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MATTHEW - Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!
A Bible Study Course on the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew
PART 2 - Christ teaches and Ministers in Galilee (Matthew 5:1 - 18:35)
A - The Sermon on the Mount: About the Constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:1 - 7:27) -- The First Collection of the Words of Jesus
3. The Victory Over Our Evil Intents (Matthew 6:19 - 7:6)

a) He Who Collects Money for Himself Shall Serve Satan (Matthew 6:19-24)


MATTHEW 6:19-21
19 Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:33-34; Colossians 3:1-2)

Some of the rich gather their treasures with covetousness. They build large houses, wear valuable dresses and increase their riches through devious financial methods. They employ money to multiply their wealth, to become, together with their kindred, powerful clans and overrule others with the might of their properties. Thieves also do not sleep. They, cunningly and deceitfully, try to steal the money of the rich and avoid and disgust honest work. They hide themselves from the light of the day and cheat themselves, similar to the rich, wishing happiness, greatness and celebrity by stealing money or precious goods; but they soon die as other people do and do not enjoy their riches forever.

We should become wise and learn that only laying up our treasure in heaven is safe. It will not decay; moth and rust will not corrupt it, and force and fraud can not deprive us of it. Thieves cannot break in and steal. It is joy above and beyond the changes and chances of time – an inheritance incorruptible and nonperishable.

Where your treasure is, on earth or in heaven, there your heart will be also. We are therefore concerned to be right and wise in the choice of our treasure, because the temper of our minds, and consequently the tenor of our lives, will be accordingly carnal or spiritual, earthly or heavenly. The heart follows the treasure, as the needle follows the loadstone or the sunflower the sun. Where the treasure is there the value and esteem are, there the love and affection are, that way the desires and pursuits go. The Lord will be your treasure and great rewards that you shall be centered in Him with all your intents and thoughts, thus you will become free from the material and the earthly and obtain heavenly treasure.

The poor are not better than the rich are, since they do want to possess what the rich already have. Both of them build their future on the basis of earthly properties. They seldom perceive that their souls are eternal and are in need of spiritual food. Everything is coming to an end except God. Christ’s forgiveness offers greater security for your life than a house made of cement and iron that may be destroyed by bombs and removed by earthquakes. Your faith is more important than your diplomas; your love in the Holy Spirit is more valuable than the amount of credit in your bank. Your service to the needy glorifies God. Your offerings will not increase your treasure in the heavenly bank, since God is your share, and He is the greatest treasure.

Our age has become materialistic. Men are keeping up with the development of economics and modern discoveries, looking forward to welfare, forgetting the Holy God and His Law. The Holy Spirit is not with them and they are being filled with the impure spirit of this world. He who is mostly concerned with earthly profits is in bondage to the spirit of darkness. God created you in His image. Look at Him. Then His glory will be reflected in the glamour of your eyes. But if you turn your eye away from your Lord and aim at money, your desires and impurities will enslave you, and your eye will change into sadness and darkness.

The evils in you do not mean only money and matter, but a spirit working against God as well, which Christ called the unjust “mammon,” which prevails over those who do not continue in God. In fact, he who becomes rich may find many chances of the world open to satisfy his desires. Your mammon inspires you to commit horrible wickedness and adultery. The rich are easily led to corruption and unclean acts. It is a mercy of God that we cannot see what shocking crimes and impurities people commit during one night with their money in our towns. Otherwise, we would have gone out of our minds as a result of seeing such acts. God, on His part, is patient and is able to bear even impure men.

The Lord advises you to come back to Him that He can embrace you and free you from your mammon idol, for you cannot love God and mammon at the same time. Your prayer would become void if you trusted your support of money. You are to trust either God or your riches, for one of them is sought after and preferred by you. Examine yourself and recognize how much time and money you spend to serve God, and how much you spend of them on yourself, your car and your amusement. We are all in temptation to become slaves of mammon. We cheat ourselves more than we know and worship the mammon idol joyfully with trembling hands when we amass such wealth. God helps you to become free from the bondage of money that you shall not be obsessed by it, but shall abide in Christ and His salvation. The Most Holy is a unique treasure for your life, so do not go on seeking to be esteemed in society. Seek a high degree in the service of the Lord, spend on the poor and sacrifice yourself for them as Christ sacrificed Himself for you.

