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The following slices of the life of Jesus
occurred somewhere in Jewish Palestine or nearby regions. The gospels
appear to indicate that Jesus had been staying in Peraea on the east
side of the Jordan but had left for parts unknown when warned that
Herod planned to have him arrested. Toward the end of his earthly
ministry – and after the disciples had brought his message to the
towns and villages of Judaea – he became active in Judaea.
A great many people trailed along after Jesus, but he turned and severely warned them: "Anyone who comes to me but heeds his parents instead of me is wasting time. The person who loves a son or daughter more than me is wasting time. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me, is not really my disciple."
Jesus gave them this to chew over:
Speaking of property, Jesus told the following story:
"Think about this: he who is faithful in little is faithful in much. He who is faithless in little is faithless in much. So if you haven't even been trustworthy in worldly affairs, who will entrust you with true riches? And if you can't be trusted with someone else's property, who will give you what belongs to you?"
In this respect, said Jesus, "No one can serve two masters. He inevitably hates one of them and loves the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon."
A great many people trailed along after Jesus, but he turned and severely warned them: "Anyone who comes to me but heeds his parents instead of me is wasting time. The person who loves a son or daughter more than me is wasting time. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me, is not really my disciple."
Jesus gave them this to chew over:
Would any one of you decide to build a tower without first sitting down and reckoning the cost and seeing whether you have the means to accomplish it? Suppose you lay the foundation and then run out of money."In other words," Jesus added, "whoever does not renounce EVERYTHING he has cannot be my disciple."
Everyone would laugh at you. "This man could not finish the project he started."
Or, take another example: What king decides to face another king in war without first speaking with his advisers on whether he should field 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers or whether he should sue for peace before closing with the other king?
Speaking of property, Jesus told the following story:
There was a rich man with a top manager who was accused of squandering the wealth entrusted to him."Here's my point: You'd better use crooked Mammon to make friends so that when that whole system collapses, they may accept you in their eternal shelters.
The wealthy man summoned the manager and said, "What is this I hear? Settle your finances with me. You are finished as my manager!"
The manager said to himself, "What am I going to do? I am too weak to be a laborer and begging is too embarrassing."
Then he hit on a plan. "I know what I will do! I will make sure that the debtors welcome me after I am fired."
The manager then called on one debtor, asking, "How much do you owe?"
"A hundred measures of oil" was the answer.
"I'll tell you what," said the manager. "Pay half and I'll clear your debt."
To another debtor, the manager said, "What do you owe?"
"A hundred measures of wheat" came the reply.
"I'll give you a 20 percent break if you pay up now," the manager said.
The wealthy man commended the crooked manager on his shrewdness.
"Think about this: he who is faithful in little is faithful in much. He who is faithless in little is faithless in much. So if you haven't even been trustworthy in worldly affairs, who will entrust you with true riches? And if you can't be trusted with someone else's property, who will give you what belongs to you?"
In this respect, said Jesus, "No one can serve two masters. He inevitably hates one of them and loves the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon."
Mammon is a name used
for material wealth, a name which connoted the idea of a false god. A
modern way to put this saying is, "You cannot serve both God and the
Almighty Dollar."
We see that Jesus was using homely examples of the way people behave in this fallen world in order to put across concepts that apply to people in need of divine grace – just as he did previously with the story of the prodigal son.
Another point of interest: Judah of Kerioth (Judas Iscariot) used to steal from the Jesus group's communal purse; he was not to be entrusted with the riches of God's kingdom and in fact perished for his treason against God.
Even so, Jesus does not mean that thieves cannot be saved. He is saying that repentance – turning away from worldly sin/wisdom – is necessary if one is to come to God.
Finally, we note that an editor of Luke explained the manager's commendation with the remark that "the sons of this world are in their sphere sharper than the sons of light." As this comment breaks up the flow of the story, it probably was not part of the original saying.
We see that Jesus was using homely examples of the way people behave in this fallen world in order to put across concepts that apply to people in need of divine grace – just as he did previously with the story of the prodigal son.
Another point of interest: Judah of Kerioth (Judas Iscariot) used to steal from the Jesus group's communal purse; he was not to be entrusted with the riches of God's kingdom and in fact perished for his treason against God.
Even so, Jesus does not mean that thieves cannot be saved. He is saying that repentance – turning away from worldly sin/wisdom – is necessary if one is to come to God.
Finally, we note that an editor of Luke explained the manager's commendation with the remark that "the sons of this world are in their sphere sharper than the sons of light." As this comment breaks up the flow of the story, it probably was not part of the original saying.
