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Matthew 6:19-34
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust1 destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.2
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?3 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
[1] 6:19
[2] 6:24
[3] 6:27
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
You're now from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 through 34. Is the words of Jesus Christ. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rot moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body.
Speaker 1:So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light is in you if if then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve 2 masters, for 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 God and money.
Speaker 1:Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious 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? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Speaker 1:And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Speaker 1:But if god so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Speaker 1:Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Collin Hansen:Lord, we thank you, for your word. Thank you for this time to come together and to worship you. I pray that you would teach us through your spirit tonight. Or as we just confess together, we we need you every hour. And in this hour, we pray that you would lead us by your spirit, that you would teach us, that you would confront us with the truth of who you are and who you have called us to be in light of that.
Collin Hansen:So, Lord, we we listen now, and we beg you to speak. We pray these things in and for the name of Christ here and around the world. Amen. Hey, everybody. So a couple of weeks ago, I went up to Kentucky.
Collin Hansen:I went up there to see some friends and, and on the drive, I got the idea that I I'd need to stop off at this place, just outside of Bardstown. It's a place I'd been before. It's called the Abbey of Gethsemane. It's, it's a monastery. You know, one of those places that most people go just to hang out.
Collin Hansen:I actually went there on spring break a couple of years ago, also a usual destination for spring break, I know. But but I went out there a couple of years ago, and I, and I wanted to stop off again. And so, I took the detour a little bit and went off on all these, kind of one lane roads. And and then all of a sudden, I ended up, at at the Abbey. And I was so excited.
Collin Hansen:I had, I had the music kind of blaring as I was driving, and I turned into the parking lot there and, and, shut off the ignition and opened the door rather quickly. So engine off, door open. And I was stunned by how quiet it was out there. Now, I've been driving for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, off of the highway into the middle of nowhere. So I should have expected it, but but I got out there and and it, it was just so startlingly quiet at the abbey.
Collin Hansen:And, and at the Abbey, there's this one monk in particular that he's a poet. And, and he, for, like, the last 30 years, has been dragging this mat out from behind this, barn. And he drags the mat out every night. And he takes maybe a couple of blankets and stuff, but I'm not sure if you've been to Kentucky. They, they have seasons that are normal, where, you know, winter is wintry, summer isn't the depths of Hades.
Collin Hansen:Like it's, it's kind of, it's, it's normal. It's what you would expect from, from seasons. So in in the summer, it's warm, but but then in the winter, it it gets very cold, lot lots of snow. And he sleeps on this little mat outside every night. Now, he does that, he says, to break a cycle.
Collin Hansen:See, he says that that in in the world that he lived in before entering into the monastery, that who he was, that his his identity was so wrapped up in what he did, what he was just able to accomplish in the world. And and he talks about how living this deliberate life without is him trying to participate in this breaking of the cycle. Now Jesus teaches us a way to break the cycle in the Sermon on the Mount. He talks about how we are to be living differently when we follow him. And so over the next couple of weeks, and and not all from the Sermon on the Mount, but from from a couple of different places in scripture, we're going to look at spiritual disciplines.
Collin Hansen:And we're going to look at these things that help us break the cycle that's around us. That's so easy to become a part of, to enter into, and to think that we are our jobs, that we are, we, we build our identity on the, on the things that we possess and the things that we own or how we spend our time, that we can build up our identity on anything other than Christ himself. And so we're gonna look at these disciplines, this intentional living, Because Christ has broken the cycle for us, but we get to enter into living a life out of the cycle. And so tonight, tonight, our first spiritual discipline that we're gonna be looking at is simplicity. Now, it's it's a rather vague discipline.
Collin Hansen:How do we practice simplicity in our lives? And so that's why we're gonna turn and we're gonna we're gonna linger more, towards the end of this chapter 6. But, we will begin with verse 19. Verse 19 chapter 6, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart will be also.
Collin Hansen:See, Jesus lays out 3 different things, 3 different arguments, for treasures in heaven versus treasures on earth. So so there are 2 different kinds of treasures, he says. 2 different kinds of treasures. Treasures on earth and treasures in heaven. Okay?
Collin Hansen:Step 1. Alright. And and then he he moves into this argument. Why should you pursue the treasures in heaven over the treasures of the earth? 1st, the treasures on earth decay.
