Matthew 6:19-34
Key verse 33:
”But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Last week, Jesus taught about the level of righteousness that we need to have in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.” How can anyone achieve this level? In ourselves, it is impossible! But Jesus was born under the law, he lived a perfect life according to the law, and he fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law for us. Through his death in our place, we can be forgiven and receive a righteousness that is not by obedience to the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, in today’s passage, Jesus continues talking about God’s righteousness. He talks about seeking God’s righteousness instead of seeking the treasures of the world. Although we Christians do not belong to this world, we live in the world. If the economy is bad, our savings go down or we may lose our job or we may struggle to find a job. We begin to worry and think about our security more than we think about God. As a result, we become sorrowful and ineffective as Christians. Have you ever experienced this? I know that I have—most of the time. What is the real problem? What is the solution? In today’s passage, Jesus’ answer is really simple: seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Then we can find true security. May God open our hearts and give us real peace and security through accepting Jesus’ words. Amen.
I. Store up treasures in heaven (19-24)
In this part, Jesus uses two allegories to teach us how to deal with material things. The first allegory teaches us to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth. Let’s read verses 19-21 together: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” According to these verses, why shouldn’t we store up treasures on earth?
The first reason is that earthly treasures are not secure. People save their money in banks, invest in stocks and real estate, buy insurance, and so on. They think that treasures stored up like this will be secure. But Jesus said, “moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.” Bank interest goes down. Inflation causes money to lose value. The stock market can crash. Real estate depreciates. Even gold can be devalued or stolen. There is never true security for treasures on earth. Even for other treasures besides money—social position, recognition from others, success in work, relationships with others, or receiving gratification from family. We can quickly lose our jobs. Relationships can easily become sour. Personally, my treasure is receiving the acknowledgement of my peers for the research that I conduct. I spend a lot of time setting up my research, analyzing the results, and publishing my findings because I want others to read it and cite me. But my research is easily ignored or overlooked or disproven by someone else. So there is no kind of treasure on earth that is secure and fulfilling.
The second reason we shouldn’t store up treasures in heaven is because where our treasure is, our heart will be also. Look at verse 21. “For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” If your treasure is in your hobbies or business or anything else, your heart will be there; not in God. Treasure and heart are inseparable. What happens when our heart and our treasure is in the world? First of all, we are disobedient to God’s command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Dt. 6:5) Second of all, we loose spiritual desire. We lose interest in spiritual things; serving God becomes a burden, and our hearts drift far from God. Eventually, we become morally corrupt like the Pharisees who loved recognition and authority more than God. In the end, our spirits become so hungry and thirsty and empty without God.
Jesus then told a second allegory to teach that we cannot serve both God and money. Let’s read verses 22 together: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.” In Jewish literature, the eye symbolizes the heart; as the eye is the window into the body, so the heart is the window into our inner life. Verse 23 says, “But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” If we have a healthy heart that treasures God, then our body is full of light. But if our heart is unhealthy and it treasures worldly things, then we are full of darkness. Our thoughts become dark, our ambitions become dark, and our spirits become dark.
Why is this? Jesus explains that our heart can only serve one master. Look at verse 24: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Money refers to the idol of earthly treasures. This idol requires full devotion. At the same time, the one true God requires full devotion. We can’t serve both, so we must decide which one we are going to serve—God or money. Moses is a good example. When Moses reached manhood, he had to decide between two life directions: to live as the rich son of Pharaoh’s daughter, or to participate in the suffering of his people. Which did he choose? Hebrews 11:25-26 says, “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” Moses valued disgrace for God’s sake more than worldly treasures of Egpyt. He put his heart into serving God rather than serving himself.
All of us have to face the same decision that Moses did. Where will we put our time, effort, and attention—in God or in our worldly pursuits? Of course, we have to work hard in our jobs. We have to be faithful to our duties at home. We have to study hard. I have to conduct good research and have it published. However, these things cannot be our idol that we serve ahead of God. Our job, family, career, and money are not bad in themselves. But the problem is, when we put our heart into seeking these things, our heart is drawn away from seeking God.
Then what kind of treasure must we seek? Let’s look back at verse 20. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Jesus urges us to store up treasure in heaven. How? We store up heavenly treasure by seeking God, serving God, and using whatever we have for God. It means, whatever I’m doing, I ask myself, “Is this for God’s benefit or my benefit? Is it to please God or to please myself?” When we use our time to share the gospel with someone or study the Bible with them, we are storing up heavenly treasure. Anything we do to please God, even it is something small like praying for just one person, it is a way to store up heavenly treasure. When we store up treasure in heaven, we will be joyful and thankful in God. God rewards us, and His reward will never perish, spoil or fade away (1 Pe 1:4).
- II. Do not worry (25-34)
Let’s look at verse 25. It begins with, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry….” Why do you think Jesus said, “Do not worry?” His disciples already decided to store up treasures in heaven. They left everything to follow Jesus. But as soon as they did so, clouds of worries descended upon them: “If I serve God, who will take care of me? What will happen when I become old? What will happen to my wife and my children?” This happens to us also: whenever we decide to seek God and serve God, we are quickly bombarded by worries: “What will happen to my career? What will happen to my children? How will I carry out my research for my PhD?” When such worries came into our hearts, we lose all joy and peace and following Jesus becomes a huge burden. Therefore, Jesus said in verse 25: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” Jesus says that life is more than just food and clothes. We shouldn’t worry about these petty things, but trust in God.
