaluable and destroyed without the slightest hesitation. That would be foolish! In fact, the Lord Jesus knew His audience would understand and appreciate this illustration. He knew that they got the greater theological point, that it would have been a waste. Our spiritual insights, experiences, and the good news of the gospel are precious treasures not to be wasted on those who do not value them.

Then the Lord Jesus said, "nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."

Like giving holy meat to dogs who will not appreciate it, pigs will never recognize the value of pearls. Pigs value slop a lot more than they do pearls. The pig in this case represented those who had no appreciation for the value system of God. And here, only after instructing us concerning the removal of the beam from our eye did the Lord Jesus instruct us concerning making right judgments. The pearl is representative of that which is precious and valuable. In this case, the Lord Jesus was metaphorically equating them to precious truths He has given us and that we should not invest these truths in someone whom we know will not appreciate them.

In context, the Lord Jesus here described the difference between the nature of true righteousness and that of self righteousness. In the general context of today's verse, the religious leaders were those who copied the law and acted as lawyers in the lives of the people concerning that law. They were those who prided themselves on keeping all the law according to the traditions handed down to them, but their hearts were not engaged. These people were those who were supposed to understand the value of the law, its holy nature and how it should be followed. But, they twisted the meaning of the Law and used it for their own selfish gain. 

The point here is we must exercise discernment and we do so by investing in the truth for ourselves. By giving it safe haven in our souls. By doing so we demonstrate that what is most important to God are most valuable to us. We will be serving God and we can rest peacefully in His promise to provide for our needs as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. And, sometimes we must be circumspect with people who do not appreciate the love and grace of God. Knowing when to step back requires the ability to separate the dogs and the hogs from the lost sheep looking for a shepherd. 

Our salvation is not cheap. Oh, it is free to us and we could never earn it, but it is by no means cheap because it cost the Lord Jesus so much. It cost Him pain, isolation from His Father, and loss. This makes God's grace the most expensive thing in the world. It was on the cross of Calvary that the Lord Jesus Christ became the final sacrifice for mankind's sin. He paid for our salvation with His very life. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of the unblemished and spotless Lamb of God. While human love is almost always based on the attractiveness of the object that it loves, God's love is based on the purity of love itself. Man's love says, "If the object is more attractive, there's more love. If the object is less attractive, there's less love. It is based upon the value, worth, status, and beauty of the object being loved."

God's love is different. God's love is not like human love. God's love is not object-oriented it is subject-oriented. It is part of His nature, His character, completely independent of the beauty, attractiveness, and value of the object. His love is completely dependent on the quality of the subject giving the love. It is unusual to love an enemy, but the God of the Bible is so inclined. He was so inclined that He sent His Son who had never committed one sin to take on the penalty of our sinfulness so that we could be pronounced by Him perfect in His eyes. This is true love.

Matthew 7:1-5

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1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye;" and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. ~ Matthew 7:1-5

Today, we transition into Matthew 7 which is the continuation of the Sermon on the Mount wherein the Lord Jesus was comparing His teachings with the teachings of the religious leaders of Israel. In this sermon the Lord Jesus gave us an overview of what the culture or kingdom of God looks like in our everyday lives. 

In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Judge not, that you be not judged."

The word translated "judge" means "to condemn." It does not mean that we cannot distinguish between good and evil or between right and wrong. It means to steer clear of condemning others. Condemnation never does what we want it to do. If someone were to condemn us, we do well not to retaliate. Condemnation rarely leads to a change of heart. Usually, it backfires. Almost always, it generates return fire. People hate to feel condemned, and in order  to not feel it, they condemn in return. The Lord Jesus said these words so that "you may not be judged." 

In v.2-4 of today's passage we read, "2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"

Here, we are given further explanation to what the Lord Jesus just said. When we judge in a certain manner, that same judgment can be expected to be returned to us. Those who go around pointing fingers at others from some supposed position of moral authority that really doesn’t exist except in their own minds, can expect scrutiny. 