What the world has to offer isn't worth much, said Jesus. You need not
worry about material things.
One commentary urges caution against any tendency to "absolutize" the saying concerning wealth. On the other hand, let us recall what Jesus told the wealthy young man: "Drop everything, and follow me."
In that passage, Jesus says, "It is harder for a rich man to enter God's kingdom than for a camel [or, possibly, rope] to squeeze through a needle's eye."
Why so? Is it because the overly affluent person hasn't time to heed God, being too busy serving self? Even a kindly rich person will have difficulty in this matter. It is just too easy to pay for what you want. You needn't wait on God and receive his blessing. You can bless yourself too easily. You are blinded to the riches of God by your material wealth. And we Americans must not point fingers. For even the poor among us are materially rich by standards of previous generations. How many poor people can these days fulfill a great many personal wants simply by swiping a debit card? I would say it is especially difficult for modern Americans to experience God's kingdom.
God or Mammon?
As explicit as is this admonition against divided loyalty, a great many Christians do not take it seriously. But here, as elsewhere in the Sermon, Jesus is calling on those who would follow him to fix their eyes on the things of God, in fact to fix their eyes on God (which means emulating Jesus). You may think you love God, but if you are distracted by the pursuit of personal gain, then you are either putting God in the back seat or you keep grabbing the wheel from him, and then handing it back, as you go forward.
Then there are those who feel satisfied with their wealth and attribute it to God's blessing. Perhaps so. Could be. But let us consider the possibility that the pious words are simply rationalizing the money-chase and covering self-indulgence carried out at the price of skimping on God's teaching and work. Those persons show that they have more faith in earthly goods than in heaven's treasure, which in turn implies that they are still rooted in the soil of the world and have not turned to the light.
If God called you to sell everything off, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Jesus -- now being forced to depend totally on him -- would you do it? Not many would be willing, like Abraham, to give up everything when called to do so. Yet that is the appeal Jesus gives to those who follow him. "You don't need anything but me. Be ready to drop everything for my sake." Those still strongly pulled by the bodily self find this call hard to accept.
As the saying goes, people take the road that looks good, not realizing they are on the highway to hell.
Now it could be so that a born-again person who is not as focused as Paul dallies by the roadside and hinders his sojourn by feeding creaturely desires -- even to the point of trying to pile up money. Consider that when Jesus sent the 70 (a symbolic number implying that the group was well chosen) to preach to the Jews all over the Jewish region, he told those disciples to go forth with no money or shoes and to stop and salute no one. That is, he meant: Focus only on the mission I gave you, and don't be sidetracked by taking thought of what you will eat or wear on your journey, or by socializing or otherwise getting tied up in some nonessential human endeavor.
Though some do make a case for having, but not abusing, wealth, note that Jesus and the Twelve disciples had nothing other than what Judah carried about in the common purse. And after the resurrection, the apostles had little or nothing in material goods. The "nation that was born in one day" during the feast of Pentecost existed as a Christian commune before persecution scattered the believers.
Recall Paul's admonition: "The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil." Let us consider that Paul, the author of that quote, would pick up tent-making work rather than bother his new flocks. Sporadic money-making had the sole purpose of helping Paul further his service to God as he went all-out to fulfill the Great Commission. He did not fool around piling up money. He had no time for such trivia. He did not continuously beseech audiences to finance his ministry so that the work of God could be done.
No. Paul would here and there scoop up a bit of cash and let that suffice. God's grace was sufficient for Paul to advance the gospel. No cash cow necessary. Mammon need not be milked. His faith in God was sufficient to ensure that the job got done.
Another point: the love of money was not going to hinder Paul from entering God's kingdom. That born-again man was already in! And he wasn't about to look back toward childish fool's gold!
The only time Paul had much money on him, as far as we know, was when he was carrying a collection he had taken up to aid Christians in Jerusalem. The point is that Paul's material poverty did not slow him down at all. In fact, it very probably speeded him up.
The church at Thessalonica had problems with men who wouldn't pull their weight. Thus the admonition that idle men not be fed. The brothers were urged to a quiet discipline in which each eats his own bread (I take this to mean that no one takes more than his due). So we see that Jesus' high teaching requires wisdom in the application, but that doesn't make his advice of no account. We are to strive to rest easy in Jesus and do our best to accommodate our brothers.
