Read Matthew 6:19-24 and do the following exercises:
- What are the recurring words or themes in the three images Jesus uses?
- What are the parallels between this section and the previous teaching from this chapter on giving, prayer, and fasting (v1-18)?
- The best way to find out what you really “treasure” is to ask yourself what you spend most of your thoughts and time on – because these are the most expensive decisions of the heart. Take some time to write down a list of the things you genuinely pursue with passion. So, what do you pursue most? What needs to change?
- What if these three lessons (v19-24: treasures in heaven, the eyes are the lamp of the body, and serving two masters) are teaching exactly the same lesson as the passages that came immediately before (v1-18: giving, prayer, and fasting). What would that lesson be?
denise on 
jenell on
Jason Thanks for including me, you seem like a great group of people, I wish I could join your IRL discussions, but alas Manitoba is a far cry from California. You may have wondered how I came to your site, it went like this- I follow a Michael Krahn on Twitter and he had a comment and a link to this sermon on the mount study and tada. As you saw I even encouraged my blog readers to follow, some of them may be without commenting.
It seems 6:1 is the theme verse for the chapter(at least up to the point we’ve studied), really quite amazing. I don’t remember ever seeing the connection between these lessons/sections before. The parallels I see are the contrast made between inside and outside, the seen verses the unseen, motived by self and others verses by God alone. That’s why 6:1 is the perfect verse to start the chapter, “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them…” I’m guessing those putting the bible into chapters saw that, so smart. In the simplest words I would sum up the lessons to be, “Have right motives.”
You said “The best way to find out what you really “treasure” is to ask yourself what you spend most of your thoughts and time on – because these are the most expensive decisions of the heart.” Now I like the way you’ve said this, provokes my thinking, but I was expecting you to money. Why didn’t you? Isn’t where we us the majority of our “dispensable” money also a tell tail of the heart?
Oh an I love the art – is this painting of Jesus supposed to look a little like Michael Jackson?
Thanks for sharing the Twitter trail : )
6:1 is a great candidate for a summary verse. Very straightforward and clear. I love it when larger sections of scripture come together in a simplified way, and that seems to be happening during our Sunday night gatherings as well.
I tend to agree with you about money – it is one good indicator of our hearts. But I didn’t include it because so many of us have financial obligations that may not reflect what we really “treasure” most, and it’s become easier to compartmentalize our internal and external lives in modern society. For example, it would be easy for someone to say, “I spend almost all my money on my family, so that’s what’s really important to me,” but perhaps they’re actually quite distant and emotionally unavailable from their spouse and children – spending all their mental and emotional time and energy on other distractions. In a more comprehensive personal character “inventory” (believe it or not I actually have one of those) I definitely include money , but for the purposes of this study I wanted to keep it simple and laser-focused, and at the end of the day I think our thought-lives are the best indicator of our heart’s desires.
Glad you appreciate the art! Last week was Henry Darger (a strange but fascinating fellow). This week the theme will be street art (don’t know about the Michale Jackson question).
Thanks again Cindy!
Even though money is most often a tell tale signs of what we treasure most, I must say (and be honest – but not too revealing) that although the Lord and my family – among a few other things – are things I DO treasure dearly and strive to become closer to each. I must say that one thing I treasure the most is something I can EASILY escape to within my mind. Interestingly enough, I pay VERY little money on it – if any at all. The thing that I DO spend a ton of to support my “treasure” is – TIME. (Quite frankly, I’m quite talented and have learned great multitasking skills through the years which saves an incredible amount of time but – not the point).
Unfortunately, because this “treasure” of mine is not something that is inherently wrong (although, I know I’ve crossed the live MANY times in my mind), it’s not something I’m truly ready to give up completely. I’ve worked on it. Tailored it down quite a bit – but other than that….
It’s interesting that a sermon I downloaded recently (one of Tom’s messages) talks about “Do you want to get well?”. At first thought, ANYONE would say “YES, YES!” – however, when you think a little more about the obedient steps YOU need to take and the submission that it requires on our part – the answer to the question “Do you want to get well?” begins to sound more like – “Uh, maybe not quite yet. I’ll get back to you on that one….”
(BTW – I had to laugh at Cindy’s response to the painting above. The very FIRST thing I thought of when I saw that painting was, “Wow, someone did a GREAT job – but WHY did they give Jesus Michael Jackson’s nose job?” – and then I was just disturbed by it. Sorry.:-) )