Then the Lord Jesus reconfirmed this with another statement saying, "and in what measure you measure, it will be remeasured to you." 

The word "measure" means to determine something acceptable or unacceptable. This confirms the Lord Jesus did not mean to not judge, He meant do not be arbitrarily judgmental because people will be judgmental of you. We will be judged by the same rule which we apply to others. The arbitrary nature of said judgement is really the problem. Then the Lord Jesus underscored the fact that if a person is out judging others without examining himself, he has a major fault in his life, yet, he rebukes someone else for a lesser sin. That man, according to the Lord Jesus, is a total hypocrite. The person the Lord Jesus spoke of here is annoyed at the teeny perceived imperfection in someone else’s life. It is as if it is too much of an annoyance to allow it to continue without being highlighted and removed. While standing there noting that he can take care of the little chip in another’s eye, he is unwilling to acknowledge the two by four sticking out of his own eye. This is the height of hypocrisy because the Lord Jesus was actually referring to a moral defect in the other person, using the speck and the beam as metaphors for spiritual truths.

In v.5 of today's passage we read, "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

The speck and the plank are essentially the same substance.  One is the other, one is much smaller, the other is much bigger.  The reason someone can see little splinters in another's eye is because they have the same problem. They have a huge two by four in their eye. We are good typically at spotting sins in other people because we're familiar with them in our own lives and we become unfortunately very judgemental over the sin that lurks in us. Those who arbitrarily judge others are identified here as hypocrites because they isolate a moral defect in someone while having their own, much greater, moral defect. They identify some supposed fault in those they oppose but they are filled with fifty times more moral corruption than the insignificant point they have called out in their opponents. They make a mountain out of a molehill while sitting on their own heights of hypocrisy. These are those who see flaws in others in order to feel better about themselves. They think, if we can identify other’s flaws, we can avoid facing our own. 

The Lord Jesus' remedy to all of this is, "first remove the plank from your own eye." When we confess our sin to God and admit it before Him, we actually help in the process of restoring other people who have similar situations. In Psalm 51, David wrote that beautiful song about how sorry he was that he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered. At that same time David also wrote, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, then I will teach transgressors Your way, then others will be converted to You." Once we confess our sin and humble ourselves before the Lord, we will be compassionately positioned to help a brother in need. And those who are not compassionate give evident that they know not God's compassion for them.

The Lord Jesus never says we should not point out the speck. Rather that we should deal with our problems so that we can help others deal with their’s. As followers of the Lord Jesus, we have the responsibility to confront erring brothers and sisters, but we must do this in love and without judgement. After all, we are all sinners in need of a savior. The religious leaders of Israel were known for pointing their fingers at others, but that helps no one. What we should do is come alongside each other in love. It’s not judging to help someone see the sin in their life. It’s judging when we condemn them for that sin rather than helping them through it. There’s a big difference between the two. 

Matthew 6:31-34

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31 Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ~ Matthew 6:31-34

Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus has used birds, lilies, and grass to illustrate the fact that God is the One who ultimately meets our needs and the more we are convinced of this the more we will choose to believe in and trust in Him. Matthew 6 is one part of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7, and it is sanctification teaching not justification teaching. There is only one ticket that justifies us in the eyes of God and gets us into heaven and that is the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross on the behalf of all who would believe in Him. As mentioned before, sanctification is the process involved whereby God inculcates His kingdom into our souls.

In v.31-32 of today's passage we read, "31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."

Rather than focusing on our earthly, temporary needs, the Lord Jesus admonishes us to get into the habit of trusting Him to meet our needs as He has promised. Just as God has placed us on this earth, He has also provided for us all things needed to sustain. We are a part of this ongoing cycle that is designed to aid us in learning to trust Him who is all-knowing to provide for us and to not worry about what lies ahead. This is the second time in this chapter that the Lord Jesus commands us to not worry. When we seek first the kingdom of wealth, we will worry over every dollar. When we seek first the kingdom of God, God will make sure that we find it. 