There is another aspect of this issue, however. Think of the person whose poverty stems largely from his dissolute lifestyle. As a result of his wanton ways, not only does he suffer but others do also. Perhaps he has been neglecting his family in order to "party hard."
Finally, he discovers that his way is worthless. He reaches a bottom and calls out to God for help. He begins attending church and letting Jesus light his way.
Yes, surely he must, in his heart, turn over everything to Jesus. But, we may notice that his material prosperity increases because, to paraphrase Paul, he is doing everything properly and in good order (1 Corinthians 14:40). That person should not be criticized for exercising the faith that lifts him out of the Slough of Despond. It is up to him, with great care, to work out his own salvation, to walk his own walk with the Lord (Philippians 2:12).
If your inner light is dark
Jesus is not talking about the physics of light here. He is talking about the spirit within you that, for most of us, connects to this world through the eyes. When a person lets his light shine, people can see the radiance in his eyes. When his mind is polluted, it often shows in the eyes. Or, when your spiritual light is dark, your whole being shows it. But, more important, a person's spirit is his guide, what he uses to navigate through the world. If that spirit is healthy, he can see clearly to do the next right thing (including removing a speck from his brother's eye). But if that spirit is ill, he will be stumbling around in great darkness, even though he doesn't seem to know that.
As Jesus would show as his ministry progressed, both before and after his resurrection, human spirits have become desperately sick and so need resuscitation by being joined with the Spirit of God. That blend means that the born-again person can now see quite well, despite being hobbled by his old nature.
A parallel idea is that the world in which we live is like a deep, dark mine shaft. While down in that mine, we need to have our helmet lights in good working order. Otherwise, we will be in for a miserable and dangerous experience. We need pray to God to keep our helmet lights in good condition while we are down in the mine.
A related idea is the old saying, "The eyes are the windows of the soul." Not only does the soul peek out, but others peer in.
In other words, the saying may be read:
Fallen humanity is spiritually dead. Although in that condition we think we know what we are doing, the truth is that we are lost, stumbling about inside a poorly lit maze of crazy-house mirrors. We are suffering under a strong delusion, following ways that seem right but end badly. Being dead in spirit, we are out of focus, out of tune with God until such time as we receive salvation and new life.
That is, for those whose lamps are dark (=most people), their inner lights are guiding them toward a bitter end.
Once you have the light of God within, Jesus admonishes you to "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your heavenly Father." That light really radiates when you have the Spirit within, who merges with your spirit so that you begin to be in your right mind and able to see clearly and provide light for others.
We ought acknowledge at this point that no one can follow Jesus without God first deciding so. No one can turn to him before God decides he is ready. Even so, we are strongly told that not later, not tomorrow, not next year, not in the next life, but, if you haven't received Christ into your heart, then right now is your time for salvation .... Look! Now is the accepted time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.
It should be evident that this idea of letting your light shine does
not justify a "holier than
thou" attitude: "Oh, look at me. See how good I am being."
The point is that if you give God more than lip service, then you will want to love your neighbor as yourself, you will want to help out others as you go along in life, and hence, you will do friendly things, thus letting your real Christian light shine.
Seek the kingdom, and its righteousness
This saying summarizes much of what Jesus has been stressing. Go for the real gold! The pearl of great price! Don't worry about routine needs! God has your back on that!
Whether the caution "and his [or, its] righteousness" is a reasonable amplification by the writer of Matthew or is an exact quotation of Jesus, that phrase is meant to guard against any tendency to be overly cerebral in pursuing God's kingdom. If you don't have a desire toward God's rightness, you may well end up spinning your wheels. After all, God's kingdom is all about doing right in word, thought and deed, all about a right attitude toward God and your fellow humans.
When, before his resurrection, Jesus spoke of the divine kingdom, that kingdom had not yet arrived with power, with the descent of the Spirit in tongues of fire at the feast of Pentecost, yielding the initial harvest of born-again believers. But, after the resurrection, the Apostle Paul, on fire for the Lord and gushing over with the Spirit, was able to describe God's kingdom succinctly.
To quote Paul:
As John Stott points out, "In the end, just as there are just two kinds of piety, the self-centered and the God-centered, so there are only two kinds of ambition: one can be ambitious either for oneself or for God. There is no third alternative."
Yet how many of us have great difficulty with this challenge? We're like timid swimmers who only get the toes wet, but refuse to plunge in and get moving! I fit into this category. Even worse, having gone in up to my knees, I have fled back to the comfort of the beach (creature comfort).