Collin Hansen:They they fall apart, they rust or moths will eat them. See, these things will decay over time. I I mean, all really, unless you're driving one of those awesome classic cars out there, your car is going to end up probably just in a junkyard, you know, sold for scraps. I mean, unless you have just one of those cars that, you know, someone is going to want to, to get a piece of at some point and and and put it in in their classic car or car to, that's probably not going to happen. I mean, the the lot's not that impressive.
Collin Hansen:So, you know, we, so we, we have to recognize that that these things that we want I've got a I've got a junk drawer at home with old cell phones in it. You know, phones that, like, at the time, I was like, I can't wait to get the and and I don't even I mean, how many g's are we into now? I just it's it's ridiculous. Like these things that we think are so important, so valuable, and we get wrapped up in, they decay and they fall apart. I don't know how many Ipods I've had, but like, there's a stack of ones that don't even work anymore, but I don't know how to throw them away because I'm pretty sure that that some kind of chemical in there and it's going to hurt the environment.
Collin Hansen:Anyway, these things that just capture our attention They decay, they fall apart, moths will eat them. And ladies, I'm sure that like the the dress that you just really needed for prom, you know, the dress that's like in the very back of the closet at your parents' house that you haven't seen in 10 years, that, that dress, those things that we just, we think that, Oh, if I, if I just, if I get that and then we forget about them and moths and rust decay happens. First off, everything will decay. The second argument, it can be taken from you. The things that you think are so important that you build your identity around someone can take it, and where are you left?
Collin Hansen:Where are you left if your possessions are gone? If that is where you've been building your identity. What do you have? The third thing, they're temporary. You know, that that that these things will just go away.
Collin Hansen:That the the earth itself, that these things will will will pass away. It's temporary. So it will decay, it can be taken from you, and it's temporary. There's a biblical scholar. His last name is Allison.
Collin Hansen:He says, with this argument, decay, theft, and how temporary these things are. Only unabashed materialism will go against this argument. Only your outright desire to just have will go against this logic. It's it's it's too it's too airtight. It makes too much sense.
Collin Hansen:It's only your unabashed materialism that will defy this kind of logic. And and then he moves into another statement Jesus does in in verse 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart heart will be also. I mean, there's a power in this treasure that that our hearts will follow it. Wherever that is going, our attention, our affection will go where these things are.
Collin Hansen:These things that they decay and can be taken from you. That's where your heart goes. But rather, we can store up treasures that do not decay, that cannot be taken from us, that will not perish, are not temporary, but are in heaven. Jesus says there are there are 2 kinds of treasures. Seek the treasures in heaven.
Collin Hansen:Next, he moves to 2 2 different kinds of eyes in verse 22. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light is in you they thought of the eye in ancient times.
Collin Hansen:And, and some of it still persists today that you might've heard the phrase that the light in his eyes went out, he's getting to the point that that if the eye is bad, if from the lampstand of the eye, there is darkness, how great a darkness. The workers in the field and the master. The guys come in at different times and he pays them how he pleases. And Jesus in the voice of the master says to the to the worker who is angry but the master is being so generous. He says, is your eye bad?
Collin Hansen:Do you begrudge me? See, there's this tie to the bad eye, the unhealthy eye to selfishness. See, the eye is bad towards the master because he is being generous. And so Jesus brings about this image of if you are looking at others with generosity, that how great is that light. But if you are looking, if your eye is dark, then how dark is that darkness in inside of you?
Collin Hansen:How selfish is that selfishness inside of you? There are 2 kinds of eyes, the healthy eye, the eye of generosity, and the eye of darkness and selfishness. Then he moves in verse 24 to 2 different kinds of masters. No one can serve 2 masters, for 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 god and money.
Collin Hansen:Two different kinds of masters. You will, you will despise 1. You will hate 1 and you will be devoted to and love the other. He gives this binary choice, these two different options, and he says you can't do both. Different options.
Collin Hansen:And so he divides. There are 2 masters. You will serve 1. You can you can think that you have 2 masters. You can talk like you have 2 masters, but you will serve and love 1.
Collin Hansen:So the 2 kinds of treasure, the 2 different eyes, and the 2 masters. He's building he's building this argument. He's building this vision of what it means progression in the story. And, and I know that some of these verses, like you, you've heard them before, they're kind of those classic Jesus stories. You know, the statements of Jesus, they're just like, serve God or money.
Collin Hansen:If you choose 1. Like it's so those classic things. And we can even say like, oh, that's good. I have, I, I agree with that. Like, you do only serve 1 or, you know, treasures in heaven.