The word translated "Gentiles" in v.32 means ethnic peoples. It is a word associated with the people of the non-Jewish nations of the earth. This word is derived from the word that means culture. The Lord Jesus noted the nations who do not know the Lord as God and as a result they don’t possess sufficient knowledge to understand that He is there tending to them and taking care of them. Yet, they "seek" the things of the world and they do not seek God. As they cannot trust in God beyond this world, their trust must be placed in what is derived from this world. 

The believer in the Lord Jesus is different. We should seek the all-knowing One, the One who knows all things that we need even before we know of it. As we learn to trust the Lord, we will walk in His ways and we will learn to be defined by Him through His Word. Walking with the Lord translates into us obeying the Lord. The more we experience God's faithfulness, the more our faith in Him will grow. The more our faith in Him grows, the more we will trust His culture as He is inculcating it into us daily. To the degree that we are humble and willing enough to allow Him to define us will reveal the degree that we will know His kingdom come.

In v.33 of today's passage we read, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

The Lord Jesus encourages us to "seek." He didn’t encourage us to find here. It is our nature to stop seeking once we have found. The emphasis here is to not stop seeking. The Lord said, if we seek Him and His ways, we will find what we need to find when we need to find it in order to continue seeking. So, the Lord Jesus implores us to follow our quest of seeking Him and His ways and then our needs will be met by Him. But, when our needs are met we must not resort to not seeking Him. This all emphasizes the relational nature of Christianity and God's emphasis will always be upon that. We must be resigned to value our relationship with Him more than any other relationship, even the meeting of our basic daily needs.

Most often when we pray to God we pray for our will to be done. This is foolish. The word "kingdom" means the reign of God in our lives. To the degree that we obey Him will be the degree that His kingdom has come to us. But, it is not only just seeking the Father, involved also is seeking His righteousness. In other words when we seek Him and He shows up in our lives His righteousness will be put on full display and we will live out of His definition of things. This means we will pray regularly to Him because He has told us to converse with Him daily. Seeking God’s righteousness is to seek that His will is done at all times in our lives before Him. The Lord Jesus taught us to have His priorities. Put God first, and God will still give us these things. We will not be without them, but the possessions will be in the right place in our life.

In v.34 of today's passage we read, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

This is the third time in this chapter that we are admonished not to worry. The Lord Jesus instructs us to not let what is ahead in time, and completely out of our grasp, define us. It is inconsistent with our faith in the Lord to reach into the next day and start agonizing over what may transpire. The only thing that this type of reaction will do is to rile up any chance of mental calmness on a day that has nothing to do with the next. Understanding this, the Lord Jesus next said, "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." That is to say, like any other day that comes to pass, there are to be expected complications, difficulties, sadnesses, moments of confusion and loss. Bad things will happen to us in each day. Each day can be expected to have enough evil to fill it that inserting the problems of a day ahead will only lead to a day overflowing with anxiety and worry. 

The best approach to life is to allow the future to unfold as it will without the added stress of worrying about how it will do so. We make plans, but the events that follow must be left to the overarching providence of God. We must live with the future planned to whatever degree is necessary, but to do so knowing that the Lord may have other plans. And, no matter what, He is in control. Our future in His presence is assured because of the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on our behalf. We just have to get through this unknown earthly walk as best as we can in the process, learning to trust Him with each step as we go.

Matthew 6:28-30

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28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ~ Matthew 6:28-30

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 6. In this study we will discover the teaching of the Lord Jesus regarding the kingdom of God. In context, the Lord has contrasted His teaching with that of the religious leaders of Israel. In their teaching, emphasis was placed upon man's ability to get life right by applying the teachings of the Law of Moses. Through the Lord Jesus' teaching we discover a different approach. His approach starts with our hearts and the condition of our being. Once analyzed, we discover our lives are a mess, even though we have attempted to straighten them out many times. The answer the Lord Jesus offers us is the exchanged life. Literally, if we let Him, He will live His life to us and through us. Through this way we will discover the out-workings of the words of the Apostle Paul, "For me to live is Christ."