Let tomorrow take care of itself
Don't be concerned about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Today has enough trouble.
As one writer puts it: "If tomorrow does bring trouble, there will be new grace to meet it."
Though the word "grace" is not attributed to Jesus in the four gospel accounts, it is surely implicit in his doctrine: Don't worry, God will provide -- just as a small child has no idea by what means his daddy provides for him. Not only does God like to surprise us -- as you like to surprise your children with good gifts -- but if you always knew by what means he would provide, how would your faith -- belief, trust -- be built up? Recall old Abraham, with his old wife, believing he would have a son. How? Who knew? God would provide.
Clearly Jesus does not mean don't plan ahead. But the sort of frenzied "planning" spurred by anxiety tends to be not only excessive but even obsessive-compulsive. We have no reason to take thought that way because we ought have the "peace of God that passes all understanding."
In general, Jesus tells us not to worry, because worry is pointless. Further, we might observe that anxiety -- which is an expression of insecurity and fear -- is a major source of evil, or, that is, of sick thinking that leads to sad results. Not only do people often worry themselves sick, but as a result they do sick things (for example, by being rage-aholics) that hurt those around them. Ridden and driven by anxiety, life is a rotten shame, and stays that way.
Sometimes people who worry about their needs (and ego-driven desires) resort to criminal activity. But, we are assured that "never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Those who trust in Jesus don't need to beg, or resort to crime, for their material needs. They don't need to worry about feeding their children either. God has that covered.
The insecurity and rage so common among our sisters and brothers can often be traced, at least in part, to fear of humiliation; some people will kill rather than tolerate humiliation (for example, jealousy is all about fear of humiliation). This very dangerous insecurity is booted right out of the believer's life, as Jesus enters and grants the born-again person the peace of God. As the Christian walks along, he learns that he doesn't have to see ahead in a human way. He steps forward in faith, claiming God's assurances that God will care for him, come what may. Faith is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In other words, true faith is complete confidence in God's promises.
Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.
Instead, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves do not break through and steal.
For where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be.
The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is in good order, then your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, then your whole body will be full of darkness. So then, if the light within you is darkness, how dark it is!
No one can serve two masters. He will hate one and love the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.
Therefore I say to you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat and drink, nor for your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather crops into barns. Yet your Father feeds them. Are you not much more than they?
Which of you, by thinking about it, can add one inch to his height?
And why worry about clothing? Consider how the wildflowers grow; they neither labor nor spin.
But, I am telling you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of them.
So if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and burned up tomorrow, won't he clothe you all the more, oh you of little faith?
So don't worry yourselves by thinking, What will we eat and drink? or, How will we be clothed?
The Gentiles chase after those things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But first seek God's kingdom -- and his righteousness -- and all those things will be added to you.
That is, don't fret about tomorrow. Let tomorrow take care of itself. Today's troubles are enough for one day.
Don't lay up earthly treasures
One commentary urges caution against any tendency to "absolutize" the saying concerning wealth. On the other hand, let us recall what Jesus told the wealthy young man: "Drop everything, and follow me."
In that passage, Jesus says, "It is harder for a rich man to enter God's kingdom than for a camel [or, possibly, rope] to squeeze through a needle's eye."
Why so? Is it because the overly affluent person hasn't time to heed God, being too busy serving self? Even a kindly rich person will have difficulty in this matter. It is just too easy to pay for what you want. You needn't wait on God and receive his blessing. You can bless yourself too easily. You are blinded to the riches of God by your material wealth. And we Americans must not point fingers. For even the poor among us are materially rich by standards of previous generations. How many poor people can these days fulfill a great many personal wants simply by swiping a debit card? I would say it is especially difficult for modern Americans to experience God's kingdom.
God or Mammon?
As explicit as is this admonition against divided loyalty, a great many Christians do not take it seriously. But here, as elsewhere in the Sermon, Jesus is calling on those who would follow him to fix their eyes on the things of God, in fact to fix their eyes on God (which means emulating Jesus). You may think you love God, but if you are distracted by the pursuit of personal gain, then you are either putting God in the back seat or you keep grabbing the wheel from him, and then handing it back, as you go forward.
Then there are those who feel satisfied with their wealth and attribute it to God's blessing. Perhaps so. Could be. But let us consider the possibility that the pious words are simply rationalizing the money-chase and covering self-indulgence carried out at the price of skimping on God's teaching and work. Those persons show that they have more faith in earthly goods than in heaven's treasure, which in turn implies that they are still rooted in the soil of the world and have not turned to the light.