Collin Hansen:That sounds better. Like we, we can, we can affirm these things or agree with him, but agreeing with these things and living these things are very different. And then he moves into something that's very important. Anxiety. Verse 25.
Collin Hansen:Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. What you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.
Collin Hansen:No notice that that just gentle sovereignty that he points out there About the birds of the air. Your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing?
Collin Hansen:Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith.
Collin Hansen:Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. See, he he he makes this argument there about creation and the creator.
Collin Hansen:The lilies, the birds, the grass of the field, the one who created all of these things, he knows what they need, and he cares for them. So he draws that connection, creator, creation, and care. He's caring for these things. And if he does that, for that creation, remember that you are his creation and that he cares for you. How much more will he care for you, he says.
Collin Hansen:See, we we we have to we have to draw that connection between our anxieties and our father's care. The anxiety that we have and the father's care for his children. Now there's something that he's done here. He's he's shown us in these two different things also that there are 2 different kinds of anxiety. That there is an anxiety that comes from seeking the kingdom of God and an anxiety that comes from seeking the kingdom of me.
Collin Hansen:See, different anxieties come out of that. When I'm seeking the angst the the kingdom of me, the kingdom of self, I will be worried that, that my possessions will decay. That the things that I own, the things I build my identity on will be taken from me. They will be stolen. That that things could change tomorrow.
Collin Hansen:Things might be okay right now, but but what about tomorrow? What about next week? What about next year? What about our plan? What about our 5 year plan?
Collin Hansen:Our 2 year plan? What about what about tomorrow? There, there is anxiety that comes from seeking my kingdom. And then there is anxiety that comes from seeking the kingdom of God. So so we need we need to see as he's as he's making this progression here, that there there there's a a really important truth to be found.
Collin Hansen:And that is that when we are seeking the kingdom of God, we are inviting anxieties into our life. When we seek the kingdom of God, we are inviting anxiety into our lives. How? Okay. If we do these three things that he just outlined, if we store treasures in heaven and not on earth, if we have healthy eyes, eyes of light, generous eyes, giving to those that are in need.
Collin Hansen:And if we serve God and not wealth, if we pursue him and not wealth and status. And and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and Let's just say, you know, baseline example. You have food, someone needs food, you are obedient to be generous. What are you gonna eat? Right?
Collin Hansen:And so what he's saying is when we are called into this, when we do these things, when we follow him and we live sacrificially, where we are seeking treasures in heaven, not on earth, where we are storing up riches there, not here. When we are living generously with eyes that look out with compassion and generosity, When we live like that, serving him and not wealth and status, we are inviting anxieties into our hearts and minds and life. But these anxieties, our king can take on. You see, when we seek the kingdom, we invite anxieties that our king can handle. And only our king can handle.
Collin Hansen:Because if you're still left with, okay, so I gave it away and, and, I was living sacrificially, and then Right? And that's when he says, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. A very important word that sometimes can be overlooked here is first. Seek first the kingdom. See, we don't, we don't seek the kingdom accidentally.
Collin Hansen:We don't seek the kingdom while we're seeking other things. It's not just a hodgepodge of of desires and passions. We seek first the kingdom. Kierkegaard said this, if we do not seek the kingdom first, It's a big statement. He said a lot of big statements.
Collin Hansen:He was kind of an intense guy. One of my favorites, the the problem with Christians today is that no one wants to kill him anymore. He was an intense guy, okay? But but but latch onto that idea. If we do not seek the kingdom first, we will not seek it at all.
Collin Hansen:Which then drives us into that question. Well, how do I how do I seek it? Okay. Alright. And CareGuard uses this example.
Collin Hansen:So I should get into some position of power and status, something like that, and then, and then help people. I should, I should get somewhere a powerful position, and then do good kingdom things. Right? He says, no. Okay.
Collin Hansen:Then I take all of my possessions, I take all of my wealth, everything that I have, and I give it to the poor. That's seeking the kingdom first. Right? Of course. No.
Collin Hansen:He says this, but does this then mean in a sense that that there is nothing for me to do? Quite right. There is in a sense nothing. In a very deepest sense, you are making yourself nothing. To become nothing before God, to learn to keep silent.
Collin Hansen:And it is in this silence that you begin to seek what must come first, the very kingdom of God. Seeking the kingdom and his righteousness is seeking the king. And because his kingdom is an extension of the king, his authority, his power, his justice, all of that. When we seek the kingdom, we are seeking the king. And in so doing, these anxieties, this paralyzing fear of tomorrow passes away.