In v.28-29 of today's passage we read, "28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus spoke about our inability  to navigate our lives for ourselves. In today's passage He followed this conclusion up with how we go about meeting our daily needs for clothing. Until the recent emergence of the industrial age, clothing took a lot more effort to make. Thus, it was expensive, even being considered as a part of one’s wealth. Because of this, people would get anxious when something interfered with their possessing or retaining their clothing. The underlining item being highlighted here by the Lord Jesus is the whole idea of who do we trust. This is so very important because who we trust most defines us most.

It was at this point that the Lord Jesus directed the attention of His hearers to the "lilies of the field" which "neither toil nor spin." The word "consider" is very key for us to understand. It signifies more than learning, but grasping something conclusively by considering it carefully. The idea behind the word "consider" is to plumb the depths of what is important. Consider means to penetrate to the truth of something and to comprehend it fully. But, there is even a deeper point here to be grasped.

The Lord Jesus urged us to stop and look at the lilies in a way that brings forth an understanding of the majestic nature of God’s handiwork through creation. Lilies are detailed and are thus truly majestic. They are one-of-a-kind type of flowers based upon their intricate shape and detail. Lilies don't grow themselves for they are a product of rain, water, soil, and the sun. Lilies do not have to work to produce their clothing. Since God cares so much for short-lived springtime flowers, how much more does He care for the part of His creation that He made in His image?

Likening the lilies to the glory of Solomon who had the best of everything, the Lord Jesus pointed us to the most vulnerable of flowers clearly to teach us God looks out for all of His creation. And, when we align ourselves with His truth by obeying Him, we will recognize, realize and access His blessing in our lives. When the Lord Jesus told His disciples that the lilies of the field neither toil nor spin, He did so to reinforce that He is the One who always clothes them, just as He does us. The key is that we exercise the type of faith that marks our creator as our God.

In v.30 of today's passage we read, "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

Here, the Lord Jesus went from lilies to grass, underscoring the short-lived nature of both. The oven here is the style of pot that is heated from the inside and then bread would be slapped onto the outside to be baked. The flat bread adhered to the side of the oven until removed by the baker when it was turned and heated on the other side. The point the Lord Jesus was making  was this: Mankind is more important than the lilies and the grass, and so we can be assured that God will tend to our needs in a way that is commensurate with who we are in light of who He is.  

The words "little faith" is one word in the Greek. It means when we worry about our needs being met, we reveal that we  are of little faith in the God of the Bible. While we are found constantly worried about what might be, we should be found trusting that God orders daily the necessary things in our lives to accomplish what is needed. He even provides those necessary things through the unwanted moments of life. And, if we are being defined by Him, we will recognize the blessing even in the curses. 

Underscored in all of this is the fact that mankind has importance in the eyes of God. Mankind, although tainted by sin, is the highest point of God’s creation, and we should conduct our lives in a manner that demonstrates that we believe it to be so. Not in arrogance or boasting, but in humility that God has given us such God-like wisdom and ability to believe in Him. And as we do, may we remember to thank and praise Him for allowing us the honor of bearing His image. In addition, we should praise Him for the ability to abide in His presence for all eternity because of what He has done to reconcile us to Himself through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word "faith" appears in the Bible some 247 times. It means "persuasion," "trust," "confidence," "assurance," and "belief." The word "faith" is a noun. Many inaccurately think of it as a verb. The word "believe" is a verb. It’s an action word. Believing is something we do, and faith is something we have or we could say something we are. This is what the Lord Jesus was getting to that day on the side of that mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Faith is choosing deliberate confidence in the character of God especially when we do not understand Him or His ways.