If God called you to sell everything off, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Jesus -- now being forced to depend totally on him -- would you do it? Not many would be willing, like Abraham, to give up everything when called to do so. Yet that is the appeal Jesus gives to those who follow him. "You don't need anything but me. Be ready to drop everything for my sake." Those still strongly pulled by the bodily self find this call hard to accept.
As the saying goes, people take the road that looks good, not realizing they are on the highway to hell.
Now it could be so that a born-again person who is not as focused as Paul dallies by the roadside and hinders his sojourn by feeding creaturely desires -- even to the point of trying to pile up money. Consider that when Jesus sent the 70 (a symbolic number implying that the group was well chosen) to preach to the Jews all over the Jewish region, he told those disciples to go forth with no money or shoes and to stop and salute no one. That is, he meant: Focus only on the mission I gave you, and don't be sidetracked by taking thought of what you will eat or wear on your journey, or by socializing or otherwise getting tied up in some nonessential human endeavor.
Though some do make a case for having, but not abusing, wealth, note that Jesus and the Twelve disciples had nothing other than what Judah carried about in the common purse. And after the resurrection, the apostles had little or nothing in material goods. The "nation that was born in one day" during the feast of Pentecost existed as a Christian commune before persecution scattered the believers.
Recall Paul's admonition: "The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil." Let us consider that Paul, the author of that quote, would pick up tent-making work rather than bother his new flocks. Sporadic money-making had the sole purpose of helping Paul further his service to God as he went all-out to fulfill the Great Commission. He did not fool around piling up money. He had no time for such trivia. He did not continuously beseech audiences to finance his ministry so that the work of God could be done.
No. Paul would here and there scoop up a bit of cash and let that suffice. God's grace was sufficient for Paul to advance the gospel. No cash cow necessary. Mammon need not be milked. His faith in God was sufficient to ensure that the job got done.
Another point: the love of money was not going to hinder Paul from entering God's kingdom. That born-again man was already in! And he wasn't about to look back toward childish fool's gold!
The only time Paul had much money on him, as far as we know, was when he was carrying a collection he had taken up to aid Christians in Jerusalem. The point is that Paul's material poverty did not slow him down at all. In fact, it very probably speeded him up.
The church at Thessalonica had problems with men who wouldn't pull their weight. Thus the admonition that idle men not be fed. The brothers were urged to a quiet discipline in which each eats his own bread (I take this to mean that no one takes more than his due). So we see that Jesus' high teaching requires wisdom in the application, but that doesn't make his advice of no account. We are to strive to rest easy in Jesus and do our best to accommodate our brothers.
There is another aspect of this issue, however. Think of the person whose poverty stems largely from his dissolute lifestyle. As a result of his wanton ways, not only does he suffer but others do also. Perhaps he has been neglecting his family in order to "party hard."
Finally, he discovers that his way is worthless. He reaches a bottom and calls out to God for help. He begins attending church and letting Jesus light his way.
Yes, surely he must, in his heart, turn over everything to Jesus. But, we may notice that his material prosperity increases because, to paraphrase Paul, he is doing everything properly and in good order (1 Corinthians 14:40). That person should not be criticized for exercising the faith that lifts him out of the Slough of Despond. It is up to him, with great care, to work out his own salvation, to walk his own walk with the Lord (Philippians 2:12).
If your inner light is dark
Jesus is not talking about the physics of light here. He is talking about the spirit within you that, for most of us, connects to this world through the eyes. When a person lets his light shine, people can see the radiance in his eyes. When his mind is polluted, it often shows in the eyes. Or, when your spiritual light is dark, your whole being shows it. But, more important, a person's spirit is his guide, what he uses to navigate through the world. If that spirit is healthy, he can see clearly to do the next right thing (including removing a speck from his brother's eye). But if that spirit is ill, he will be stumbling around in great darkness, even though he doesn't seem to know that.
As Jesus would show as his ministry progressed, both before and after his resurrection, human spirits have become desperately sick and so need resuscitation by being joined with the Spirit of God. That blend means that the born-again person can now see quite well, despite being hobbled by his old nature.
A parallel idea is that the world in which we live is like a deep, dark mine shaft. While down in that mine, we need to have our helmet lights in good working order. Otherwise, we will be in for a miserable and dangerous experience. We need pray to God to keep our helmet lights in good condition while we are down in the mine.
A related idea is the old saying, "The eyes are the windows of the soul." Not only does the soul peek out, but others peer in.
