Be Real Together:
Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.
Read & Grow Together
In Matthew 6, Jesus is introducing a new kingdom and new way of living. It’s counter-intuitive to most everything our culture stands for. Throughout the entire sermon, Jesus is after one thing: the heart. Today, we dive deeper into verses 19-34 where we find that what we value has a lot of power over us.
Matthew 6:19-21 (CSB)
19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Here Jesus is asking, “What really matters most?” Jesus is challenging priorities. Real treasure is found in what God ascribes value to, what he’s designed for eternity. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). God’s #1 eternal priority above all else is how we love God and how we love people! Jesus isn’t saying “You can’t have nice things,” but he is asking this question, “What do you value?”
What do you value? What really matters most to you? What are your priorities?
Matthew 6:22-23 (CSB)
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!
Again, Jesus is dealing with the heart. He’s asking the question: what are you fixing your eyes on? What’s occupying your heart? What you gaze upon becomes what you desire, and what you desire becomes what you love.
What do you love? What is the object of your affection? What are your eyes fixed on? What’s occupied your heart space?
Matthew 6:24 (CSB)
24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
The original word used here for “money” is the word “mammon.” In Greek, it translates as “possessions,” in Aramaic - “wealth.” According to Jesus, our “wealth” (what we value most, what we ascribe worth to) becomes our master. The word “master” in Greek is kyrios (coo-dee-ahs), which means “supernatural master over all.”
Who do you serve? Where is your allegiance?
Matthew 6:25-34 (CSB)
25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you
of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
After all this talk about treasure, light and darkness, and slavery in dealing with
what you value, what you love, and who you serve, this is what he wants you to do:
“Don’t be anxious.” He’s not talking about basic living - stewarding your resources is wise, and we may feel that pinch occasionally. He’s not talking about being poor - you’re not after luxuries, you’re after necessities. He’s not talking about clinical anxiety either - plenty of us deal with that, even Christians.
He’s saying that if you’re after the Kingdom, then REGARDLESS of what your
present circumstances tell you, you don’t need to be unnecessarily anxious. If wealth is your god, then your outcome is anxiety.
Who do you trust?
Pray Together:
Jesus, thank you that you’re after our hearts.
Thank you that your priorities for us are simple: to love you and love people.
Forgive us for making it about anything else.
Help us to make your priorities our priorities.
Help us to value, love, serve, and trust you.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.