Matthew 6:25-27

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25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ~ Matthew 6:25-27

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus is teaching us about the importance of being defined by the culture of God. His teaching on the side of that mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee is all about the coming of God's kingdom and how it impacts our everyday lives. Having addressed the issue of the heart, the Lord Jesus highlighted that what we trust is what ultimately defines us. In today's passage we will learn of three reasons why we should never worry: our Father, our faith and our future. 

In v.25 of today's passage we read, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?"

In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus spoke of the unrealistic nature of serving two masters. When we trust in anything other than the Lord, our anxiety meter will be heightened. The substantiveness of the object that we worship is what defines us at the end of the day. We will only be at peace in our soul to the extent that we trust in our heavenly Father. By definition, God is the supreme being and there is no one above Him. Of course, believing in the God of the Bible does not dispel the darkness in our lives completely, but we can choose to not be defined by the lesser.

Being defined by God translates itself in how much God defines us through His Word. God's definition of us will be shown through our obedience to His Word. This, of course, will not mean that will be perfect in our obedience, but it does mean that we will be connected to the greatest resource to deal with life's issues. When we trust in temporal things, we will naturally worry due to the nature of those temporal earthly treasures. It doesn’t matter how rich we become, if we are trusting in our earthly wealth, we will struggle with worry and anxiety. For a millionaire to decrease in wealth by a dollar is more painful than for a poor person who has nothing to lose.

During the ancient biblical world, clothing was an important indicator of social status, occupation, and identity. One's clothes signified his wealth, authority, and/or religious devotion. It is the same today, nothing really has changed. Most often, the quest for wearing the best clothing is the quest for notoriety, popularity, and fame. In churches, many priests, bishops and preachers are robed in special robes. These and other garments supposedly set them off as pious men of God filled with something special before God and man. With the ending of the Mosaic Law, there is nothing prescribed in Scripture to physically set a pastor, priest, or preacher off from the rest of the congregation. And yet, in order to set these people apart, they are given these garments. Unfortunately, as we have seen throughout history, such garments often adorn people whose hearts are far from God. Very often they are money grabbers, perverts, predators, and highly arrogant in their demeanor. The garments of these are often-like lipstick on pigs. They adorn people whose hearts are self-centered and filled with pride and self-righteousness. 

In v.26 of today's passage we read, "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

By carefully observing His creation, we learn a lot about the God of creation. Like the birds who go out each day and look for food, we should look to God to meet our needs for when we do this, we will be defined by God. The birds expect their Creator to provide for them and nourish them, and He does faithfully. Though God meticulously cares for the birds of His creation, He has more care for humans than He does for birds. In fact, God has endowed man with the ability to increase knowledge, figure out difficulties, plan ahead, and seek out better ways to discover His provision. Due to this, there is no reason for us to worry.

Here in today's passage, the Lord Jesus did not depart from the thought of storing up treasure in heaven. He was building upon that idea with His continued words. If we can see that God tends to His creation through how He has set things up, and if we acknowledge that God has placed a special stamp of His creative efforts upon man, then we should have faith that God intends good for us. The treasures of heaven are to be attained from this understanding. Our growing faith in God due to His past faithfulness should spur us onward in our heart's ability to see Him. In the end, everything that we possess, whether physical or spiritual, is ultimately derived from God, who created all things. 

In v.27 of today's passage we read, "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"

When we trust the Lord like the birds of the air, we will be able to rise above the anxiety that tends to shackle us. Worrying or fretting over every issue of life which is beyond our control is inconsistent with the one who is growing in his trust of the Lord. When we are given over to worry, we will find it most difficult to live the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. When we worry about all the what-ifs of life, it will reveal a lack of trust in our heavenly Father. We cannot worry ourselves into longer life. But, when we grow in our faith in the faithfulness of God and we gain a growing understanding of His care for us, we will not fret over our future.