In other words, the saying may be read:
The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be radiant, and more important, you will see clearly and function well in the world. But if your eye is diseased not only is your whole body dark, but your whole world is dark. So if your inner light is poor and leaves you in darkness, this is a very grim situation.The light within the person is the spirit that guides him. If that spirit is dark, how can the person see much of anything? What a world he lives in!
Fallen humanity is spiritually dead. Although in that condition we think we know what we are doing, the truth is that we are lost, stumbling about inside a poorly lit maze of crazy-house mirrors. We are suffering under a strong delusion, following ways that seem right but end badly. Being dead in spirit, we are out of focus, out of tune with God until such time as we receive salvation and new life.
That is, for those whose lamps are dark (=most people), their inner lights are guiding them toward a bitter end.
Once you have the light of God within, Jesus admonishes you to "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your heavenly Father." That light really radiates when you have the Spirit within, who merges with your spirit so that you begin to be in your right mind and able to see clearly and provide light for others.
We ought acknowledge at this point that no one can follow Jesus without God first deciding so. No one can turn to him before God decides he is ready. Even so, we are strongly told that not later, not tomorrow, not next year, not in the next life, but, if you haven't received Christ into your heart, then right now is your time for salvation .... Look! Now is the accepted time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.
The point is that if you give God more than lip service, then you will want to love your neighbor as yourself, you will want to help out others as you go along in life, and hence, you will do friendly things, thus letting your real Christian light shine.
Seek the kingdom, and its righteousness
This saying summarizes much of what Jesus has been stressing. Go for the real gold! The pearl of great price! Don't worry about routine needs! God has your back on that!
Whether the caution "and his [or, its] righteousness" is a reasonable amplification by the writer of Matthew or is an exact quotation of Jesus, that phrase is meant to guard against any tendency to be overly cerebral in pursuing God's kingdom. If you don't have a desire toward God's rightness, you may well end up spinning your wheels. After all, God's kingdom is all about doing right in word, thought and deed, all about a right attitude toward God and your fellow humans.
When, before his resurrection, Jesus spoke of the divine kingdom, that kingdom had not yet arrived with power, with the descent of the Spirit in tongues of fire at the feast of Pentecost, yielding the initial harvest of born-again believers. But, after the resurrection, the Apostle Paul, on fire for the Lord and gushing over with the Spirit, was able to describe God's kingdom succinctly.
To quote Paul:
For God's kingdom is not food and drink -- but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.This description applies now in this life as well as in the Millennium and in Paradise.
As John Stott points out, "In the end, just as there are just two kinds of piety, the self-centered and the God-centered, so there are only two kinds of ambition: one can be ambitious either for oneself or for God. There is no third alternative."
Yet how many of us have great difficulty with this challenge? We're like timid swimmers who only get the toes wet, but refuse to plunge in and get moving! I fit into this category. Even worse, having gone in up to my knees, I have fled back to the comfort of the beach (creature comfort).
Let tomorrow take care of itself
Don't be concerned about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Today has enough trouble.
As one writer puts it: "If tomorrow does bring trouble, there will be new grace to meet it."
Though the word "grace" is not attributed to Jesus in the four gospel accounts, it is surely implicit in his doctrine: Don't worry, God will provide -- just as a small child has no idea by what means his daddy provides for him. Not only does God like to surprise us -- as you like to surprise your children with good gifts -- but if you always knew by what means he would provide, how would your faith -- belief, trust -- be built up? Recall old Abraham, with his old wife, believing he would have a son. How? Who knew? God would provide.
Clearly Jesus does not mean don't plan ahead. But the sort of frenzied "planning" spurred by anxiety tends to be not only excessive but even obsessive-compulsive. We have no reason to take thought that way because we ought have the "peace of God that passes all understanding."
In general, Jesus tells us not to worry, because worry is pointless. Further, we might observe that anxiety -- which is an expression of insecurity and fear -- is a major source of evil, or, that is, of sick thinking that leads to sad results. Not only do people often worry themselves sick, but as a result they do sick things (for example, by being rage-aholics) that hurt those around them. Ridden and driven by anxiety, life is a rotten shame, and stays that way.
Sometimes people who worry about their needs (and ego-driven desires) resort to criminal activity. But, we are assured that "never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Those who trust in Jesus don't need to beg, or resort to crime, for their material needs. They don't need to worry about feeding their children either. God has that covered.
