September 3, 2023
Matthew 6:24-33

The title of the sermon is “Anxiety Free Days, pt 2.”

We have been in Matthew almost five months being instructed by Jesus. Lastly, we were taught by Jesus to pray for daily bread among others things in the Model Prayer. And now in this passage, we shall continue to be instructed by our Lord about money and investments and the related truths that should govern our lives. Jesus uses compares and contrasts and illustrations here to focus the Church’s attention and actions on how to make our effort count by living lives of dependence and having a life focused on serving God. But we must take note and apply with careful consideration Jesus’ instructions here to live properly in the kingdom and be useful to God. ¶ Here Jesus is teaching us that living in the kingdom is not just living by a simply daily checkbox of Bible reading and public prayer “followed by relative indifference to kingdoms norms.” But instead, kingdom life involves the changing of our minds that gives up our will and actions in a desire for the greater will of God. ¶ The second half of Matthew 6, bolsters what has been taught before and takes us steps further into the will, wisdom and knowledge of God as Jesus commands His disciples to not only “shun hypocrisy” in Christian duty, but, “more positively,” progress into an “embracing” of these kingdom rules and values. (Carson, The Sermon …, 75)

Jesus draws a distinct line in the sand so to speak in verse 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.

• Jesus here shifted from what happens to the storing of money here to what happens to us if we do that.
• 24 “No one can serve two masters,
  • The ESV and others’ choice of “serve” is not strong enough here. The Greek verb δουλεύω (phonic: do-lu-O) is literally “slave.” So better is the rendering of “No one can “slave” for two masters.” The verb “slave” is more accurate and was chosen by only five of the 33 English translations that I checked. (Hart, HCSB, CEV, GNT, NRSV).
  • So to make sure we understand this passage well, we must remind ourselves what slavery looked like in antiquity. First, the slave had absolutely no rights of his own and his master had complete control over his life. “In the eyes of the law the slave was a living tool.” Second, “a slave had literally no time which was his own. Every moment of his life belonged to his master.” (Barclay) Therefore, it was impossible to work for two masters of a slave; because “single ownership and fulltime service are of the essence of slavery.”[673, Tasker, p. 76]
  • So here, Jesus explains that disciples must slave for God and He was to be their singular focus. >>
  • One could say that here, The God has given us a “Non-compete clause.”
• So what happens if a slave in this context TRIES to work for two masters?
  • for either he will hate the one and love the other,
    • Here we see that any attempt towards duel affections may lead to mixed affections.
    • Love must flow out of our lives. Love God with everything in us and love people as ourselves is the standard.
    • It’s important to learn here: an attempt at dualistic slaving may cause part of our actions to not meet the standard of love. Part of our life --perhaps major portions of it-- will be marked by sin.
  • I use may here because of the conjunction “or”
    • or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
    • Here we see that any attempt towards duel affections may lead to mixed commitments.
    • Devoted to one and despise one. Gk. for “despise” = to disdain, think little or nothing of (Thayer)
    • If one is slaving for money, one’s view of God may be improper.
  • One or the other is certain. If we slave to money we may end up not loving God properly or we may end up having disdain for Him. ONE OR THE OTHER.
• Jesus then makes an emphatic, succinct conclusion: You cannot [slave to] God and money.
  God will be thought little of if He is thought of at all; He will be despised and shown disdain.
  • Jesus has especially taught against placing hope in money here in His Sermon on the Mount. We covered that in detail. The place does nothing put destroy earthly wealth. Jesus contrasted heavenly wealth in the earlier part of the sermon.
• But the passage here is most likely much broader than just money. The clue comes from checking other translations.
  • In the KJV and 13 others, one would read something like, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is the English transliteration of the Gk. word mam-mO-nas (phonic).
  • These translators chose to keep “mammon” because its original meaning was much broader than just wealth. It only later took on the primary definition of wealth because that seems to be the main competitor to our Christian faith.
  • The word originates from Aramaic (or Chaldean) origin (the common language in Israel in Jesus’ day) = meaning "confidence"³ or “trusted” (Thayer).
  • So the better rendering is, You cannot slave for God and confidence. Wow.
  • We cannot slave for any other “confidence” in any other context other than God. Our trust and confidence in God must be unopposed.