Matthew 6:24

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No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. ~ Matthew 6:24

Today, we return to our study of the Sermon on the Mount wherein the Lord Jesus Christ taught the culture of God to a group overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In our last study, the Lord Jesus noted that when our eye is bad, our whole body will be filled with darkness. That is to say that if God is not defining us by inculcating His truth into our souls, we will remain trapped in the darkness that was introduced to mankind in the Garden of Eden. In context, the Lord Jesus was explaining the matter of storing up our treasures in heaven by advancing the kingdom of God on this earth. 

Many of our Bibles include a footnote next to the word "mammon" found at the end of today's verse. That footnote gives, in most occasions, the meaning of the word as being "money." Moreover, throughout the centuries, mammon has been described as wealth. It was taken by medieval writers as the name of the devil of covetousness. In biblical culture mammon has been long described by words such as lust, gluttony, greed, and dishonest worldly gain. Ultimately, mammon was described as an idol of materialism, which some trusted as a foundation for their worldview and philosophy on life. In fact, it is safe to say today that most today trust in their wealth more than anything else.

The danger with this is that which we trust in the most defines us most. With wealth at the helm of our hearts we find ourselves loving things and hating people. The Lord Jesus warned that we cannot serve two masters, He specified "wealth" as a master in opposition to God. A slave, therefore,  will adhere to one master and reject the other. It would cause a real conflict within, one that would come with insurmountable problems. Such is the case with storing up wealth for ourselves while on this earth. Money is immoral, what we do with it makes it moral or immoral.

The Lord Jesus further explained how impossible it is to serve two masters, we will love one and hate the other. The Lord Jesus Himself embraced doing His Father’s will, while despising the shame that was levied upon Him by sinful and short-sighted men. When we place our trust in wealth, our allegiance will be in our wealth. As such, when we live for wealth, we will not have much of a heart for God. Likewise, when we live for God, the riches of this life will be understood for what they truly are, gifts from God.

There is nothing wrong with having wealth. In fact, when one possesses wealth, it should be considered a blessing from God. However, the opposite is not to be considered true. When someone is not wealthy, it does not mean that God doesn’t favor them. This attitude is a trap from the evil one. Just because someone receives a blessing, it doesn’t mean God loves him more than the person who has not been blessed of God in the same way. No matter how little or much we are blessed in this life, we should give honor, thanks, and glory to God for what we do have. Faith in the God of the Bible is the key and our faith in Him will be demonstrated by our obedience to Him.

According to Exodus 34:14, the Lord God is a "jealous God." This means He guards what is rightfully His. He is righteously jealous for our affections because we are at our best when we are giving our hearts to Him. God is not jealous for His own sake because He needs nothing. He is jealous for us because without Him we are in real trouble. When we serve another master such as wealth, we rob ourselves of all we were created to be, and we rob God of His rightful adoration.

The word "serve" in today's verse comes from the noun meaning bondservant or slave. Slavery in the Roman world was different from American slavery. The primary differences being that slavery wasn’t based on skin color and wasn’t a permanent condition. Typically, people became bondservants due to debt and they could work themselves out from under that debt. When the Bible mentions slavery in the New Testament, it is usually used in the sense that we all are slaves to something. And, God knows that what we love the most will be our master. When the Lord Jesus taught on servanthood, He spoke about having rendered actual ownership of ourselves to the one we serve. 

We cannot serve two masters because, as the Lord Jesus pointed out, we end up hating one and loving the other. It’s only natural. Opposing masters demand different things and lead down different paths. While the ways of the Lord lead us in one direction, this world and our flesh are headed in the other. A choice must be made. When we follow Christ, we must die to everything else. If we attempt to serve two masters, we will have divided loyalties, and, when the difficulties of discipleship clash with the lure of fleshly pleasure, the magnetic pull of wealth and worldly success will draw us away from the Lord. The call to godliness goes against our sinful nature. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we remain devoted to the Lord as our one true Master.