Some believers try to serve both God and mammon. They do not observe that Christ confirmed to them that no one could serve them both. So ask the Lord of glory to help you that you will love Him and that He shall keep you and provide for all your needs. Are you prepared to worship God alone? Or are you still halting between both sides? Resort to Christ who does not crown a divided heart.

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

The eye is the lamp of the body, and the lamp symbolizes the light. The eye is thus the light by which man sees everything. The eye is the mirror by which we can notice the feelings, thoughts and sensations of a man and woman. If they love us, we will see the love in their look. If they hate us, we will sense the hate in their eyes. If one has anger, rage or a grudge in his heart, this will appear in their eyes. If he has feelings of cruelty, aggressiveness or revenge, his eyes will reveal them. Deception appears in his eyes. Pride and arrogance glitter in his eyes as well as jealousy and envy and even disgust, impatience and other feelings.

What then is the meaning of “if your eye is good?” “Good” means as created by God, without the addition of the wrong human sensations, without the addition of spite, craftiness, desire and pride, for with these additions it is not good.

Let us give another example. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, their eyes were pure in the beginning. The tree of knowledge of good and evil was in the midst of the garden (Genesis 3:3). They must have passed by it every day without any trouble, but when the temptation of the serpent was added to their pure eyes that they “shall be as god, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5), the eye was no more pure. Thus “when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired” (Genesis 3:6) everything was completely changed, for the eye has lost its purity. Just as their look at the tree was changed, their look at each other was changed as well.

So when your eye is kind, without any addition of desire, temptation or hidden thoughts, all your body is bright. But when anything else is added to your eye, such as anger or revenge, your features change and your blood pressure increases. Your feelings leave their touch on your body and then your body will look dark.

Repent quickly if you are angry, depressed or in superficial joy! Come back to Jesus. He is the true and guiding light for you and your eyes.

MATTHEW 6:24
24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
(Luke 16:13; James 4:4)

Christ reveals a general saying for us, “No man can serve two masters,” much less two gods, for their commands will some time or another cross or contradict one another. While the two masters go together, a servant may follow them both, but when they part, he will follow one of them. He cannot love and observe and cleave to both, as he should. If to the one, not to the other, either this or that must be comparatively hated and despised.

The word “mammon” mentioned in the original text is a Syriac word that signifies “gain”; so that whatever in this world is, or is accounted by us to be gain, is mammon. Whatever is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, is mammon. To some, ease, sports and pastimes are their mammon – to others their honors and promotions. The praise and applause of men was the Pharisees’ mammon. The sensual, secular self, is the mammon that cannot be served in conjunction with God. For if it be served, it is in competition with Him and in contradiction to Him.

Christ does not say, you “must” not, but you “cannot” serve God and mammon. We cannot love both, or hold to both, or hold both in observance, obedience, attendance, trust and dependence, for they are contrary the one to the other. God says, “My son, give me your heart.” Mammon says, “No, give it me.” God says, “Be content with such things as you have.” Mammon says, “Grasp at as much as you can by fair or by foul means.” God says, “Do not defraud, never lie and be honest and just in your dealings.” Mammon says, “Cheat your own Father, if you can gain by it.” God says, “Be charitable.” Mammon says, “Hold your own: this giving does not help us at all.” God says, “Be careful for nothing.” Mammon says, “Be careful for everything.” God says, “Keep holy your Sabbath or Sunday.” Mammon says, “Make use of that day as well as any other for the world.”

Thus inconsistent are the commands of God and mammon, so that we “cannot” serve both. Let us not compromise between God and Baal, but choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve and abide by your choice.

PRAYER: O Father, we thank You for being patient with us, we materialists. Please forgive us our inclination and love for money. Free us from trusting our possessions. Teach us to love and trust only You to give You everything and gain You, our only treasure and reward in life and eternity. Make us free to give willingly with wisdom to the needy around us.

QUESTION:

  1. Why can we not serve both God and mammon simultaneously?

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