I suspect most of you don’t worry about food or clothes, but we worry about other things: our studies, our kids, our future, our careers, our families. In order to teach us not to worry, Jesus gives two examples: the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. Verse 26 says, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” The birds of the air seem so insignificant, but God feeds them. God even provides for the grass. Verses 28-29 says, “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” The flowers don’t worry about what they’ll wear, but God clothes them more beautifully then even Solomon’s best outfit. God is our Father who loves us and takes care of us. He knows our needs and provides for us. At the end of verse 30, Jesus said to his disciples, “…you of little faith” (30). This is ultimately why people worry; they lack faith. They do not trust in God fully. When we do not trust God, worry and fear comes immediately into our heart. We have no peace. We are so paralyzed by worry that we cannot live as God’s children.
Instead of worrying, what should we do? Look at verse 33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This verse contains two parts: a command and a promise. The command is, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” To seek first God’s kingdom means to be ruled by God in our heart so that, in everything we do, we aim to please Him. To seek God’s righteousness means to seek to have a right relationship with God. The word “first” does not mean “order,” but “priority”; God’s kingdom and righteousness is our priority. Then what is God’s promise? “…and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be given to us as well—this is God’s promise. God never disappoints anyone who lives by faith and holds this promise. God is able to give us abundantly more than we can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20).
God’s promise in verse 33 seems pretty clear and simple. But, practically, it doesn’t make much sense. Shouldn’t we take care of ourselves first and take care of our needs first, and then, if there’s time left and we’re not too tired, serve God? This sounds reasonable, right? But this attitude fundamentally shows lack of faith in God’s word. Ultimately, the question each of us has to answer is: do I believe God’s promise or not?
Personally, I’ve really tried to believe God’s word in Matthew 6:33. When I was in my third year of undergrad, I spent a lot of time having Bible studies with students. I lived with two of them. Sometimes I didn’t have enough time to study or work on my assignments, or even eat properly. I began to lose weight. My grades began to slip. I worried that being a shepherd and engineering student at the same time was impossible. My parents advised me, “Focus on your studies now. Don’t have Bible studies.” But I prayed a lot and repeated Matt 6:33 again and again. God’s word helped me to accept His promise and overcome fear. I really struggled to seek God first through my shepherd life. In the end, God performed a miracle and my grades somehow became excellent and I graduated with highest honors and was accepted into graduate school.
When I got married, my family wasn’t pleased and they put a lot of pressure on me to put everything on hold and return to my hometown. I worried a lot about them and I was tempted to leave my mission. But God helped me to accept Matt 6:33 again and overcome my worry and follow His leading by faith. When I trusted Him, He worked miraculously to change my family’s attitude and make them into great supporters and coworkers.
Nowadays, God has given me another opportunity to trust Him through my PhD studies. My supervisor is very demanding. To achieve his expectations requires 10-12 hours a day of work, even on the weekend. There is no time for Bible study or campus mission, let alone family. Honestly, I don’t want to go fishing or have Bible studies or engage in campus mission because I’m worried that I won’t finish my research successfully. Also, I’m approaching graduation. As a scientist, it is considered mandatory to go to a different city to do a postdoc. I’m strongly tempted to leave Ottawa to apply to positions in other cities or countries. I’m worried that if I remain in Ottawa, I won’t progress as a researcher and won’t become a professor.
It seems like my problem is that I’m too busy. But in reality, the real problem is that I lack faith in God’s absolute promise: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” It isn’t a matter of practical situation but a matter of trusting in God’s promise. Of course, we have to win victory in all aspects of life. But the question is how? The world says, “Put everything aside and concentrate until you achieve what you want.” But the Bible says, “Seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first, then trust in Him.” God is faithful to fulfil His promise.
How can I implement Matt 6:33 in a practical way? Instead of rushing to get to school early, I will spend time in personal prayer for 30 min after daily bread. Instead of waiting until the last minute, I will write my testimony on Monday night, even though Monday night is my main night to do my research. Instead of working all day, I’ll finish early to go out fishing and share the gospel at lunch and before evening classes. To be honest, I’m worried about what will happen if I keep them. Will I graduate on time? Will I be able to do good research? When I seek Him first and put my priority on having a good relationship with Him, and serve Him from my heart, then I believe that the Holy Spirit will provide me with enough wisdom and ability to win the victory in all areas. May God forgive my unbelief and help me to trust His word in Matt 6:33 absolutely.
When we trust God we don’t have to worry about our daily needs, and we don’t have to worry about the future. Look at verse 34: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” People tend to worry the future rather than being concerned about today. Yet we do not know what will happen tomorrow. Jesus tells us to let tomorrow worry about tomorrow, and be faithful to God today, trusting in His absolute promise.
Today’s passage contains a clear command—“Seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness…”—and a clear promise—“…and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first, we are free from worldly anxieties and worries. It is the secret to live a victorious life in God. Most of all, we grow deeply in a love relationship with our heavenly Father. This is heavenly treasure than can never perish, spoil, or fade away. May God plant His heavenly promise in our hearts: “But seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” With God’s help, we may seek Him first and depend on His promise and live victoriously as His children.