The insecurity and rage so common among our sisters and brothers can often be traced, at least in part, to fear of humiliation; some people will kill rather than tolerate humiliation (for example, jealousy is all about fear of humiliation). This very dangerous insecurity is booted right out of the believer's life, as Jesus enters and grants the born-again person the peace of God. As the Christian walks along, he learns that he doesn't have to see ahead in a human way. He steps forward in faith, claiming God's assurances that God will care for him, come what may. Faith is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In other words, true faith is complete confidence in God's promises.
I recall driving on a lonely stretch of a two-lane Texas highway over rolling, but sparsely vegetated hills, on a very dark night. I could not see past the occasional car in front of me, because any opposing headlights were overwhelmed by the lights of the car in front of me. Texans in that area had a custom, I soon learned, of flashing their lights to signal the car behind that it was safe to pass. I had to absolutely trust the judgment of the driver ahead of me! I had to put faith in that driver's ability.That's how it is with faith in God, only more so.
I grant that for those who have not sincerely dedicated themselves to
Jesus, it would probably be imprudent to take no thought of worldly
needs. Such persons are still in the Satan-ruled world. Though God
sends rain to fall on the just and the unjust, those who
have yet to be justified by putting their trust in Jesus are not yet
in God's kingdom and so must suffer the consequences.
Of course, Jesus was not only putting out the word to those who will soon become born-again disciples, but also to the crowds of eavesdroppers, most of whom listened in uncomprehending awe (on account of the miracles he had done). Yet, I suggest, that even years later some of these eavesdroppers would have suddenly grasped something Jesus had said and turned themselves over to his care. In other cases, hearers told friends and relatives some of the interesting, if peculiar, things they remembered and that discussion woke up someone else, who then turned to Jesus the Messiah.
John Calvin's comment is on the mark: "If honor is rated the highest good, then ambition must take charge of a man; if money, then forthwith greed takes over the kingdom; if pleasure, then men will certainly degenerate into sheer self-indulgence."
God's servants need not worry
In First Century Judaea, Jewish teachers taught that it was a man's duty to teach his son a trade. To do otherwise was to make him a thief. But it is apparent that Jesus was saying much more than that you have no need to worry about tomorrow if you have a marketable skill. He was saying that if you are seeking God's kingdom -- and his righteousness -- God has your needs covered. So get rid of the worry habit. It doesn't get you anywhere anyway. Tomorrow will have troubles of some sort, true, but stop fretting. Focus on what needs doing today.
When you seek to do God's will, and nix the lip service, that is seeking his righteousness. Further, once you are born again, you are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. You have been made right in God's eyes. Once you have that, then it is time to seek to do his will, rather than to merely inflate your own ego. Choose to sit at the foot of the table, rather than up by the place of honor.
Once you have been made right on account of the price paid by Jesus' blood, you are reborn as a son of God, a member of the royal family. We are not righteous on account of our "good" deeds but because Jesus his imputed his righteousness to us, who have become his little brothers. When God's Spirit enters a person (which can't happen before he or she has been made right by Jesus), the Father and Son join in to commune with the person. Then, one has set foot into the kingdom. As the believer enters, perhaps the light is a bit dim, as it is at dawn, but as he or she walks with Jesus, the light of the kingdom brightens, and so does the love in the believer's heart.
You, as sons of God or soon-to-be sons of God (those listening would not receive full sonship before Jesus had risen and sent the Spirit), will have your needs met. Why be like the ordinary unregenerate people who are unable to wait for God to meet their needs, as they are not spiritually members of his family (though he still loves them).
The Gentiles chase
The thought is: How are you Jewish fellows any different from the pagans when you won't rely on God? Again, we see the inference that his hearers, no matter how religious they thought they were, could not meet the high standard of God -- at least not without the Spirit of salvation.
The people Jesus is recruiting into his Father's kingdom are to be so reliant on God that they should be all set to give up their worldly goods and obtain heavenly treasure.
Some commentators think these drastic admonitions implied that Jesus thought the end -- the Big Event -- was very close and so his followers needed no earthly goods. That's not my take. I believe he does mean what he says: true disciples need nothing but Jesus. His Father and yours will assure that you need not worry about material goods -- as long as you are doing what God wants (and Jesus is not a strict taskmaster; his yoke is easy and his burden is light).
The very earliest Christians took the idea of poverty to mean they should live in Christian communes where all material goods are pooled. I do think such an arrangement is how it will be in the Millennium. In the meantime, however, I would interpret these passages thus: Whatever you put in the way of your relationship with Jesus needs to be got rid of. Those passages don't necessarily mean you should not work for a living, especially if you have a family to support. BUT you should be willing to cut that anchor as soon as Jesus calls you. Recall Peter and Andrew dropping their fishing business and immediately following Jesus.
