Sermon on the Mount | Week 4 | Seek the Kingdom | Money and Possessions

Matthew 6:33

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

MATTHEW 6:19–24

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body

is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

REFLECTION

In this passage, Jesus implies that we can either engage in activities that lead to greater earthly reward or activities that store up greater future reward in heaven. We have the tendency to divide life into “spiritual” and “material,” but Jesus calls us to seek him in all things, because we can do nothing apart from him (John 15:1-8).

In many of his parables, Jesus talks about the connection between how we view money and our spiritual maturity (Luke 12:13; 167:1-31). The Pharisees were known for their greed and used religion to make money. Jesus is not condemning wealth here, but condemning the idol of wealth. If we put all of our hope in money, we will either be let down or led to more worldly wealth, and neither of these outcomes will ever truly satisfy us because our deepest longings are not satisfied by material things. We can only find true hope and internal peace from worshiping an all-powerful and all-good God.

In the Bible, “the heart refers to the center of one’s being, involving one’s emotions, reason, and will.”4 When Jesus says our eyes should be filled with light, he pleads with us to set our eyes on himself instead of the world (Hebrews 12:2).

Think about the main ways you spend your money. What does this tell you about where your heart is?

How can you use your money to bless others instead of yourself?