Collin Hansen:He says this in verse 34, therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. For tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Is that good news? I mean, really?
Collin Hansen:Is that, is that gospel? Is that like sufficient for the day? Is all the trouble that you've got today? Continually, like, like over and over and over again. Like every new day we enter into a new day of trouble.
Collin Hansen:How is that good news? See, but but what he sets before us And It's not it's not this annual project. It's not a 10 year project. It's not this this big lifetime project that you need to course your way and and how you're gonna get through all of this. It is daily waking up and seeking the kingdom first.
Collin Hansen:Every day, Jess and I wake up, and there's one thing that has to happen 1st. June needs to eat. That like that has to happen. And if we're like, you know what? We've been doing this first for a while.
Collin Hansen:I've got an idea. Let's do that later. It's not it's just not gonna it's not gonna work. It's not gonna happen. We wake up and she eats.
Collin Hansen:Some of us need to start treating our seeking of the kingdom like that. Like, like that there is nothing else for you to do at all before you begin your day in seeking the kingdom. Because that will be the only way that you will see your king take on your anxiety. And what is also stated in that that daily sufficient for the day is its own trouble Is that there's trouble. See, I can stand up here very confidently knowing that like this this isn't I'm not talking about things that you that are foreign to you.
Collin Hansen:Like, what what like, what is a hard day again? What what's anxiety again? It's been so long since I felt any anxiety. I don't even know what he's talking about. There's nobody here.
Collin Hansen:And so this very real, very present anxiety is to be dealt with by our king as he breaks the cycle that you are what you own. There's there's that classic line, So I've always thought that's a good one. You know, but but we we have to own up to the fact that we do these things. We We have to own up that that these anxieties come from seeking the kingdom of self, and and some of these anxieties come from seeking the kingdom of God. And you you need to know what's what in your life.
Collin Hansen:The anxieties and the troubles that you have today, you need to know if those are from seeking the kingdom of self or the kingdom of God. And in that, you know how to approach your king. And you approach your king laying before him as, as nothing, as, as expecting nothing and then receiving his great mercy and grace. See, he is not an elusive king. He's not in hiding.
Collin Hansen:He's not waiting for you to just figure it out and start being a better you. He is he is present. And also knowing that as you fail at these things, as you enter back into the cycle, or as you seek the kingdom of self, The Christ is your righteousness. Christ is your holiness. We sang that just a little while ago.
Collin Hansen:Your holiness and your righteousness is Christ. And the freedom that you have to not be full of the anxiety of tomorrow was bought with his blood. And if you do not know that blood, if you do not know that freedom, it is found only in our king. It is found only in Christ. It is only the citizens of the kingdom that have the freedom from the worry and the anxiety of the next day.
Collin Hansen:And many of the battles that you are facing right now are next day battles. Worries and fears about what will come tomorrow. What decay, what theft, what will fade tomorrow. When there is an everlasting kingdom and an everlasting king, who cares for you? That that's that's how we get verses like Philippians 4 6, do not worry about anything.
Collin Hansen:1st Peter 5, cast all your anxieties upon him for he cares for you. Connecting our anxiety and his love for you. So we need to ask these questions. What are you worried about? Is it from seeking your kingdom or God's kingdom?
Collin Hansen:And do you trust your king to conquer it? Do you really think that Jesus can actually take on these anxieties and these fears that you have next day fears, next week fears, and so on. Is your king Abel? His word and spirit testify, yes. Will you live like that?
Collin Hansen:See, when we forget the kingdom and seeking the kingdom, we are forgetting God himself. And when we forget God himself, Kierkegaard says this, when we forget God himself, we steal our entire existence. So you see that that that's that's when you lose identity. That that's that's when you that's when you start to lose these things that matter most. And so we seek the kingdom first and his righteousness.
Collin Hansen:And we can do that without without that anxiety and fear of the next day, because our king holds eternity. Let's go to him in prayer. Lord, help us to seek you, to seek you above all other things, to trust you with today and tomorrow. Would help us to serve you, knowing that in our success and our failure in all of these things, Your great mercy, your great grace envelops us. But you have liberated us.
Collin Hansen:You have freed us to live without these worries of tomorrow. Trusting in your kingdom. Lord, help us to trust you. Lord, we thank you for this time, And we thank you that as we look at this discipline of simplicity, our attention and our affections, that that we would take on really this this complex simplicity of seeking the kingdom. That you would be at the forefront of our minds.
Collin Hansen:That you would be at the depths of our hearts. And that we would seek you above all. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.