But perhaps he is not calling you to drop everything you are doing. The key is to be willing to surrender all, to turn your will and your life over to God and his chief representative, Jesus.
This is why Jesus told one potential seeker who wanted to go home and care for his father, "Let the dead bury the dead." Jesus' teaching here means that we are to leave the old world and enter the new, heeding him rather than other voices, including those of our spiritually dead relatives.
Of course, Jesus was not only putting out the word to those who will soon become born-again disciples, but also to the crowds of eavesdroppers, most of whom listened in uncomprehending awe (on account of the miracles he had done). Yet, I suggest, that even years later some of these eavesdroppers would have suddenly grasped something Jesus had said and turned themselves over to his care. In other cases, hearers told friends and relatives some of the interesting, if peculiar, things they remembered and that discussion woke up someone else, who then turned to Jesus the Messiah.
John Calvin's comment is on the mark: "If honor is rated the highest good, then ambition must take charge of a man; if money, then forthwith greed takes over the kingdom; if pleasure, then men will certainly degenerate into sheer self-indulgence."
God's servants need not worry
In First Century Judaea, Jewish teachers taught that it was a man's duty to teach his son a trade. To do otherwise was to make him a thief. But it is apparent that Jesus was saying much more than that you have no need to worry about tomorrow if you have a marketable skill. He was saying that if you are seeking God's kingdom -- and his righteousness -- God has your needs covered. So get rid of the worry habit. It doesn't get you anywhere anyway. Tomorrow will have troubles of some sort, true, but stop fretting. Focus on what needs doing today.
When you seek to do God's will, and nix the lip service, that is seeking his righteousness. Further, once you are born again, you are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. You have been made right in God's eyes. Once you have that, then it is time to seek to do his will, rather than to merely inflate your own ego. Choose to sit at the foot of the table, rather than up by the place of honor.
Once you have been made right on account of the price paid by Jesus' blood, you are reborn as a son of God, a member of the royal family. We are not righteous on account of our "good" deeds but because Jesus his imputed his righteousness to us, who have become his little brothers. When God's Spirit enters a person (which can't happen before he or she has been made right by Jesus), the Father and Son join in to commune with the person. Then, one has set foot into the kingdom. As the believer enters, perhaps the light is a bit dim, as it is at dawn, but as he or she walks with Jesus, the light of the kingdom brightens, and so does the love in the believer's heart.
You, as sons of God or soon-to-be sons of God (those listening would not receive full sonship before Jesus had risen and sent the Spirit), will have your needs met. Why be like the ordinary unregenerate people who are unable to wait for God to meet their needs, as they are not spiritually members of his family (though he still loves them).
The Gentiles chase
The thought is: How are you Jewish fellows any different from the pagans when you won't rely on God? Again, we see the inference that his hearers, no matter how religious they thought they were, could not meet the high standard of God -- at least not without the Spirit of salvation.
The people Jesus is recruiting into his Father's kingdom are to be so reliant on God that they should be all set to give up their worldly goods and obtain heavenly treasure.
Some commentators think these drastic admonitions implied that Jesus thought the end -- the Big Event -- was very close and so his followers needed no earthly goods. That's not my take. I believe he does mean what he says: true disciples need nothing but Jesus. His Father and yours will assure that you need not worry about material goods -- as long as you are doing what God wants (and Jesus is not a strict taskmaster; his yoke is easy and his burden is light).
The very earliest Christians took the idea of poverty to mean they should live in Christian communes where all material goods are pooled. I do think such an arrangement is how it will be in the Millennium. In the meantime, however, I would interpret these passages thus: Whatever you put in the way of your relationship with Jesus needs to be got rid of. Those passages don't necessarily mean you should not work for a living, especially if you have a family to support. BUT you should be willing to cut that anchor as soon as Jesus calls you. Recall Peter and Andrew dropping their fishing business and immediately following Jesus.
But perhaps he is not calling you to drop everything you are doing. The key is to be willing to surrender all, to turn your will and your life over to God and his chief representative, Jesus.
This is why Jesus told one potential seeker who wanted to go home and care for his father, "Let the dead bury the dead." Jesus' teaching here means that we are to leave the old world and enter the new, heeding him rather than other voices, including those of our spiritually dead relatives.
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