APPLICATIONS

• When interpreting passages on Christians’ money, assets, bunkers and other confidences, one should be prepared and know that one will always find interpretations that point down the road for application. Do I have a million dollars in assets? Well surely I am not slaving for money. “This passage is for someone else” they will say. The guy with 5 million in assets says its for the guy slaving for the 10 million and so on. People want to apply themselves out of applications of these passages.
• There is no specific dollar amount tied to the idea whatsoever.
• You can’t slave for God and any other thing. That is the application.
• Others will apply it even worst. Barclay’s unfortunate writings, related to this section of Scripture, inject his own narrow opinions into the application of the text. His interpretation vented about mostly ill gotten gains of the English’s business barrens and their exploiting of post-Victorian adults and children for ill-gotten gains. COMMENT
• That’s often what we do. We say, What Jesus is teaching on doesn’t involve me and my assets, its someone else’s wealth that is in view. It involves that wicked unbeliever or exploitative business man. Anyone but me.
  • One of the biggest places of misplaced hope for humanity has always been in assets. And Utley said it best, “The tragedy of money is that we never have enough and soon it possesses us instead of us possessing it. The more we have, the more we are worried about losing it, and thereby, we are consumed with protecting it.”
  • Living our lives for money and assets tears our relationship to God down.
  • Anything –especially money– can become an idol.⁴ We must be cautious regarding money as Christians. >>
• Remember, Paul pointed out the high cost of money crave when he wrote to young Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:10. It reads, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (CSB)
  • You want grief? Keep craving more money and you’ll have grief.
  • You want you faith weakened? Keep craving more money and you’ll have your faith weakened.
  • The Word of God will prove itself to us clearly, either through observation and application or through the school of hard knocks. >>
• Another great quote is from France, "materialism is in inevitable conflict with the kingship of God."¹ REPEAT (France, The Gospel …, 263)
  • “We should not live lives that slave to things!” It’s one thing to say, “Amen!” But materialism has a gangrene creep to it. It has a way of creeping back in to our priorities.
  • "It is wrong, therefore, for a disciple to fret (“be worried”) about such things. “He or she should simply trust and obey God, and get on with fulfilling one’s divinely revealed calling in life, namely, following God single-mindedly.” (Constable)
• We must not forget the passage is preached to an audience of faith. And one sees no qualifier to “confidence.”
  • People of faith should have the utmost confidence in God and in nothing else. In the person of Jesus, God incarnate, we find our true value, provisions, and care.

“WHAT ABOUTS”

• What about savings accounts?
• What about preparing for a nursing home, etc.?
• What about preparing for if I’m injured or have a heart attack and I can’t work?
• What about …,? What about …? What about …?
• Look, Jesus left us with no checklist here.
• I cannot answer all of these things for you I would say. We need to evaluate where is our confidence?
  • I know as Christians, God will take care of us.
  • I know if we are devoted to money it will ultimately let us down.
  • I know we should store up our treasure in heaven. If you store it up on earth your heart will be here with it.
  • I know to be God’s slave is the highest goal of discipleship. One cannot slave to God and another other confidence.
  • These are the things I know.

JESUS GAVE THE APPLICATION

Verse 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.

• NOTE: Although greed and ego could play roles in wanting to store up money, those are not given treatment here. What is given treatment is storing up assets –in this context– comes from anxiety about the future.
• Since it is impossible to slave to God and any other confidence, Jesus explained to His audience that they should not be anxious about even the basics of life.
• Jesus asked the next important, rhetorical question to His audience. A lesser to the greater question in v 25b. Look at it, Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
• Jesus points His audiences’ attention to the greater part of life; the life outside of a full belly and protected skin.
• Jesus’s points to the truth that His audience needed to stop living with a focus on the small needs of sustenance and enlarge their vision! >>
• Jesus asks a rhetorical question to drive His main point home in this section: God is going to take care of our needs, focus on life that is more than that. Focus on the spiritual life, the things that really matter was Jesus’ message.