The fact the Lord Jesus spoke of possessions possessing us is rather interesting. In reference to our possessions, we think we own and control them, but actually they own and control us. This is one way to understand sin. A careful reading of the Bible reveals that slavery and bondage is a common metaphor for sin. Often we think we can manage our sin, control our behavior and desires, and only indulge when we choose to, but that’s a fiction we tell ourselves. I think that’s part of the reason the Lord Jesus treated this subject so seriously because we’re so prone to deluding ourselves. The Lord Jesus came to free us from this kind of bondage which is not the equivalent of a few bad habits.

Matthew 6:22-23

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22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ~ Matthew 6:22-23

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus provided for us teaching on the key to our personal relationship with God which is an engaged heart. Previously, the Lord Jesus made it clear that greed is the greatest culprit to our spirituality. There is something at the root of the sin of loving money that is the root of all sin. That root is pride which is the desire to be autonomous of God. It is our pride that convinces us that we can run our own lives for ourselves. Greed and pride go hand in hand. And, when we embrace this illusion, we will perish with it. 

In v.22 of today's passage we read, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light."

On the surface, this is a confusing verse, but it’s only confusing because we’re not first century Jews. The Lord Jesus enlisted a very well known cultural idiom that was understood by his listeners. The idiom was a bad eye which was a Jewish expression describing someone who was bitter and envious, someone who looked on someone else’s blessing and thought to themselves, "That should be mine." By using this common idiom, the Lord Jesus obviously drew attention to the tenth of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not covet."

To covet is to have an unlawful desire for something that is not rightfully yours. Covetousness is not limited to money, as this passage spells out. We might covet our neighbor’s status, fame, good looks, or home. The first nine of the Ten Commandments deal with our actions, but the tenth commandment deals with our attitude. The tenth commandment is the root cause of all the others. Without covetousness, we would not do all of the other things prohibited by God. 

At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus used a lamp as an illustration. A lamp is something that provides illumination. The lamp is not the light itself, it is used to discover things that are lost in the darkness. The lamp is also used to provide illumination to the one who has the light. The lamp also provides any amount of light, even to a sliver that illuminates the darkest context. The eye is what sees things and provides information to the mind, where it is processed. The mind and body react to what has been seen and understood. In the Bible, light is a metaphor for God's definition of all things. It is contrasted throughout the Bible to darkness, which includes the faulty definitions given to us by the evil one. When we are being defined by God we will have God's light to varying degrees. If we focus on earthly treasures to define us most, we will lack the ability to see what is of most importance and worthy of our heart's allegiance.

In v.23 of today's passage we read, "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

While an eye that sees clearly will yield a body full of light, an eye lacking light will be given over to evil. A bad eye renders an understanding that will lack according to God's definitions of things. Without a God-defined life one’s vision will be impaired. The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to bring us His light in order that we may understand God and that His ways are better. The more we reject the truth as defined by God, the more darkened our understanding will be. Those who look with clarity of vision will see what is revealed in God’s light and will thus be defined accordingly. 

Throughout the Bible, the Lord Jesus is revealed as the light. His cross and resurrection validate both He and His work. This is what draws us to Him. Having been drawn to Him, we all have the decision to believe in Him and be defined by Him. When we obey the Lord Jesus, we will convert our perishable treasures into imperishable treasures by using them in concert with His purposes in this world. When we are found being generous with our money, we will not be its slave. This explains how leaving an inheritance to our grandchildren doesn’t contradict that which is most dear to the heart of God. And, no one has become poor by giving. In fact, the happiest people in this world are those who outgive their getting.

Matthew 6:19-21

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19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ~ Matthew 6:19-21

Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount. In this teaching, the Lord Jesus Christ rearranged the thinking of His hearers regarding their understanding of the Law of Moses. As we know, the Law of Moses was sanctification teaching, meaning it was teaching designed to get the culture of God into the souls of people. But, through the years it had been distorted by the religious teachers of Israel. These supposed spiritual leaders dropped the ball when they were not careful to include their hearts in the equation. Instead, they put themselves up as the arbiters of truth, essentially taking God's role from Him. This resulted in religion which always shackles us and carries us away from God.

In v.19 of today's passage we read, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."

In our last study, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus on the topic of fasting. He finished that thought with the idea of being rewarded by the Father in heaven. In today's passage, He built upon that concept drawing our attention to "treasure." The rewards of which He previously spoke are where our true treasures are to be found. But, what we amass here on earth is temporary and will not pass into eternity. It is only when we invest in the eternal does this change. Being wealthy is not sinful. The Bible never says, "Money is the root of all evil." No, it says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." Greed is the culprit.

Now, in that day, wealth was often measured by one’s ability to accumulate and store goods, such as grain and precious metals. The concept of storing treasures was not only a practical concern but also a reflection of one’s status and security. Treasure could also refer to spiritual wealth, such as wisdom and righteousness, which are more enduring than material wealth. Here, the Lord Jesus informed us to not keep to ourselves the blessings that God has chosen to give us. God rarely blesses us with only us in mind. He knows that if our lives are all about receiving, we will become so fearful of losing what we have that we will become unloving. But, if we recognize that it is better to give than to receive, we will know the type of life that He died for us to have while here on earth. The life the Lord offers us with Him at the helm of our decision making is a life free from worry and anxiety.

When we live our lives under God's grace rather than the Law of Moses, we will recognize that God has given us all things with the ultimate goal that His kingdom might advance in this world. When we hoard things we will be preoccupied upon concentrating on our kingdom. This is what causes us anxiety and the solution is to loosen our grip on those blessings that God has given us and be free to be a blessing to others. As with a tube of toothpaste the tighter we squeeze the less we will have. Investing in eternity will render much greater blessings than those of the temporal space and time of this fleeting world. We must live accordingly. Living to be a blessing redirects our hearts from seeking the blessing for ourselves to being more selfless. The stress of learning to be defined by the Lord is far less restricting than that of the flesh for the flesh is never satisfied.

In v.20 of today's passage we read, "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

The only way to accomplish that which will endure into eternity is through faith in the God of the Bible. When we trust Him, we will believe that what He has said is true. Thus we will be defined by Him when we obey Him. And, we will not be perfect at this, even though God calls us to perfection. Think about it, would He be God if He called us to less than perfection? Nothing earthly can be taken to heaven. Faith is a vulnerable disposition, and faith alone in the God of the Bible is the only thing that bridges the gap between the earthly and the heavenly. Here, the Lord Jesus restated the same words as the previous verse but changed them for emphasis. When the two verses are set side by side, the contrast is clear. When we live by faith and we invest in eternity, the Lord assures us that it will matter into eternity. 

In v.21 of today's passage we read, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." 

We all have our loyalties, the things that are most valuable to us. As a result, we all live for something or somebody. To the degree to which we love something or someone will be the degree that they will define us. We know something or someone is defining us when we take inventory and discover what or who we obey. When the Lord Jesus was asked to summarize the greatest command, He quoted the Old Testament when He said, "Love God with all our heart, soul and strength." Down deep in our hearts a tug of war is raging. The tugs are created by the temptations that cry out for our hearts allegiance. The realm we invest in most defines us most.

There is nothing wrong with possessing wealth or protecting that wealth for the future. In fact, in Proverbs 13:22 we read, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous." We cannot save up for our children’s children if we do not possess wealth to some degree. The real issue is: Are we masters over our wealth, or is our wealth master over us? We must be wise concerning earning and saving, but also let our heart be directed to the Lord above all else. This is what reveals where our hearts are regarding the possessions we have in this world. Money can be a wonderful servant or it can be a terrible master!