APPLICATION

• Anxiety’s eye is always in the future not the present. We are called to live in the moments for Christ, not trying to set ourselves up assets and cash for any and all life’s potential problems.
• Anxiety keeps us from living in the here and now. When we trust God for our future we help unleash our life’s potential for the work of God in our moments.
• When I’m consumed with my 401k and “cripto” account I cannot be free from anxiety.
• We cannot live in devotion to God and in the kingdom life worried about even necessities of food and clothing much less every possible problem the world may throw at us.
• We find life that when we turn over the cares of the future over to God and focus on being used of God.
• If we are not focused on living for God alone in the details of life we will end up living for sin. We reap from those poor choices anxiety, worry and doubt. Where there could have been life and love and trust in God we find life killing death instead.
• By contrast, if you have given your future over to God, you will find the fulfilling life you crave. For Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6a). He came that we might have life and “have it abundantly” (John 10:10b)

JESUS ILLUSTRATES AND PROVES HIS TRUTHS THROUGH NATURE

• Verse 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?
  • “If we fret constantly about having enough food and clothing, we show that we have not yet learned a very basic lesson that nature teaches us: God provides for His creatures’ needs.” (Constable)
  • Another argument from the lesser to the greater: birds have value. We have more value.
• Jesus’ audience is given another illustration. In this one Jesus speaks to man’s helplessness to change very small things. 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
  • We cannot control even small event of our life.
  • Let’s interact with the math of this for a minute. Life expectancy in the US is currently 76 years.⁶ So we live on average for 666,216 hours. We can’t add even an hour to that total Just for grins, the percentage of one hour to an average life is 0.0000015 of one percent. This is beyond minuscule --save in the study of atoms.
  • I know watching the Church during the early months of Covid were telling. I saw two distinct people groups: one that was trusting in God and another that was not.
  • Do you believe that the hour of your death is known and set by God?
  • If God takes us to His presence with Covid, car wreck, or cardiac arrest what difference does it make. Where’s your control? Let’s live the life in front of us by faith and trust God.

Jesus’ audience is given another illustration. This one speaks to God’s extravagance of provisions. Verse 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?

• With this illustration, Jesus’ points to the problem of His audience. Verse
• Where there is any anxiety there is a lack of faith. This is sin.
• Hebrews 11:6 is helpful here, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

APPLICATION

• Don’t be anxious about daily necessities. 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Why 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
  • Jesus knows us well; does He not? The prayer for “daily bread” should be enough for an obedient people. But He knows us intimately and most Christians have at least some common anxieties and fears even though we should not.
  • So Jesus makes things pointed. Gentiles in this context means unbelievers. When you even worry about food and clothing you are acting like unbelievers.
  • Unbelievers are worried if they will have enough food. People of faith are instructed to approach life differently.
• Don’t be anxious about the future’s problems. We have today problems. Verse 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
  • Therefore is there to tie what Jesus is teaching here to what he just taught. Since we are not to worry about today’s food. Therefore we are not to worry about tomorrow’s problems.
  • Often, what keeps us from being used of God is our anxiety of the future, all of the “what ifs” are crippling to a spiritual life.
  • Christian hand wringing has torn down much of the Church’s witness.
  • LOOK AT HOW WE ARE: God has our future secure! What if, what if, what if? Our testimony is undercut by our consistent nail-biting.
  • We are to expect trouble each day and deal with it as Christ would through His equipping as it comes.
• What about the fact that some believers have starved to death and those that are martyred?
  • Turn to Philippians 4:10-13, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
  • Here Paul was glad that the Church at Philippi wanted to help with his physical needs. But Paul also told them that he had learned the secret: he is able to endure hunger, and all other suffering and hardship, with Jesus’ equipping help.
  • Instead of potentially learning this secret, we often don’t want any part of that experience with the Lord.
• Turn to Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
  • The hardest question of these support passages is, Are we willing to trust Jesus with our lives, in martyred? How about in nakedness?
  • Generally God will clothe everyone better than the fields. But there are times where His people go naked. He allows those times.
  • We are to have faith not anxiety about our future. The future may bring hardship. So what. God has dealt with His people’ biggest issue and has granted us eternal life no matter how things turn our here.
• “The primary idea of faith is trust.” >> [682, Hodge, 3:43]
• We can trust God. Trust Him.
  • When we refuse to trust God, we doubt His love or power or both.
  • Has God not taken care of His people? Barclay wrote, “The man who feeds his heart on the record of what God has done in the past will never worry about the future.”[683, Barclay, 1:263]
  • Fear Not

Last point, verse 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

• You know what the Christian life boils down to? Make the next right decision. Right here, right now is what matters.
• When we focus on living in the moment for God, instead of worrying about the real and much more often imagined boogie man, we will live in righteousness instead of anxiety and worry.

Notes

^{Notes from above may not be in numerical order.}

¹ In his footnote ³⁴ France noted, “A version of this saying appears in Gos. Thom. 47, as part of a series of statements of incompatibility …”

² Schmidt wrote, "To stand still because the end is so far away is to miss the point of discipleship as a journey. Most of us could travel a considerable distance on the road before anyone suspected us of extreme obedience."Quote from Blomberg’s footnote ⁸⁴ on p 127: “T. E. Schmidt (“Burden, Barrier, Blasphemy: Wealth in Matt 6:33, Luke 14:33, and Luke 16:15.” TrinJ n.s. 9 [1988].)”

³ See Blueletter: μαμωνᾶς, also Thayer and Carson in The Sermon …, 81.

⁴ Carson wrote, “Attempts at divided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to discipleship, but deep-seated commitment to idolatry.”[674]

⁵ “Here, then, is our relationship to God. In regard to God we have no rights of our own; God must be undisputed master of our lives. We can never ask, “What do I wish to do?” We must always ask, “What does God wish me to do?” We have no time which is our own. We cannot sometimes say, “I will do what God wishes me to do,” and, at other times, say, “I will do what I like.” The Christian has no time off from being a Christian; there is no time when he can relax his Christian standards, as if he was off duty. A partial or a spasmodic service of God is not enough. Being a Christian is a whole-time job. Nowhere in the Bible is the exclusive service which God demands more clearly set forth.” (Barclay)

⁶ “Life Expectancy in the U.S. Dropped for the Second Year in a Row in 2021.” Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention, cdc.gov, accessed Sept. 2, 2023.

Works Cited

Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Click here to access the works cited web-page for this document, save those marked as “Notes” or “Other Works Cited”–if any. Most of these cited works correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of general background information and references, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with. ¶ Furthermore, there may be numbered notes that are URL linked; these are usually retained numbered notes from Thomas Constable’s, “Dr. Constable’s Expository (Bible Study) Notes.” These links are preserved “as is” at the time of this work’s formation and I usually include other citation information from Constable as well (e.g. authors’ names).

Other Works Cited

Note: All of the resources below were cited in at least one of the sermons in the Book of Matthew but not necessarily this one.

Augsburger, David. Dissident Discipleship. Brazos Press, 2006.

Blomberg, Craig L. Matthew. New American Commentary, vol. 22, ed. David S. Dockery, et al., Broadman Press, 1992. May be sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/matthew0000blom

________. Preaching the Parables: From Responsible Interpretation to Powerful Proclamation. Baker Academic, 2004. Sourced from archive.org.
(https://archive.org/details/preachingparable0000blom/page/82/mode/1up)

Bruce, Alexander Balmain. The Training of the Twelve. Ed., A.C. Armstrong and Son, reprint 1984, Kregel Publications, 1971 edition.

Carson, D. A. The Sermon on the Mount : an Evangelical of Matthew 5-7 Exposition. 1978, Baker Book House, fifth printing, 1989. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/sermononmounteva0000cars/page/54/mode/1up

_______. When Jesus confronts the world : an exposition of Matthew 8-10. Originally published by Inter-Varsity Press in 1988, Paternoster, 1995. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/whenjesusconfron0000cars/page/n3/mode/1up

Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Our Daily Bread Publishing, web ver.

Davies, W. D. and Dale C. Allison, Jr. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. T. & T. Clark, 1988. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/criticalexegetic0001davi/page/n7/mode/1up

Evans, Craig A. The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: Matthew-Luke. Victor, 2003. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/bibleknowledgeba00crai/mode/1up

France, R. T. The Gospel According to Matthew. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1985.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthew0000fran/page/n6/mode/1up

Harrington, Daniel J . The Gospel of Matthew. Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 1, A Michael Glazier Book, Liturgical Press (publ.), 1991. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthew0000harr/mode/1up

Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke. Baker Book House, 1984.

Phillips, John. Exploring the Gospels: John. Loizeaux Brothers, 1988.

Plumptre, E. H. “Matthew.” Commentary for English Readers, Charles John Ellicott, Compiler/Editor, Lord Bishop of Gloucester Cassell and Company, Limited, 1905. Sourced from BiblePortal.com. Click here for a list of the authors of the CER.

Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Zondervan, 1995.

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